Traditional methods for characterizing Room Impulse Responses (RIRs) employing omnidirectional microphones do not fully capture the spatial properties of sound in an acoustic space. In this paper we explore a method for the characterization of room acoustics employing Directional Room Impulse Responses (DRIRs), which include the direction of arrival of the reflected sound waves in an acoustic space in addition to their time of arrival and strength. We measured DRIRs using a commercial 3D sound intensity probe (Weles Acoustics WA301) containing x, y, z acoustic velocity channels in addition to a scalar pressure channel. We then employed the measured DRIR’s to predict the binaural signals that would be measured by binaural dummy head microphones placed at the same location in the room where the DRIR was measured. The predictions can then be compared to the actual measured binaural signals. Successful implementation of DRIRs could significantly enhance applications in AR/VR and immersive sound reproduction by providing listeners with room-specific directional cues for early room reflections in addition to the diffuse reverberant impulse response tail.
