Comparing the perception of ‘sense of presence’ between a stereo mix and a binaural mix in immersive music

The aim of this paper is to investigate if binaural music involves listeners more than stereophonic music. A survey was conducted on differences in perception when listening to music with headphones. An experiment was carried-on on a sample of eight people to draw some preliminary results on the preferences of listeners between a stereo mix and a binaural mix. To understand the degree of "sense of presence" of the tested subjects, a questionnaire based on the ITC-SOPI model was used, modified for the specific needs of the experiment. The lack of standards in both the mix techniques and the software to be used to create a professional product in binaural format was one of the significant difficulties encountered.