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Engineering Brief

The Effect of Loop Length and Musical Material on Discrimination Between MP3 and WAV Files

Authors: Martin, Denis; King, Richard

AES Convention 140 · Paper 244 · May 2016

Abstract

Listening test results generally show that for bit-rates higher than 128 kbps listeners can rarely distinguish between MP3 and WAV files with any statistical significance while many audio professionals agree it is possible. This project attempts to explain some of the reasons why typical AB and ABX tests often fail by looking at the effects of loop length and music choice on listener success. An informal take-home AB listening test was used with varying musical material and music looping at different lengths. The results show that performance drops significantly with short loop lengths (<2sec, p = .02) and that the participants were able to discriminate between these two different file formats with great significance (p < .001).

Details

Published in
AES Convention 140
AES Convention
140
Paper number
244
Publication date
May 6, 2016
Session subject
eBriefs: Posters
Affiliation
McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada; The Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (See document for exact affiliation information.)
Type
Engineering Brief