---
title: "Fundamentals of binaural technology"
authors: ["Henrik Møller"]
year: 1992
venue: "Applied Acoustics"
arxiv: null
doi: "10.1016/0003-682x(92)90046-u"
source: "https://doi.org/10.1016/0003-682x(92)90046-u"
topics: [binaural]
seed_rank: 1682
seed_batch: "audio-harvest-2026-09-09"
reviewed: "2026-09-09"
pool: "realtime"
relevance_score: 10
lineage: hrtf-spatial-audio
cites:
  - title: "HRTF measurements of a KEMAR"
    url: "https://doi.org/10.1121/1.412407"
    year: 1995
    arxiv: null
    doi: "10.1121/1.412407"
see:
  - "1675-hrtf-measurements-of-a-kemar"
---

# Fundamentals of binaural technology

## One-sentence takeaway

Møller's 1992 survey of binaural technology: recording, HRTF, headphone reproduction, and the equalization chain you still need.

## Why it matters here

Before MagLS and SOFA, this is the engineering checklist: blocked-meatus vs open-ear, headphone compensation, and why a raw KEMAR IR is not 'ready to convolve.' Anoptic headphone path should treat EQ as first-class, not an afterthought.

## Key ideas

- **Binaural chain.** Capture → HRTF/BRIR → headphone transfer function compensation.
- **Measurement practice.** What a dummy-head recording actually is.
- **Applied Acoustics 1992.** ~312 cites; pedagogy more than a new algorithm.
- **Still the vocabulary** for later measurement reviews (Li & Peissig 2020, 1697).

## Caveats

Pre-CIPIC/SADIE/SOFA. Analog-era measurement. Use as orientation, not as an HRTF dataset. Not a renderer.

## Links

- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0003-682x(92)90046-u