Very Transparent Headphones are an important tool for Augmented Reality (AR) research. To supplement a real acoustic scene with virtual sound sources or virtual acoustics, previous studies have used the very open AKG K1000. Since this model was discontinued and is expensive on the second-hand market, we present modifications to a regular open headphone. Measurements show that cutting out pieces of the ear-pads can yield transparency characteristics comparable to the K1000. Fully surrounding transparency measurements of the original and the modified models are presented. Moreover, based on headphone transfer function measurements, minimum-phase filters are derived, to compensate for the loss of low frequencies after modification. The instructions and open measurement data make it easy to replicate this DIY solution.
Authors: Nils Meyer-Kahlen (Aalto Acoustics Lab, Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland), Daniel Rudrich (Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz, Austria), Manuel Brandner (Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz, Austria), Stefan Wirler (Aalto Acoustics Lab, Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland), Simon Windtner (Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz, Austria) and Matthias Frank (Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz, Austria)
