Genelec has announced a significant first step in improving the trustworthiness of headphone listening through the introduction of its new Aural ID software technology.

Aural ID works by acquiring a person’s exclusive acoustic attributes to create a detailed modelling of their unique anatomical features affecting hearing, which can then be compensated for – enabling the delivery of more truthful and reliable sound when headphones are employed for reproduction.

Aural ID calculates the user’s personal Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF), which describes the acoustical properties of the head, upper torso and external ear: elements that interact in complex ways to affect sounds reaching the eardrums. Aural ID then computes all these elements and creates a personal data file characterising the modification to sound arriving from any azimuth and elevation. This file consequently enables an audio engine to precisely render stereo or immersive content via headphones.

The software simply requires the user to provide a 360-degree video of their head and shoulder region – for which a high-quality mobile phone camera is sufficient. Once the video is uploaded to the Genelec web-based calculation service, the calculation process first builds an accurate and detailed 3D model scaled to exactly the correct dimensions of the head and upper torso, with special attention paid to modelling of the external ears. After this, acoustic fields are analysed and calculated numerically with a full-wave method to capture detailed acoustic phenomena.

The acoustic fields are computed for hundreds of different orientations of audio approaching the head, after which the HRTFs are formed and the data is finally compiled into a downloadable SOFA file – a format that has been defined and standardised by the Audio Engineering Society (AES). This maximises the technical compatibility of the HRTF data file, since the SOFA format is already supported by many VR and game audio rendering engines. Genelec says it sees those working in academic research, immersive audio monitoring, VR and games development as likely early adopters of the new technology.

“In the same way that our monitor loudspeakers established the sonic reference for professional audio monitoring, and GLM calibration software revolutionised the way studio monitors could be optimised for any acoustic space, we are determined to help bring standards of sonic truthfulness to headphone reproduction,” said Genelec managing director Siamak Naghian. “With an increasing number of audio professionals relying on both in-room monitors and headphones, Genelec Aural ID is a significant first step towards the use of headphones for actual reference audio monitoring and listening.”