Human Perception Test Research Articles

Human-level design proposals by an artificial agent in multiple scenarios

Many computational tools are usually trained using human-curated data set of design proposals. However, this approach can limit system capabilities to generate creative designs since human knowledge of the solution space is already embedded in the training process. In this paper, we show how by using a flexible design tool that can also be used by humans, an artificial agent can learn to generate creative designs with any prior knowledge of the solution space. Our results show how our agent is able to create human-level design proposals in terms of performance and novelty. Based on these results, we discuss the importance of defining a shared design language and tools in order to support human-AI collaboration in creative scenarios. • Common generative design language to construct shapes for humans and artificial agents. • Exploration of design solutions space through a physically-based environment. • Shape generation algorithm matching human-generated proposals. • Evaluation study based on performance and novelty. • Shape similarity analysis based on a human perception test online.

Detection of Burmese pythons in the near-infrared versus visible band.

Human task performance studies are commonly used for detecting and identifying potential military threats. In this work, these principles are applied to detection of an environmental threat: the invasive Burmese python. A qualitative detection of Burmese pythons with a visible light camera and an 850 nm near-infrared (NIR) camera was performed in natural Florida backgrounds. The results showed that the difference in reflectivity between the pythons and native foliage was much greater in NIR, effectively circumventing the python's natural camouflage in the visible band. In this work, a comparison of detection performance in the selected near-infrared band versus the visible band was conducted. Images of foliage backgrounds with and without a python were taken in each band in daylight and at night with illumination. Intensities of these images were then calibrated and prepared for a human perception test. Participants were tasked with detecting pythons, and the human perception data was used to compare performance between the bands. The results show that the enhanced contrast in the NIR enabled participants to detect pythons at 20% longer ranges than the use of visible imagery.

Genetically related singers—acoustic feature analysis and impact on singer identification

Studies relating music with genetics have been one of the fascinating fields of research. In this study, we have attempted to answer the most curious question-how acoustically close are the genetically related singers? The present study has investigated this perception using two genetically different relations-three female sibling singers and father-son singer relation. These are famous Indian playback singers and the acoustic features are extracted using the songs of Bollywood films. Three different sets of self-developed cappella database are used for the experimentation. Positive correlations among the major musical aptitudes-pitch, vibrato, formant, and harmonic spectral envelope for both the singer relationships-revealed the genetic impact on the acoustic features. Also, the investigation of timbre spectral feature proved it a significant acoustic feature that differentiates similar voices. With Spearman's correlation coefficient, we conclude that strong acoustical association was observed between the acoustic features of genetically related singers, especially the female sibling singers. This was further validated by correlating these singers with genetically unrelated singers. A human perception test performed using cover songs indicated the genetic impact in voice similarity, while the automatic singer identification system discriminated singers more accurately than the human listeners.

Research progress on human feel test method of Substation low frequency noise

Low frequency noise has the characteristics of slow attenuation, strong penetration and long propagation distance. Compared with other types of environmental noise with the same equivalent sound level, the subjective annoyance of low frequency noise in substation is higher, which easily leads to the problem of public complaints. In order to quantify people’s subjective and objective feelings of noise, researchers established the relationship between subjective perception and objective parameters through human perception test. In this paper, the development history of low frequency noise human perception test method and the present situation are investigated, and a feasible human perception test method suitable for substation low frequency noise is put forward.

Image Text Deblurring Method Based on Generative Adversarial Network

In the automatic sorting process of express delivery, a three-segment code is used to represent a specific area assigned by a specific delivery person. In the process of obtaining the courier order information, the camera is affected by factors such as light, noise, and subject shake, which will cause the information on the courier order to be blurred, and some information will be lost. Therefore, this paper proposes an image text deblurring method based on a generative adversarial network. The model of the algorithm consists of two generative adversarial networks, combined with Wasserstein distance, using a combination of adversarial loss and perceptual loss on unpaired datasets to train the network model to restore the captured blurred images into clear and natural image. Compared with the traditional method, the advantage of this method is that the loss function between the input and output images can be calculated indirectly through the positive and negative generative adversarial networks. The Wasserstein distance can achieve a more stable training process and a more realistic generation effect. The constraints of adversarial loss and perceptual loss make the model capable of training on unpaired datasets. The experimental results on the GOPRO test dataset and the self-built unpaired dataset showed that the two indicators, peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity index (SSIM), increased by 13.3% and 3%, respectively. The human perception test results demonstrated that the algorithm proposed in this paper was better than the traditional blur algorithm as the deblurring effect was better.

