Abstract: In one of our recent work, a signal panning method called “local Ambisonics” for creating vertical virtual source was proposed. It was proved that the local Ambisonics panning can create desired dynamic cue for vertical localization for a subject at the sweet point, and thus local Ambisonics panning is better than the traditional pair wise panning method. In actual listening, however, the translation of subjects head may change the binaural sound pressures and the corresponding localization cues, consequently influence the accuracy and stability of the synthesized virtual sources. In this paper, the influence of subjects head translation on the summing localization cues in local Ambisonics panning was analyzed, and a psychoacoustic experiment on the stability of virtual source localization was conducted. The results indicate that, for the target sound source within the loudspeakers arrangement and an appropriate content of head translation less than 0.20m, the local Ambisonics panning is still able to create appropriate localization cues, and the subjects still can perceive virtual sources in reasonable locations with mean error mostly less than 5°. Hence, local Ambisonics panning exhibits better stability against subjects head translation.

Key words: local Ambisonics panning, vertical localization cue, head translation, analysis for stability