The method and apparatus described herein make use of multiple sets of head related transfer functions (HRTFs) that have been synthesized or measured at various distances from a reference head, spanning from the near-field to the boundary of the far-field. Additional synthetic or measured transfer functions maybe used to extend to the interior of the head, i.e., for distances closer than near-field. In addition, the relative distance-related gains of each set of HRTFs are normalized to the far-field HRTF gains.