A toolkit for customizing the ambiX ambisonics-to-binaural renderer

Abstract

An open-source collection of MATLAB functions, referred to as the SOFA/ambiX binaural rendering (SABRE) toolkit, is presented for generating custom ambisonics-to-binaural decoders for the ambiX binaural plug-in. Databases of head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) are becoming widely available in the recently-standardized “SOFA format” (spatially-oriented format for acoustics), but there is currently no (easy) way to use custom HRTFs with the ambiX binaural plug-in. This toolkit enables the user to generate custom binaural rendering configurations for the plug-in from any SOFA-formatted HRTFs or to add HRTFs to an existing ambisonics decoder. Also implemented in the toolkit are several methods of HRTF interpolation and equalization. The mathematical conventions, ambisonics theory, and signal processing implemented in the toolkit are described.