Localization and Masking Thresholds of Diagonally Positioned Sound Sources and Their Relationship to Interchannel Time and Level Differences

3D panning and microphone techniques have become important as new reproduction setups find their way into cinemas and TV standards. Experiments in the field of 3D panning mostly examined the case of two vertically arranged loudspeakers, one above the other. Results of these experiments indicate unstable phantom images and only small ranges between localization threshold and masking threshold. Since the signals in most of these studies can be considered to be equal for the left and right ear (due to the frontal incidence) it should be noted that mainly just monaural effects were studied so far. Williams [1] suggested using loudspeakers placed in isosceles triangles to increase the sense of height. Combining these findings, the following paper examines the masking and localization threshold for loudspeakers placed on a diagonal plane in front of the listener when different interchannel time and level differences are involved. The results are compared to other findings on 3D panning and room acoustics to discern whether the strength of binaural effects increase in a diagonal reproduction.