Comparing twelve stereophonic microphone systems for sound source localization

The ability to localize sound sources is important not only in everyday life, but also in the realm of music and sound production to enhance the perception and feelings of listeners and make the production sound more natural. The article describes a series of experiments performed to test which stereo microphone system allows listeners to correctly localize sound sources when sound samples are presented with headphones. The experiments tested 12 different stereo microphone systems and several sets of angles from which sound samples were presented. The highest score was obtained for near-coincidence NOS/ DIN family systems, while the lowest for AB systems. While different systems bring different scores, the stereophonic signals recorded by the different variants of near-coincidence systems are the most compatible with the subjective perception of sound directivity.