AES New York 2018
Engineering Brief EB07
EB07 - Posters: Applications in Audio
Saturday, October 20, 2:30 pm — 4:00 pm (Poster Area)
EB07-1 Noise Reduction for Randomized Speech and Audio Coding in WASNs—Johannes Fischer, International Audio Laboratories Erlangen - Erlangen, Germany; Tom Bäckström, Aalto University - Espoo, Finland
We are surrounded by a multitude of connected devices with microphones, the signal of which should be combined for best sound quality. Thus, we recently proposed a distributed speech and audio codec that decorrelates quantization noise applying randomization. In this paper this method is extended attenuating quantization noise using Wiener filtering at the decoder. We demonstrate that this approach can be used to jointly attenuate quantization noise and background noise present at the microphones. By using orthogonal randomization matrices, computational complexity can be minimized by separating the Wiener ?lter from the inverse randomization. Our evaluation shows that Wiener filtering in combination with a randomized distributed codec is an efficient method to attenuate background and quantization noise at the decoder.
Engineering Brief 483 (Download now)
EB07-2 Adaptive Ballistics Control of Dynamic Range Compression for Percussive Tracks—Dave Moffat, Queen Mary University London - London, UK; Mark Sandler, Queen Mary University of London - London, UK
Dynamic range compression (DRC) is a very commonly used audio effect. One use of DRC is to emphasize transients in an audio signal. The aim of this paper is to present an approach for automatically setting dynamic range compression timing parameters, adaptively, allowing parameters to adapt to the incoming audio signal, with the aim of emphasizing transients within percussive audio tracks. An implementation approach is presented.
Engineering Brief 484 (Download now)
EB07-3 A Device for Measuring Auditory Brainstem Responses to Audio—Piotr Odya, Gdansk University of Technology - Gdansk, Poland; Andrzej Czyzewski, Gdansk University of Technology - Gdansk, Poland; Andrzej Sroczynski, Gdansk University of Technology - Gdansk, Poland; Bozena Kostek, Gdansk University of Technology - Gdansk, Poland; Audio Acoustics Lab.
Standard ABR devices use clicks and tone bursts to assess subjects’ hearing in an objective way. A new device was developed that extends the functionality of a standard ABR audiometer by collecting and analyzing auditory brainstem responses (ABR). The developed accessory allows for the use of complex sounds (e.g., speech or music excerpts) as stimuli. Therefore, it is possible to find out how efficiently different types of sounds are processed in the hearing system including brain. The paper contains technical details related to the design of the device, including its hardware and software parts. The test results that have been carried out to verify the operation of the device are also described.
Engineering Brief 485 (Download now)
EB07-4 Measuring and Evaluating Excess Noise in Resistors—Brewster LaMacchia, Clockworks Signal Processing LLC - Andover, MA, USA; Bradford Swanson, Tufts University - Cambridge, MA
All resistors generate white (Johnson-Nysquist) noise based on their value and temperature; they can also generate several other types of (excess) noise. The amount or characteristics of a resistor’s excess noise could be one factor contributing to variations in perceived sound quality. This research explores methods for measuring the Johnson-Nysquist and excess noise of different resistors with the hopes of quantifying the performance of the components under test. A methodology is proposed for evaluating the audibility of both Johnson-Nysquist and excess noise that requires no special measurement equipment, only a sound system with suitable computer and freely available software.
Engineering Brief 486 (Download now)
EB07-5 A New Compact 3D Reproduction System: The Tetra-Speaker—Parichat Songmuang, New York University - New York, NY, USA
As 3D audio becomes a prominent field of research in audio technology, researchers continue to develop reproduction methods that will best translate 3D recordings. Reproduction techniques have ranged from unique surround systems to 3D speakers such as the dodecahedron. However, these methods may be complex with its disadvantages. These systems tend to be configured for ambient or surround recordings. In this recent project, a new 3D speaker system was created not only for those surround recordings but also for individual sources. The speaker takes influence from the tetra-microphone structure. Testing for the radiation pattern has yet to be conducted. This project is an ongoing research and explores its use with different single-source recordings as well as creative “moving” audio.
Engineering Brief 487 (Download now)
EB07-6 Music Streaming Platforms—Quality and Technical Comparison—Pawel Malecki, AGH University of Science and Technology - Krakow, Poland; Dorota Czopek, AGH University of Science and Technology - Krakow, Poland; Katarzyna Sochaczewska, AGH University of Science and Technology - Krakow, Poland
Music streaming platforms dominate the contemporary music industry. Through such platforms for a fixed monthly fee, or even for free, listeners get access to a huge online music database. In recent years many platforms have been created and they currently compete with each other. They offer different subscription prices, sound quality, and service ranges. This paper presents a comparison of the technical parameters and an auditory assessment of the differences between selected streaming platforms. A listening test containing diversified sound material was carried out using the ABX method (3IFC - 3 interval stimulus with forced choice and hidden reference). Over 50 subjects participated in the listening test. After basic statistical analysis, the results were presented in graphical form.
Engineering Brief 488 (Download now)
EB07-7 Development of Ambisonic Microphone Design Tools—Part 1—Charles Middlicott, University of Derby - Derby, UK; Bruce Wiggins, University of Derby - Derby, Derbyshire, UK
In recent years an increase in the capture and production of ambisonic material has occurred as a result of companies such as YouTube and Facebook utilizing ambisonics for spatial audio playback. There is now a greater need for affordable higher order microphone arrays. This work details the development of a set of tools that can be used to simulate and evaluate such microphone arrays, The “Ambisonic Array Design Tool” for simulation and “Ambisonic Array Evaluation Tool” for evaluation. The microphone capsules’ position and directivity can be changed, with the effects on the synthesized spherical harmonics frequency and polar responses observed within the GUI. These scripts written in MatLab have been packaged within a GUI and will be available online.
Engineering Brief 489 (Download now)
EB07-8 Introducing a Dataset of Guitar Amplifier Sounds for Nonlinear Emulation Benchmarking—Thomas Schmitz, University of Liege - Liege, Belgium; Jean-Jacques Embrechts, University of Liege - Liege, Belgium
Recent progresses made in the nonlinear system identification field have improved the ability to emulate nonlinear audio systems such as tube guitar amplifiers. As a straightforward comparison of different models cannot always be made, we propose a new reference dataset enabling to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of different nonlinear modeling methods. Our dataset gathers five different styles of guitar sounds passing through different guitar amplifiers with 10 steps of their gain parameter (i.e., the distortion level of the amplifier). Moreover, a Matlab function is also provided to obtain the desired input/output sounds in a matrix form.
Engineering Brief 490 (Download now)