Evaluation of spatial audio quality in non-standardized test environments

非标准化测试环境中的空间音频质量评估

• 批准号: 219464429
• 负责人: Professor Dr.-Ing. Karlheinz Brandenburg
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Medientechnik
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2011-12-31 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/219464429?language=en
• 关键词: Evaluation; spatial; audio; quality; non

Audio quality perception is already subject of different evaluation for a long time. Especially developments in the last few years in the domain of multichannel audio theoretically enable a realistic audio reproduction, but its quality for practical applications still needs to be evaluated. Despite extensive research on spatial audio quality there are still aspects that are not yet fully understood, for example the composition of the quality parameters. Quality evaluations are generally done in standardized test environments, hereinafter referred to as laboratory. Furthermore, mainly standardized evaluation methods are used, which usually measure the basic audio quality compared to a reference signal. The unidimensional, quantitative results of these methods are only comparable and repeatable in standardized test environments. They neither take into account the multidimensionality of audio quality nor the actual context of use. Furthermore, individual quality scales of subjects are not considered and quality ratings are averaged over all subjects. Another critical aspect is that the reference signal is not always known or defined. Recent research that tries to understand the multidimensionality of audio quality perception uses descriptive evaluation methods. These methods allow an individual quality rating often without a reference and participants own descriptions. Different studies already showed that timbre and spaciousness are two very important aspects of spatial audio quality. However, there is still some disagreement on the type and weighting of the quality elements and their influence on the overall quality. Except some evaluations in concert halls, the context of use it not evaluated in existing evaluations so far. Though, the subjective audio quality very much depends on the room acoustics and cannot be transferred simply to other rooms. In this project valid and repeatable evaluation and analysis methods will be developed to better understand human quality perception and to rate the perceived spatial audio quality. The goal of the project is to analyze the dimensions of audio quality perception as well as to evaluate the influence of the test environment on quality perception. The results will show the weighting and influence of the different quality parameters dependent on the context of use. They can be used directly for the development of objective quality evaluation methods and to improve coding algorithms.

音频质量感知已经很长时间以来已经进行了不同的评估。尤其是在过去几年中，多通道音频的发展理论上可以进行现实的音频复制，但仍需要评估其实用应用的质量。尽管对空间音频质量进行了广泛的研究，但仍然尚未完全了解方面，例如质量参数的组成。质量评估通常是在标准化的测试环境中进行的，以下简称为实验室。此外，主要使用了标准化的评估方法，这通常与参考信号相比衡量基本音频质量。这些方法的一维，定量结果仅在标准化的测试环境中可比性和重复性。他们既不考虑音频质量的多维性，也不考虑使用的实际使用背景。此外，不考虑各个受试者的个体质量量表，并且在所有受试者中平均质量评级。另一个关键方面是，参考信号并不总是知道或定义。最近试图了解音频质量感知的多维性的研究使用描述性评估方法。这些方法允许通常没有参考和参与者自己的描述的个人质量评级。不同的研究已经表明，音色和宽敞性是空间音频质量的两个非常重要的方面。但是，质量元素的类型和加权及其对整体质量的影响仍然存在一些分歧。除了音乐厅的一些评估外，到目前为止，在现有评估中尚未对其进行评估。但是，主观音频质量在很大程度上取决于房间的声音，而不能仅仅将其传输到其他房间。在这个项目中，将开发有效且可重复的评估和分析方法，以更好地了解人类质量的感知并评估所感知的空间音频质量。该项目的目的是分析音频质量感知的维度，并评估测试环境对质量感知的影响。结果将显示不同质量参数的权重和影响，取决于使用的上下文。它们可直接用于开发客观质量评估方法并改善编码算法。