Phantom Image Elevation Explained

A subjective experiment was conducted to identify frequency bands that produce the effect of phantom image elevation. Subjects judged the perceived image regions of phantom center images for a broadband pink noise burst and its octave bands with seven different loudspeaker base angles. The 500 Hz and 8 kHz bands were found to be the most effective bands for the perception of above image with the base angle of 180°. The role of acoustic crosstalks for the elevation effect was also examined using binaural stimuli created for the 180° angle. It was found that the elevation effect was significantly reduced when the crosstalks were removed or their delay times were manipulated to 0 ms. Furthermore, the low frequency component of the crosstalk was found to produce greater elevation and externalization effects than the high frequency component.