Comparative Evaluation of Public Address Feedback Controllers: A Preliminary Assessment Methodology

Dupont S, Lambourg C, Leroy P, Herzog P. Comparative Evaluation of Public Address Feedback Controllers: A Preliminary Assessment Methodology. In: AES Conference: AES 2024 International Acoustics & Sound Reinforcement Conference. Audio Engineering Society; 2024.pp. 14:1-10. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22360

@inproceedings{Dupont2024_22360,
  author = {Dupont, Samuel and Lambourg, Christophe and Leroy, Pierre and Herzog, Philippe},
  title = {{Comparative Evaluation of Public Address Feedback Controllers: A Preliminary Assessment Methodology}},
  booktitle = {AES Conference: AES 2024 International Acoustics \& Sound Reinforcement Conference},
  pages = {14:1-10},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22360},
  year = {2024},
  month = jan,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Comparative Evaluation of Public Address Feedback Controllers: A Preliminary Assessment Methodology
AU  - Dupont, Samuel
AU  - Lambourg, Christophe
AU  - Leroy, Pierre
AU  - Herzog, Philippe
T2  - AES Conference: AES 2024 International Acoustics & Sound Reinforcement Conference
SP  - 1
EP  - 10
M1  - Paper 14
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/01/06
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22360
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - Anti howling (AH) systems a.k.a. acoustic feedback control allow to maintain sound quality and prevent the howling effect in public address (PA) systems. Various principles may be used for AH, each with its advantages and drawbacks. The objective of the present work is to propose a methodology for evaluating commercial or simulated AH systems as "black boxes". Following previous publications, the evaluation is based on three critical aspects : the Additional Stable Gain (ASG) which is achievable before Larsen howling occurs, the Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ), a standardized speech quality criteria, and the "Reactivity" which quantifies how fast the AH device adapts to changes of the electroacoustical environment. Preliminary results are presented for six different AH systems. They illustrate that the proposed protocol allows to distinguish small differences between designs, in addition to highlight the general trends already described in the existing literature.
ER  -