Cian O'Brien

Binaural

A Binaural Tool for Max MSP Using pole-Zero Interpolation and Structured IIR Models

The goal of this project is the creation of a Max MSP external/patch which takes advantage of the computational efficiency of Structured IIR Models and pole-zero interpolation as described by Queiroz & De Sousa (2010) to binaurally spatialise sound sources. By using these techniques it should be possible to create a tool that allows for more simultaneous users at a given degree of fidelity than is possible with current Max MSP solutions. Such methods are ideal for the real-time spatialisation of moving sound sources. This increase in efficiency comes at a cost of less detail in the Head Related Transfer Functions (HRTF) so that some subtleties such as the pinna cues may be lost. To achieve this, it is necessary to produce Infinite Impulse Response filter approximations of a given HRTF dataset and impose some structure on the locations of their poles and zeros to make the interpolation process easier, which amounts to solving a large number of optimisation problems.