AES Journal

Journal of the AES

2008 June - Volume 56 Number 6


Papers

PAPERS
On Some Biases Encountered in Modern Audio Quality Listening Tests-A Review (PDF-670KB) (HI-RES PDF-8.0MB)  
Slawomir Zielinski, Francis Rumsey, and Søren Bech    427
A careful evaluation of listening tests designed to measure audio quality shows that they are vulnerable to systematic errors, which include biases due to affective judgments, response mapping bias, and interface bias. As a result of factors such as personal preferences, the appearance of the equipment, and the listeners' expectations or mood, errors can range up to 40% with respect to the total range of the scale. As a general conclusion, test results should be considered relative, rather than absolute. Scales in previous studies, which have been assumed to be linear, may exhibit departure from linearity. The visual appearance of the user interface may lead to severe quantization of the distribution of scores. Recommendations are offered to improve audio quality tests.  

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Binaural Loudness for Artificial-Head Measurements in Directional Sound Fields (PDF-469KB) (HI-RES PDF-6.6MB)  
Ville Pekka Sivonen and Wolfgang Ellermeier    452
The effect of the angle of incidences in the horizontal plane influences the perceived loudness of a sound field. In binaural listening, the experience of loudness requires two signals to be combined, each of which has been changed by head shadowing. This research provides a model based on power summation for predicting binaural loudness using artificial-head measurements. In subjective listening tests, there were no statistically significant differences between naive and expert listeners.  

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Mechanical Resonances and Geometrical Nonlinearities in Electrodynamic Loudspeakers (PDF-449KB) (HI-RES PDF-3.7MB)  
Nicolas Quaegebeur and Antoine Chaigne    462
A method for analyzing the nonlinear behavior of loudspeakers, which includes the effects of modal resonances and geometrical nonlinearities, results in a model without regard to the kind of nonlinearity. This state-space approach is equally valid for a single degree of freedom (plane wave piston) and higher order degrees, including "break-up" modes of vibration. For a classical loudspeaker, consistency between predicted and measured results across the audible range validates the method. Nonlinearities are observed near resonance frequencies and at their submultiples.  

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Virtual Sound Source Rendering Using a Multipole-Expansion and Method-of-Moments Approach (PDF-431KB) (HI-RES PDF-5.7MB)  
Jens Hannemann and Kevin D. Donohue    473
Using an arbitrary arrangement of loudspeakers, a novel method for rendering audio signals can create virtual and immersive environments. By emphasizing a small sweet spot, unlike the more popular wavefield synthesis (WFS), this method renders virtual sources in a small area around a single listener, which significantly reduces the number of loudspeakers required for comparable performance. A standard personal computer is able to run the computationally efficient algorithm in real time. An example demonstrates a tone moving through the listener's environment.  

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STANDARDS AND INFORMATION DOCUMENTS
AES Standards Committee News (PDF-36KB)    482
Audio-file transfer and exchange  
 
FEATURES
34th Conference Preview, Jeju Island, Korea (PDF-726KB)    484
     Calendar (PDF-144KB)    487
     Program (PDF-214KB)    488
If It's Loud, Does That Mean It's Bad? (PDF-807KB)    Francis Rumsey    493
35th Conference, London, Call for Papers (PDF-31KB)    518
 
DEPARTMENTS
Upcoming Meetings (PDF-46KB)    498
News of the Sections (PDF-492KB)    499
Sound Track (PDF-48KB)    505
New Products and Developments (PDF-89KB)    506
Membership Information (PDF-210KB)    508
Advertiser Internet Directory (PDF-122KB)    509
Sections Contacts Directory (PDF-142KB)    520
AES Conventions and Conferences (PDF-108KB)    528
 
EXTRAS
Cover & Sustaining Members List (PDF-69KB)    
AES Officers, Committees, Offices & Journal Staff (PDF-63KB)    
Advertisements (PDF-739KB)    
AES - Audio Engineering Society