The Possibility of Three-dimensional Sound Visualization to Assess its Localization

Hearing is the second sense individuals rely upon the most, after vision. What happens, though, when someone is visually impaired and is forced to rely on it for their everyday tasks? People train themselves to use echolocation, a method used by many mammals is to estimate the distance of a sound source. The mathematical approach of sound localization is provided by the Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF), which allows all individuals to estimate the location of a sound source in their environment. This paper describes a method of 3D sound analysis through 2D visualization using Python, for the evaluation of the HRTF's performance per individual during rehabilitation.