Selecting Program Material by Audio Features for Low-Frequency Perceptual Evaluation of Loudspeakers

Pei Yu,Xuelei Feng,Yong Shen,Shufeng Zhang,Ziyun Liu

doi:10.3390/app11052302

Abstract

The program material is of great importance for the results of the listening tests on loudspeakers, while the process of how to select the program material remains ambiguous. This paper investigates the criterion for selecting programs suitable for low-frequency perceptual evaluation based on the audio features of the program. A listening test was conducted to identify the more discriminating and revealing programs in the low-frequency range. Based on the listening test results, various characteristics of the programs, including dynamic, timbral, rhythmic, and spectral features, were extracted. Their relationships with the program’s discrimination ability are discussed. The results suggest that programs with a slow and clear rhythm and a smooth and even spectrum in the whole band are more discriminating in detecting the spectral differences in the low frequencies. By using these significant features, a discriminant analysis was performed to predict the ability of the program to reveal the spectral irregularities. The predictive accuracy of the derived discriminant function was 95% in separating the discriminating and undiscriminating programs.

Highlights

The selection of program material plays an essential role in designing a listening test on loudspeakers [1,2,3]
Some statistical analysis methods were applied to identify the significant audio features related to the discrimination ability of the program, and to build a predictive model which could estimate if the program is suitable for the listening tests
This work analyzes the program selection criterion based on the audio features of the programs for the listening tests evaluating the low-frequency reproduction of loudspeakers

Summary

Introduction

The selection of program material plays an essential role in designing a listening test on loudspeakers [1,2,3]. The programs are controlled by the experimenter, as independent variables accounting for the main variation in the experimental data set. In this context, an improper selection of program material may have trouble exciting the interested perceptual differences between the loudspeakers under test, leading to inconclusive results. The selection process is usually laborious and time-consuming and is difficult to conduct systematically given the wide variety of listening tests with various purposes [4,5]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion