Continuous head-related transfer function representation based on hyperspherical harmonics

TL;DR

This paper introduces a hyperspherical harmonics-based method for representing head-related transfer functions that ensures continuity over both spatial directions and frequency, enabling efficient interpolation and compression.

Contribution

It extends spherical harmonic methods by using hyperspherical harmonics to achieve a continuous, low-coefficient HRTF representation over space and frequency.

Findings

HSH-based HRTF representation requires fewer coefficients than SH-based methods.

The method maintains similar accuracy to traditional approaches.

It enables effective interpolation and compression of HRTFs.

Abstract

Expressing head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) in spherical harmonic (SH) domain has been thoroughly studied as a method of obtaining continuity over space. However, HRTFs are functions not only of direction but also of frequency. This paper presents an extension of the SH-based method, utilizing hyperspherical harmonics (HSHs) to obtain an HRTF representation that is continuous over both space and frequency. The application of the HSH approximation results in a relatively small set of coefficients which can be decoded into HRTF values at any direction and frequency. The paper discusses results obtained by applying the method to magnitude spectra extracted from exemplary HRTF measurements. The HRTF representations based on SHs and HSHs exhibit similar reproduction accuracy, with the latter one featuring continuity over both space and frequency and requiring much lower number of coefficients. The developed HSH-based continuous functional model can serve multiple purposes, such as interpolation, compression or parametrization for machine-learning applications.