Upsampling of Personalized HRTF for Spatial Audio Rendering: Why Deep Learning is Problematic?

Spatial audio rendering employs Head Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs) for a realistic reproduction of the sound field. This requires upsampling of the HRTF. Given its popularity for the task of upsampling, a deep learning (DL) based upsampler can appear to be an attractive solution for the said problem. We, however, argue that it is more meaningful to rely on explicit system modeling, and not depend exclusively on DL based data fitting for the said problem.