Embodiments relate to personalization of a head-related transfer function (HRTF) for a given user. A sound source is spatialized for an initial position using an initial version of a HRTF to obtain an initial spatialized sound source. Upon presentation of the initial spatialized sound source, at least one property of the HRTF is adjusted in an iterative manner based on at least one perceptive response from the user to generate a version of the HRTF customized for the user. Each perceptive response from the user indicates a respective offset between a perceived position and a target position of the sound source. The customized version of the HRTF is applied to one or more audio channels to form spatialized audio content for the perceived position. The spatialized audio content is presented to the user, wherein the offset between the perceived position and the target position is reduced.