Stereophonic localization: An analysis of listener reactions to current techniques

Playback localization plots, similar to the technique employed by Steinberg and Snow in the Bell Laboratory experiments of 1933, afford perhaps the only means of evaluating quantitatively the performance of representative stereophonic systems. In the present tests, which deal with two-channel systems comprising a center bridged loudspeaker in addition to the two flanking loudspeakers, it is seen that the performance of wide-angle loudspeaker arrays can be optimized to give accurate localization over a large listening area. As an aid to the evaluation of test data, brief discussions of loudness and time-delay effects-the essential factors providing localization-are included.