NAVIQUAL: Creating Spatial Audio Quality Maps for Virtual Live Music Environments

Tolentino CT, Hines A. NAVIQUAL: Creating Spatial Audio Quality Maps for Virtual Live Music Environments. In: Convention Paper. Audio Engineering Society; 2026. Paper 10275. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23216

@inproceedings{Tolentino2026_23216,
  author = {Tolentino, Carl Timothy and Hines, Andrew},
  title = {{NAVIQUAL: Creating Spatial Audio Quality Maps for Virtual Live Music Environments}},
  note = {Paper 10275},
  year = {2026},
  month = may,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23216}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - NAVIQUAL: Creating Spatial Audio Quality Maps for Virtual Live Music Environments
AU  - Tolentino, Carl Timothy
AU  - Hines, Andrew
M1  - Paper 10275
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/28
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23216
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - Live music environments can be simulated and evaluated through spatial audio and augmented reality (AR) technology. However, conducting perceptual studies on AR environments can be challenging, as multiple design considerations and uncontrolled variables come into play. Hence, we developed Naviqual, a tool to create a spatial audio quality map for a virtual live music environment. We generated objective quality contour and polar maps to predict the quality of experience (QoE) across listener locations and directions respectively. We found that these maps strongly aligned with perceptual evaluations by normal-hearing listeners through listening tests. We also found that localisation quality and signal-to-noise ratio both strongly predict QoE across listener translations, with the former outperforming the latter in predicting QoE across listener directions. Overall, Naviqual provides a QoE map for virtual live music environments robust across listener locations and directions, noise locations, music content, and room reverberation.
ER  -