Long-term evaluation of HVDC transmission line audible noise and its correlation with background noise

The audible noise (AN) generated by corona discharge from a full-scale, high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission line was evaluated over a one-year period from December 2017 to November 2018. The double bipolar HVDC transmission line using a metallic return conductor was demonstrated using a full-scale tower having a height of 21 m in Gochang, Korea. The measured AN in an outdoor environment was statistically evaluated and compared in different seasons and weather conditions. The A-weighted spectrum of the HVDC corona noise exhibited a greater distribution than the background noise above 1.0 kHz in the frequency domain. Various background noises were considered and eliminated to improve the measurement accuracy. The highest AN levels were exhibited during the spring season. Individuals in the age range of 18–60 years were randomly selected to conduct a human-perception test. The results indicated that 15% of the participants became aware of the AN from the corona discharge when it was >5 dBA greater than the background noise. The AN was <36 dBA when the conductor surface gradient was <18 kV/cm with a six-bundle sub-conductor.

Subjective Evaluation of Music Compressed with the ACER Codec Compared to AAC, MP3, and Uncompressed PCM

Audio data compression has revolutionised the way in which the music industry and musicians sell and distribute their products. Our previous research presented a novel codec named ACER (Audio Compression Exploiting Repetition), which achieves data reduction by exploiting irrelevancy and redundancy in musical structure whilst generally maintaining acceptable levels of noise and distortion in objective evaluations. However, previous work did not evaluate ACER using subjective listening tests, leaving a gap to demonstrate its applicability under human audio perception tests. In this paper, we present a double-blind listening test that was conducted with a range of listeners (N=100). The aim was to determine the efficacy of the ACER codec, in terms of perceptible noise and spatial distortion artefacts, against de facto standards for audio data compression and an uncompressed reference. Results show that participants reported no perceived differences between the uncompressed, MP3, AAC, ACER high quality, and ACER medium quality compressed audio in terms of noise and distortions but that the ACER low quality format was perceived as being of lower quality. However, in terms of participants’ perceptions of the stereo field, all formats under test performed as well as each other, with no statistically significant differences. A qualitative, thematic analysis of listeners’ feedback revealed that the noise artefacts that produced the ACER technique are different from those of comparator codecs, reflecting its novel approach. Results show that the quality of contemporary audio compression systems has reached a stage where their performance is perceived to be as good as uncompressed audio. The ACER format is able to compete as an alternative, with results showing a preference for the ACER medium quality versions over WAV, MP3, and AAC. The ACER process itself is viable on its own or in conjunction with techniques such as MP3 and AAC.

Deep cartoon colorizer: An automatic approach for colorization of vintage cartoons

Although there exist several approaches to the automatic colorization of the natural scene images and movies the problem of cartoon colorization has barely been considered. Therefore, this paper proposes a fully automatic pipeline to create a plausible colorization of vintage cartoons which is visually appealing to a human observer. Particularly, the Deep Cartoon Colorizer is proposed. The method incorporates an encoder–decoder convolutional neural network which is trained to map colors onto consecutive cartoon frames. The method was trained with 4944 images and tested on 34 vintage Disney cartoons including both the decolorized and the originally monochrome movies. In total 265388 cartoon frames were assessed including 246591 decolorized frames and 18797 originally monochrome ones. The resulting automatic colorizations were evaluated both quantitatively (by means of popular image perceptual quality measures) and qualitatively (by performing a human perception test). The resulting median values of the image quality measures range from 0.66 for Visual Information Fidelity and 0.85 for HaarPSI, through 0.94 for Structural Similarity Index, to 0.97 for Universal Image Quality Index which is a very good result. The subjective scores assigned by the human raters’ on a ten-degree scale are on average equal to 6.11 and 6.63 for decolorized and monochrome frames respectively. This result also confirms that the desired effect of plausible colorization was obtained by the introduced approach.

