Objective and subjective evaluations of the multi-channel auralization technique as applied to solo instruments

Auralizations are commonly used today by architectural acousticians as a tool to model acoustically sensitive spaces. This paper presents investigations employing an auralization methodology known as multi-channel auralizations, to determine the benefits of using an increasing number of channels in such auralizations. First an objective evaluation was conducted to examine how acoustic parameters, such as reverberation time, vary when using “quadrant” (one fourth of a spherical source) or “thirteenth” sources to create the binaural room impulse responses. Large differences in the values were found between the different sections of the sphere, on the order of several just noticeable differences. Two subjective studies were then pursued, first to determine if auralizations made with an increasing number of channels sound more realistic and have an increased perceived source size, using solo musical instruments of varying directivity indices as the sources. Overall, subjects perceived the auralizations made with an increasing number of channels as more realistic, whereas results for perceived source size are less clear. The second subjective study assessed the ease with which subjects could identify the source orientation from the auralizations as a function of number of channels. Results indicate that more channels made it easier for subjects to differentiate between source orientations.     

混响感知的听觉心理

综述了中国传媒大学传播声学研究所近年来在混响的主观感知机理上的研究工作和进展,涉及混响感的语意调查与分析,音乐听闻的混响偏爱度实验,混响感的差别阈限,混响感的因素分析,以及混响处理与音乐情感之间的相互影响等研究结果。对混响感知的研究对进一步探究在有界空间中主观听感的生理心理机制是十分有启发的。     

Influence of structural variability upon sound perception: Usefulness of fractional factorial designs

The present paper introduces an efficient and time-saving approach for the evaluation of the consequences of structural uncertainties on sound perception. Its aim is to validate the use of fractional factorial designs for perceptual assessment of a model system. A test bench was used, which allowed to accurately control the variability of several structural design parameters. Sounds emitted by the bench were recorded with a dummy head and submitted to listeners during two experiments, in which they had to evaluate the dissimilarity of each sound to a reference, representing the nominal state of the device. In the first experiment, six factors, assumed to be independent, were used to define a fractional factorial design. As an analysis of variance showed that two interactions between factors should have been taken into account, a second experimental design was developed to quantify these interactions. These two experiments allowed to define an accurate model of sound perception, describing the effect of each factor on the perceived dissimilarity. Thus, it was possible to relate the variability of the structure to the perception of the sound emitted with few experimental effort.     

Subjective evaluation and an objective measure of a church bell sound quality

The research described in this paper attempts to give an answer to a very old question about a good sounding bell. To this end, a large number of listening tests were performed in which ten bells were compared in pairs to investigate whether bells could be evaluated by subjective sound quality. Furthermore, two new parameters that can be used for objective evaluation of bell sound quality are proposed: the nearest ideal bell deviation and the percentage of the sound energy contained in the first five partials. The ten bells were compared based on the values of the introduced objective parameters. The paper presents correlation of the subjective and the objective analysis, demonstrating applicability of a novel method for bell sound quality assessment.     

From everyday emotions to aesthetic emotions: Towards a unified theory of musical emotions

The sound of music may arouse profound emotions in listeners. But such experiences seem to involve a ‘paradox’, namely that music – an abstract form of art, which appears removed from our concerns in everyday life – can arouse emotions – biologically evolved reactions related to human survival. How are these (seemingly) non-commensurable phenomena linked together? Key is to understand the processes through which sounds are imbued with meaning. It can be argued that the survival of our ancient ancestors depended on their ability to detect patterns in sounds, derive meaning from them, and adjust their behavior accordingly. Such an ecological perspective on sound and emotion forms the basis of a recent multi-level framework that aims to explain emotional responses to music in terms of a large set of psychological mechanisms. The goal of this review is to offer an updated and expanded version of the framework that can explain both ‘everyday emotions’ and ‘aesthetic emotions’. The revised framework – referred to as BRECVEMA – includes eight mechanisms: Brain Stem Reflex, Rhythmic Entrainment, Evaluative Conditioning, Contagion, Visual Imagery, Episodic Memory, Musical Expectancy, and Aesthetic Judgment. In this review, it is argued that all of the above mechanisms may be directed at information that occurs in a ‘musical event’ (i.e., a specific constellation of music, listener, and context). Of particular significance is the addition of a mechanism corresponding to aesthetic judgments of the music, to better account for typical ‘appreciation emotions’ such as admiration and awe. Relationships between aesthetic judgments and other mechanisms are reviewed based on the revised framework. It is suggested that the framework may contribute to a long-needed reconciliation between previous approaches that have conceptualized music listeners? responses in terms of either ‘everyday emotions’ or ‘aesthetic emotions’.     

噪声中纯音听辨能力的训练效应

设计了一组噪声掩蔽下的纯音听辨训练实验,探究听感训练对听音人员在噪声背景下的目标信号辨别能力的影响。实验结果表明,听音训练有助于目标信号辨识能力的提高,并从统计上分析了此组听音人的目标声识别能力随训练时间的变化曲线。探讨了不同信噪比下听音者的听辨学习变化规律,以及不同个体在训练前后的听辨能力差异。     

民乐片段混响感主观偏爱度的初步实验

为了探讨不同受试人群、不同实验素材对民乐片段混响感主观偏爱度的影响，以民族器乐中典型的弹拨乐器、拉弦乐器、吹奏乐器独奏作品片段为实验素材，以有经验的音响技师和普通大学生为受试人，采用对偶比较法对实验素材混响处理的主观偏爱度进行了实验测量。实验得出了两组受试对不同实验素材所偏爱的混响时间，验证了同一受试组对不同素材偏爱的混响感不同；发现不同受试组对同一实验素材实验结果的差别不显著。     

Personal artist recommendation via a listening and trust preference network

Trust information provided by a user unfolds his/her reliable friends with similar tastes. It not only has the potential to help provide better recommendations but also emancipates the recommendation process from heavy computation for seeking friends. In this paper, by taking into account the latent value of trust information, our personal artist recommendation algorithm via a listening and trust preference network (LTPN for short) is presented. We argue that the excellent recommendation should be acquired via the listening and trust preference network instead of the original listening and trust relation information. Experimental results demonstrate LTPN can not only provide better recommendation but also help relieve the cold start problem caused by new users.