Convention Paper
Imprecise Descriptors
AES Convention 60 · Paper 1350 · May 1978
Abstract
The fuzziness and imprecision of terminology used in subjective audio has often been the subject of ridicule by the objectively oriented engineer, who will cite the sharpness of mathematical description as a justification for abandoning subjective methods. It is suggested in this paper that the converse prevails: sharpness of description indicates that only a restricted class of alternative description is being utilized. A new class of descriptor is introduced in which only the probability of assignment of properties can be made, and sharp descriptors are considered limiting cases in which probabilities of assignment approach unity or zero. This expands our analytical capability to include the type of description which subjective audio has been using all along.