Testing the Image Quality of Cabinet X-ray Systems for Security Screening: The Revised ASTM F792 Standard

ASTM F792, Standard Practice for Evaluating the Imaging Performance of Security X-ray Systems, provides test objects and methods for measuring the imaging performance of cabinet X-ray systems used at security checkpoints. The standard is widely used, with many thousands of ASTM F792 test objects utilized throughout the world. The last major revision of the standard was more than 15 years ago (2001), and since that time, several deficiencies have been noted when using the standard for testing modern systems employing multiple-view and multiple-energy configurations. Accordingly, the present work describes a new revision of the ASTM F792 standard realized as a trifurcation into three parts, each with its own separate test object and associated test method. The three parts of the standard are intended for routine testing, human-perception testing, and objective technical testing, and represent a major update to this venerable standard.

Evaluation of an Arabic Speech Corpus of Emotions: A Perceptual and Statistical Analysis

The processing of emotion has a wide range of applications in many different fields and has become the subject of increasing interest and attention for many speech and language researchers. Speech emotion recognition systems face many challenges. One of these is the degree of naturalness of the emotions in speech corpora. To prove the ability of speakers to accurately emulate emotions and to check whether listeners could identify the intended emotion, a human perception test was designed for a new emotional speech corpus. This paper presents an exhaustive statistical and perceptual investigation of the emotional speech corpus (KSUEmotions) for Arabic King Saud University approved by the Linguistic Data Consortium. The KSUEmotions corpus was built in two phases and involved 23 native speakers (10 males and 13 females) to emulate the following five emotions: neutral, sadness, happiness, surprise, and anger. Nine listeners were participated in a blind and randomly structured human perceptual test to assess the validity of the intended emotions. Statistical tests were used to analyze the effects of speaker gender, reviewer (listener) gender, emotion type, sentence length, and the interaction between these factors. Conducted statistical tests included the two-way analysis of variance, normality, chi-square, Bonferroni, Tukey, and Mann–Whitney U tests. One of the outcomes of the study is that the speaker gender, emotion type, and interaction between emotion type and speaker gender yield significant effects on the emotion perception in this corpus.

Evaluation of aroma functionality imparted on natural indigo-dyed cotton fabrics

Long-term efficacy of aroma microcapsules on natural indigo-dyed cotton fabric was evaluated by objective and subjective tests. The fixation of aroma microcapsules was carried out by pad-dry-cure process on dyed cotton fabric. Mercerized cotton fabric was dyed with natural indigo obtained from Polygonum tintorium (via the modified Niram method) and subsequently padded with melamine-formaldehyde microcapsules containing aroma essential oil (natural source of a Chinese arborvitae 20-25 %). Softener was applied in the same (one-step) or sequential (two-step) padding bath. We confirmed that microcapsules were fixed on cotton fibers by SEM analysis. The addition of softener was not much effective for the fabric performances on softness or air permeability. All the colorfastness ratings were above 4/5 and the color difference was within the acceptable range of 1.62-2.08. The efficacy of fabric samples stored for 2 years was evaluated using the GC/MS-headspace technique and the samples stored for 0.5, 1.5, and 2.5 years were also evaluated in terms of aroma release by the human perception test. Bornyl acetate was confirmed as the main component of essential oil, which was continuously released by the microcapsule-treated fabric (D/MC) during storage for more than 2 years. In durability and human perception tests, the microcapsules on the cotton fabric were stable to laundering, rubbing, ironing, and light.

