Auditory Assessment of Multichannel Audio Systems

Abstract:
Tailor-made test methodologies for the assessment of (immersive) audio systems are not yet available. Some proposals were made recently regarding the relevant perceptual attributes and the listening test methodology. This contribution describes two recently conducted comparison category rating (CCR) listening tests which use four rating scales (timbre, distortion, immersion and overall quality). The description comprises the choice of audio material as well as the test environment before proposing a novel way for the analysis of the voting behaviour of the test subjects. It is shown that the proposed analysis allows for a quantification of the consistency of each individual test subject and thresholds for excluding the results of unreliable test subjects are devised. The relation between the overall quality and the individual quality attributes is finally investigated as a first step towards an instrumental evaluation of audio quality.