The influence of low order reflections on the interaural time differences in crosstalk cancellation systems

Reflections can play an important role in human perception of sound. While they can positively contribute to the perceived sound quality, they may also interfere with the reproduction of, for example, crosstalk cancelled binaural sounds through loudspeakers. In this paper, we study the influence of 1st and 2nd order reflections on a crosstalk-cancelled desktop reproduction system, through an analysis of the interaural time differences. The direct and reflected sounds are calculated using an image-source model. Meanwhile, the crosstalk cancellation filters are calculated assuming anechoic conditions, and therefore proper sound reproduction is now questionable. In this scenario, the reflections are found to introduce changes in the interaural phase differences and in the interaural group delay. These changes are analyzed and the possible effect on sound localization is investigated using a subjective localization experiment. The results indicated that for the studied setup, the localization accuracy was, practically, unaffected by the low order reflections.