Three-dimensional audio immersion: Development and human perception testing of a large scale, 128 loudspeaker surround sound system

Large-scale loudspeaker arrays for immersive audio are beginning to see increased interest in the research and entertainment industries. There are many algorithms to produce 3D sound fields. Although these algorithms are well developed, there is little published work that quantitatively compares their performance in terms of human perception for various numbers of speakers and speaker arrangements. In this talk, we will present listener perception test results using a 3D, 128 loudspeaker array. This loudspeaker array is part of the CUBE theatre at Virginia Tech. The CUBE is a 5-storey 50 ft. x 50 ft. black-box theatre that uses Dante™ audio-over-ethernet to send signals to the 128 loudspeakers. Combined with a 3D motion tracking system and an immersive video vision system. The CUBE provides a very high-resolution test bed for human perception studies. Using speech intelligibility tests with stimulus phrases and various interferers and noise fields, listener tests will be performed for surround sound algorithms such as Higher Order Ambisonics, Vector Based Amplitude Panning, Wave Field Synthesis, and Higher Order HARPEX (High Angular Resolution Plane Wave Expansion). The Higher Order HARPEX decoder is a novel improvement to First Order HARPEX. Also, we will present technical details of the development of a 16-element soundfield microphone.

Müllerian mimicry as a result of codivergence between velvet ants and spider wasps.

Recent studies have delineated a large Nearctic Müllerian mimicry complex in Dasymutilla velvet ants. Psorthaspis spider wasps live in areas where this mimicry complex is found and are phenotypically similar to Dasymutilla. We tested the idea that Psorthaspis spider wasps are participating in the Dasymutilla mimicry complex and that they codiverged with Dasymutilla. We performed morphometric analyses and human perception tests, and tabulated distributional records to determine the fit of Psorthaspis to the Dasymutilla mimicry complex. We inferred a dated phylogeny using nuclear molecular markers (28S, elongation factor 1-alpha, long-wavelength rhodopsin and wingless) for Psorthaspis species and compared it to a dated phylogeny of Dasymutilla. We tested for codivergence between the two groups using two statistical analyses. Our results show that Psorthaspis spider wasps are morphologically similar to the Dasymutilla mimicry rings. In addition, our tests indicate that Psorthaspis and Dasymutilla codiverged to produce similar color patterns. This study expands the breadth of the Dasymutilla Müllerian mimicry complex and provides insights about how codivergence influenced the evolution of mimicry in these groups.

가속도 크기 변수에 따른 수직진동에 대한 인지수준 고찰

Occupants induced floor vertical vibrations may cause other occupants annoyance and lead to social loss. To help control such floor vibrations, several criteria have been developed mostly based on human perception tests and floor vibration tests. Floor vibration is evaluated by comparison with criteria and vibration parameters of subject floor, such as frequency, damping ratio, acceleration value, vibration duration time and occurrence frequency. Three acceleration value parameters are used in criteria; peak acceleration, rms acceleration and VDV, when a floor vibration serviceability is evaluated. Meanwhile rms acceleration and peak acceleration are adopted as vibration limit value in criteria and researches of human perception for vibration. Occupants induced floor vibration is transient rather than steady state. However, rms acceleration is not reliable parameter for evaluating transient vibration. The objective of this study is to investigate the characters of human perception level according to acceleration value parameters for vibration induced by heel impacts and walking activities.

P‐48: A New Approach Toward Visual Clarity Assessment Using Perceptual Contrast Length

AbstractContrast ratio is one of the most important performance parameters used to evaluate visual clarity of displays. However, conventionally‐used absolute contrast ratio value has imperfect correlation to human perception of image quality. A new measurement method, called perceptual contrast length (PCL), is proposed as an improved standard for measuring contrast. Based on human perception tests under various conditions, PCL is shown to have higher correlation to human perception of image quality.

