---
title: "Auditory localization of nearby sources. Head-related transfer functions"
authors: ["Douglas S. Brungart", "William M. Rabinowitz"]
year: 1999
venue: "The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America"
arxiv: null
doi: "10.1121/1.427180"
source: "https://doi.org/10.1121/1.427180"
topics: [hrtf, binaural, anthropometry, measurement, itd-ild]
seed_rank: 1699
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"
  - title: "Fundamentals of binaural technology"
    url: "https://doi.org/10.1016/0003-682x(92)90046-u"
    year: 1992
    arxiv: null
    doi: "10.1016/0003-682x(92)90046-u"
see:
  - "1675-hrtf-measurements-of-a-kemar"
  - "1682-fundamentals-of-binaural-technology"
---

# Auditory localization of nearby sources. Head-related transfer functions

## One-sentence takeaway

Brungart & Rabinowitz 1999: nearby-source HRTFs — ILD explodes inside ~1 m; far-field KEMAR is the wrong filter for a helmet radio or shoulder weapon.

## Why it matters here

GRID COMMAND first-person audio is *near-field*: HUD ticks, weapon handling, cockpit. Far-field CIPIC/KEMAR miss distance-dependent ILD. This JASA paper is why you need a distance variation (Kan 2009, Rui 2013) or a measured near-field grid.

## Key ideas

- **Distance-dependent HRTF.** Especially ILD; ITD saturates differently.
- **Anechoic nearby sources.** Head-related, not room BRIRs (that's Shinn-Cunningham 2005).
- **JASA 1999.** ~272 cites; harvest ITD-ILD / anthropometry tags.
- **Measured, human/dummy.** Not a spherical-head formula-only paper (Algazi snowman is 2002).

## Caveats

Does not give you a full public database like CIPIC. Headphone playback still needs EQ. Not Ambisonics (near-field HOA is another stack).

## Links

- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1121/1.427180