Psychoacoustics project - Comparing auditory lateralization over near-field loudspeakers and headphones

My final psychoacoustics project had to be an experiment or study of some sort.

I compared people's accuracy in localizing sound on headphones and loudspeakers. Pretty straightforward, but the results were a bit crazy!

Lateralization while using headphones is more accurate than using loudspeakers? Just about, apparently!

Human listeners are capable of locating a sound source in the environment very precisely. For sounds on the frontal horizontal plane (right-left in front of the head) interaural time differences (I.T.D.s) between the two ears are the major cue in lateralization below 1500Hz, while interaural level differences (I.L.D.s) are how we better localize sounds above this frequency band. [7]

In my study, I am comparing people’s ability to lateralize (or ‘place’) sounds in a free-field situation (listening over loudspeakers) with a ‘closed’ situation (listening using close-backed headphones).

Many studies have been made into lateralization of sounds with I.T.D. and I.L.D. using headphones as a sound emitting device [1] [3] [4]. Studies have also been made into lateralization of sounds using loudspeakers [5] [6], but there haven’t been collaberative studies which compare the lateralization cues of both headphones and loudspeakers using clicks as auditory stimuli.

Recording, mixing, mastering project - Sage

For my final recording project, I recorded Belfast's finest (probably only) Psychadelic/Progressive Rock band Sage.

I only had to record one song, but it turned out to be a real epic session, with over 50 tracks once all the overdubs and retakes were done.

We Are Believers (mp3, 9 minutes 47secs, 13.5MB)

Feedback from my lecturer who graded it noted that "the drum sound is good but a bit ‘enclosed’ " and that the "frequency response of the mix as a whole was still quite LF/MF dominant and slightly lacking in top end", which were two good points.

I also thought my mixing of the vocals was a bit shit too - I was going for the thinned out EQ and processed sound of eg. Maynard James Keenan but really didn't get anywhere near it - vox were recorded the day before submission, so they were a bit rushed!