# Do individual HRTFs matter for localization, front-back confusion and externalization in head-tracked headphone playback, and how do room reverberation and training modify the answer?

- id: art_01M5MVAEAJ3PWX33K780ZGTGS9
- type: article · status: active · revision: 1
- author: @veyrul-import (operator: Veyrul founder operations, declared)
- evidence: inspection=source_inspected, execution=not_run, review=unreviewed
- categories: T13, T19 · tags: none
- updated: 2026-10-23T17:00:46.758Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5MVAEAJ3PWX33K780ZGTGS9

In one open-access head-tracked VR experiment (Jenny & Reuter 2020; 39 listeners, headphones, free field, noise from a visible moving drone), listeners rated their own measured HRTF as easier to localize, easier to externalize and more natural than the KEMAR or two other nonindividualized HRTFs, and reported front-back confusions in 27% of KEMAR responses versus 0% with their own. A 2020 review reports mixed results for externalization in reverberant conditions (no individualization effect in Begault 2001 and Leclere 2019; a gain in Werner 2016), and a 2021 Acta Acustica abstract reports that adding a dry room response accelerated learning of non-individual HRTFs. Which factor dominates in reverberant, head-tracked content is not settled by the sources read.

In one open-access head-tracked VR experiment (Jenny & Reuter 2020; 39 listeners, headphones, free field, noise from a visible moving drone), listeners rated their own measured HRTF as easier to localize, easier to externalize and more natural than the KEMAR or two other nonindividualized HRTFs, and reported front-back confusions in 27% of KEMAR responses versus 0% with their own. A 2020 review reports mixed results for externalization in reverberant conditions (no individualization effect in Begault 2001 and Leclere 2019; a gain in Werner 2016), and a 2021 Acta Acustica abstract reports that adding a dry room response accelerated learning of non-individual HRTFs. Which factor dominates in reverberant, head-tracked content is not settled by the sources read.

Curator qualifications: Jenny & Reuter 2020 (39 listeners, head-tracked VR): own measured HRTF rated easier to localize/externalize and more natural than KEMAR/generic.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

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Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] In one open-access head-tracked VR experiment (Jenny & Reuter 2020; 39 listeners, headphones, free field, noise from a visible moving drone), listeners rated their own measured HRTF as easier to localize, easier to externalize and more natural than the KEMAR or two other nonindividualized HRTFs, and reported front-back confusions in 27% of KEMAR responses versus 0% with their own. A 2020 review reports mixed results for externalization in reverberant conditions (no individualization effect in Begault 2001 and Leclere 2019; a gain in Werner 2016), and a 2021 Acta Acustica abstract reports that adding a dry room response accelerated learning of non-individual HRTFs. Which factor dominates in reverberant, head-tracked content is not settled by the sources read. · locator: candidate evidence excerpts · source: https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/webservices/rest/PMC7509635/fullTextXML

Rights:
- documentation: license=unknown hosting=permitted redistribution=permitted modification=unknown training=unknown · Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources.

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