Identification of some perceptual dimensions underlying loudspeaker dissimilarities

Abstract

This study investigated the dimensions underlying perceived differences between loudspeakers. Listeners compared the sound reproduction of 12 loudspeakers in a room, using three musical excerpts. For the loudspeakers to be compared one just after the other in exactly the same conditions, the sounds radiated by the loudspeakers were recorded in a listening room, and the recorded sounds were submitted to paired comparisons using headphones. The resulting perceptual dissimilarities were analyzed by using a multidimensional scaling technique, revealing two main perceptual dimensions used by listeners to discriminate the loudspeakers. These dimensions were identical for the three musical excerpts. As the signals heard by listeners were directly accessible, they were used to define acoustical attributes describing the perceptual dimensions. Instead of arbitrarily choosing one acoustical analysis to define these attributes, several analyses were compared. The temporal, spectral, and time-frequency domains were investigated, and different auditory models were tested. These auditory models allowed the best description of the differences perceived by listeners, and were used to define two acoustical attributes describing our perceptual dimensions: the bass/treble balance and the medium emergence.

Objective Characterization of Perceptual Dimensions Underlying the Sound Reproduction of 37 Single Loudspeakers in a Room

“…Theym ostly consisted of "qualitative links" between the shapes of frequencyr esponses of loudspeakers and their evaluations along an overall fidelity scale or a particular perceptual scale [4,9,15]. In order to provide quantitative measures that corresponds to perceptual dimensions, Olive [5] proposed attributes based on the spectrum of the signal, whereas Klippel [10], Bramslow [ 14] and Lavandier et al [13] proposed attributes based on an auditory model.…”

“…To our knowledge, most existing listening tests aiming to characterize the sound reproduction by loudspeakers are based on quality (preference)j udgments [1,2,3,4,5]. Afew studies deal with the perceivedd i ff erences between sounds reproduced by different loudspeakers using absolute ratings on different semantic scales [6,7,8,9] or the evaluation of relative differences [10,11,12,13]. The study presented here focuses on quantifying the perceiveddifferences between the reproduction of musical excerpts through different loudspeakers.…”

“…Several studies were focused on the link between perceptual dimensions and objective measures [4,5,10,13,9,14]. Theym ostly consisted of "qualitative links" between the shapes of frequencyr esponses of loudspeakers and their evaluations along an overall fidelity scale or a particular perceptual scale [4,9,15].…”

Eliciting the most prominent perceived differences between microphones

“…Gabrielsson and Sj€ ogren (1979) elicited 55 descriptors of the differences between loudspeakers, and analysed these descriptors to find the 8 most prominent corresponding attributes: clearness/distinctness, sharpness/hard-softness, brightness/darkness, fullness-thinness; feeling of space, nearness; disturbing sounds, and loudness. More recent work by Lavandier et al (2008) found two salient dimensions relating to the perceived differences between loudspeakers from a multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) analysis. These were labeled: bass/treble balance and medium emergence.…”

“…Relevant perceptual descriptors and attributes can be identified by using elicitation experiments, and these have been widely conducted for loudspeakers, musical acoustics, concert hall acoustics, and multi-channel audio systems, e.g., Disley et al (2006); Francombe et al (2014); Gabrielsson (1979); Gabrielsson and Sj€ ogren (1979); Koivuniemi and Zacharov (2001); Lavandier et al (2008); Lokki et al (2011Lokki et al ( , 2012. Gabrielsson and Sj€ ogren (1979) elicited 55 descriptors of the differences between loudspeakers, and analysed these descriptors to find the 8 most prominent corresponding attributes: clearness/distinctness, sharpness/hard-softness, brightness/darkness, fullness-thinness; feeling of space, nearness; disturbing sounds, and loudness.…”