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Virtual Localization by Blind Persons - July 2012
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Effect of Spatial Location and Presentation Rate on the Reaction to Auditory Displays - July 2012
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Watermark-Aided Pre-Echo Reduction in Low Bit-Rate Audio Coding - June 2012
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Journal of the AES

2011 May - Volume 59 Number 5

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Papers

A New Interpretation of Distortion Artifacts in Sweep Measurements

Authors:Torras-Rosell, Antoni; Jacobsen, Finn
Affiliation:Danish Fundamental Metrology, Matematiktorvet 307, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark; Acoustic Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Page:283

The characterization of acoustic spaces by impulse response measurements is often biased by the nonlinear behavior of the loudspeakers that excite the test system. While the use of swept techniques can significantly reduce the consequences of nonlinearity artifacts, such signals cannot avoid distortion degradation in the causal part of the measured impulse response. This conclusion is based on a new interpretation of the nonlinear effects using theoretical analysis, computer simulations, and direct measurements.

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Evaluation of Mel-Band and MFCC-Based Error Metrics for Correspondence to Discrimination of Spectrally Altered Musical Instrument Sounds

Authors:Horner, Andrew B.; Beauchamp, James W.; So, Richard H. Y
Affiliation:Department of Computer Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong; School and Music and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA; Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Page:290

An objective measure of the subjective timbral difference between two musical sounds is a difficult problem. Mel-band-based metrics and single mel-frequency ceptral coefficient were considered as a way of improving results obtained from previous methods based on harmonic and critical-band error metrics. Results indicate that timbral discrimination is determined by the first 5 to 10 harmonics rather than the broad spectral envelope. More sophisticated methods do not offer significant advantage.

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Analysis of Design Parameters for Crosstalk Cancellation Filters Applied to Different Loudspeaker Configurations

Authors:Parodi, Yesenia Lacouture; Rubak, Per
Affiliation:Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Page:304

Crosstalk cancellation is critical to rendering of binaural signals using loudspeakers. This study explores three different inversion techniques for selecting the optimum parameter for crosstalk filter applied to over 200 loudspeaker configurations. To obtain optimum parameters the bandwidth, filter length, and regularization constant were varied for each configuration and method. Results were dependent on the method, span angles, and filter length.

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Engineering Reports

Visualization and Analysis Tools for Low-Frequency Propagation in a Generalized 3D Acoustic Space

Authors:Hill, Adam J.; Hawksford, Malcolm O. J.
Affiliation:University of Essex, School of Computer Science & Electronic Engineering, Colchester, Essex, UK
Page:321

Using the proposed software toolbox, a designer can visualize sound waves propagating through a space. This allows for prototyping low-frequency correction systems. This software tool is based on a finite-difference time-domain algorithm. Small enclosed spaces have wildly varying responses even within a small listening area. The relationship between room mode distribution and room obstacles can readily be examined. The flexible nature of the toolbox enables accurate modeling from small-room acoustics to large-scale sound reinforcement.

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Standards and Information Documents

AES Standards Committee News

Page:338 Download:PDF (570KB)

MADI; high-resolution multichannel audio interconnection (HRMAI); digital audio measurement; digital input/output interfacing; audio file transfer and exchange

Features

Audio for Games

Author:Rumsey, Francis
Page:341

Leading research and development staff in the computer games industry met in London earlier this year for a conference on game audio. They dealt with a range of topics including synthesizing alien chat, interactive soundscape design, and spatial sound.

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The Loudness War: Do Louder, Hypercompressed Recordings Sell Better?

Author:Vickers, Earl
Affiliation:STMicroelectronics, Inc.
Page:346

The term “loudness war” refers to the ongoing competitive increase in the loudness of commercially distributed music. While this increase has been facilitated by the use of dynamic range compression, limiting, and clipping, the underlying cause is the belief that louder recordings sell better. This paper briefly reviews some possible side effects of the loudness war and presents evidence questioning the assumption that loudness is significantly correlated to listener preference and sales ranking.

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