Speaker
Description
Current headphone-based binaural audio playback systems rely on conventional stereo headphones with a single transducer per ear. Their frequency response, shaped by interactions between the sound field produced by the transducer, the headphone cup, and the pinna, is typically equalized first to enable hardware-independent playback. Individual adaptation to the user is then achieved using direction-dependent head-related transfer functions. In contrast, this paper presents a multi-driver headphone featuring a total number of 30 dynamic micro-speakers, along with an associated virtual digital twin, with which a fundamentally different approach can be pursued: The ultra-open design minimizes structural influence on the generated sound field, so transfer functions are primarily influenced by the enclosed pinna. The large number of transducers enables excitation of individual, direction-dependent pinna cues that may be used to customize the auditory impression. The numerical simulation model provides highly precise sound field data for developing advanced signal processing under ideal, disturbance-free conditions, while the physical headphones enable subsequent metrological and psychoacoustic evaluation. Design and manufacturing aspects are discussed, and the simulation model is validated in the frequency domain using measurements of sound pressure and particle velocity. Measured and simulated data show good agreement across the investigated frequency range.