Research overview: the feline head-related transfer function

The head-related transfer function describes how the head, ears, and body filter sound before it reaches the eardrum, encoding directional information. This overview surveys work characterizing the cat's head-related transfer function, which shapes the spectral and timing cues available for localization. The mobile pinnae make the feline transfer function dynamic, since moving the ears changes the filtering. The survey relates this concept to the cat's role as a model in auditory spatial research, where measured transfer functions have informed understanding of how mammals localize sound in three dimensions. It discusses how interaural differences and pinna-induced spectral features together constitute the directional code the brain decodes. Framing feline localization in terms of the head-related transfer function provides a rigorous bridge between the physical acoustics of the cat's head and ears and the perceptual ability to place sounds accurately in space.