Usage

As explained in the Work with the database tutorial the database is located at https://avtshare01.rz.tu-ilmenau.de/two-ears/database/, but you don’t have to download any files yourself as this is automatically performed by the Binaural simulator or by explicitly calling db.getFile(), for example:

filename = db.getFile('stimuli/anechoic/instruments/anechoic_cello.wav');
sig = wavread(filename);

All the data that is automatically downloaded is cached inside a temporary folder. You can get the position of this folder by executing db.tmp() and change it with db.tmp('/path/to/tmp'). If you would like to clear the temporary folder you can execute db.clearTmp(). Before downloading a file from the remote database db.getFile() first looks if you have a file on your computer in the exact relative position as specified, in this case ./stimuli/anechoic/instruments/anechoic_cello.wav, then it will look if you have a local copy of the database on your PC. The position of that database can be specified or seen by the db.path function. After that it looks inside the temporary cache for the file and only then downloads it.

If you want to get an overview what files are present in database, you may copy the output of db.url() and paste it into your web browser. As a second, more Linux-like alternative you may call db.listDir('') in order to display the content of the database’s root directory. For other directories call e.g. db.listDir('this/is/a/directory'). Listing the content of sub-directories can be done by providing a second boolean argument, i.e. db.listDir('this/is/a/directory', 1). For convenience, you can also download the content for a whole directory with e.g. db.getDir('this/is/a/directory', 1) with second parameter, again, specifying if you want to download the content of potential sub-directories. However, take care, since you might request a lot of files.

In the daily use of the Two!Ears Auditory Model you might even never directly use the db.getFile() function as you specify files to use most likely inside a scene description file, see Configuration using XML Scene Description. For example, in order to use the same HRTF from above you have to add the following address to your scene configuration:

<scene HRIRs="impulse_responses/qu_kemar_anechoic/QU_KEMAR_anechoic_3m.sofa">

The Binaural simulator will then automatically call the db.getFile() function in order to get the desired HRTF.

To see further examples, you might want to look at Usage of impulse responses.