P01-236 - Bipolar disorder and heroin addiction-case report

BackgroundIt was estimated that in general adult population represented in 2–3% co-occurring mental and substance use disorders.In our case we represented the patient who is a long-time heroin addict with a dual diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Special attention was payed to influence of the primary psychiatric disorder to a course and treatment of substance abuse.MethodsPatient is observed during the five years from March 2005 to March 2010. In the evaluation of the case we used History of illness, MINI, HAMD. and psychological tests battery (MMPI 202, Drawing Human Figure, EGO Perception and EGO Ideal Test).ResultsDuring the observation we have noticed that the patient was started treatment in periods of depression decompensation, because of heroin relapse. In that moment HAMD score was between 20 and 24 points. After detoxification, the patient was experiencing a switch in hippomanic state, which resulted in drop-out in the first month of treatment. This course of disease was repeated five times during our observation. Because the patient retained in treatment, we were able to progress. Now, the patient has been in abstinence for eight months, and he is in acceptable affective stability.ConclusionBipolar Disorder is increased risk for frequent heroin relapses and continuity in the therapeutic treatment. This influence may involve direct effects of drugs on the initiation of affective symptoms and indirect effects on treatment compliance. When symptoms are controlled through these psychiatric medications, patients will benefit from therapeutic treatment of their substance abuse.

Human Perception Test of Discontinuous Force and a Trial of Skill Transfer Using a Five-Fingered Haptic Interface

In the transferring of expert skills, it takes a great deal of time and effort for beginners to obtain new skills, and it is difficult to teach the skills by using only words. For those reasons, a skill transfer system that uses virtual reality (VR) and a haptic interface technique is very attractive. In this study, we investigated the human perception of fingertip force with respect to the following changes: (1) the spatial change of the presented force, and (2) the change of the time to present the force. Based on the results of the perception experiments, we considered the skill transfer to a person's five fingers by using a five-fingered haptic interface robot.

Acceleration Thresholds of Vertical Floor Vibrations According to Human Perception Levels in Korea

Vertical floor vibrations in residential buildings are typically induced by the movements of jumping and walking of occupants, which often annoy other occupants. To help control such floor vibrations, several criteria have been developed mostly based on human perception tests. The objective of this study is to propose acceleration thresholds of appropriate vertical floor vibration due to heel impacts and walking activities. Four different perception levels are considered appropriate criteria for Korean residential buildings; imperceptible, slightly perceptible, distinctly perceptible, and strongly perceptible. Shaking table tests were conducted simulating heel impact induced- and walking induced-vertical vibrations for various combinations of frequencies, damping ratios and acceleration amplitudes. Twenty Korean test subjects were used. It is observed that test subjects are more sensitive to walking-induced vibrations than those induced by heel impacts having the same peak accelerations. This study also shows that the acceleration thresholds proposed as a result of this study using Korean testing subjects are lower than those proposed by other researchers in different countries.

Terahertz imaging system performance model for concealed-weapon identification

The U.S. Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory have developed a terahertz (THz) -band imaging system performance model for detection and identification of concealed weaponry. The MATLAB-based model accounts for the effects of all critical sensor and display components and for the effects of atmospheric attenuation, concealment material attenuation, and active illumination. The model is based on recent U.S. Army NVESD sensor performance modeling technology that couples system design parameters to observer-sensor field performance by using the acquire methodology for weapon identification performance predictions. This THz model has been developed in support of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agencies' Terahertz Imaging Focal-Plane Technology (TIFT) program and is currently being used to guide the design and development of a 0.650 THz active-passive imaging system. This paper will describe the THz model in detail, provide and discuss initial modeling results for a prototype THz imaging system, and outline plans to calibrate and validate the model through human perception testing.

Modeling the target acquisition performance of active imaging systems

Recent development of active imaging system technology in the defense and security community have driven the need for a theoretical understanding of its operation and performance in military applications such as target acquisition. In this paper, the modeling of active imaging systems, developed at the U.S. Army RDECOM CERDEC Night Vision & Electronic Sensors Directorate, is presented with particular emphasis on the impact of coherent effects such as speckle and atmospheric scintillation. Experimental results from human perception tests are in good agreement with the model results, validating the modeling of coherent effects as additional noise sources. Example trade studies on the design of a conceptual active imaging system to mitigate deleterious coherent effects are shown.