Beyond Localisation Accuracy: Sensorimotor Effects of HRTF Individualisation

Abstract

Everyday listening requires the brain to integrate cues from the body, environment, other senses, and movement, continuously translating auditory information into action. Yet HRTF individualisation is still commonly assessed through localisation accuracy, which may not fully capture its effects on this sensorimotor process. Here, we investigate whether these effects can instead be revealed through behaviour in a more ecologically valid listening task. We used an aurally guided visual search paradigm in which listeners located a visual target using a co-located virtual sound while moving freely, comparing individualised and non-individualised HRTFs under anechoic and reverberant conditions. Performance was assessed through response times and measures of movement organisation. In anechoic conditions, individualised HRTFs produced faster responses than non-individualised HRTFs, with an average reduction of approximately 200ms and the clearest benefit for front-back source locations. This advantage was expressed primarily in movement initiation, whereas overall movement extent was only weakly affected. Under reverberant conditions, HRTF-dependent differences disappeared. These results suggest that HRTF individualisation can influence how listeners plan and initiate orienting actions even when differences in conventional localisation outcomes are limited. Assessing sensorimotor behaviour alongside localisation performance may therefore provide a more sensitive and ecologically relevant account of the perceptual benefits of HRTF individualisation.