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Convention Paper

Validation of Experimental Methods to Record Stimuli for Microphone Comparisons

Authors: Pearce, Andy; Brookes, Tim; Dewhirst, Martin

AES Convention 139 · Paper 9385 · October 2015

Abstract

Test recordings can facilitate evaluation of a microphone's characteristics but there is currently no standard or experimentally validated method for making recordings to compare the perceptual characteristics of microphones. This paper evaluates previously used recording methods, concluding that, of these, the most appropriate approach is to record multiple microphones simultaneously. However, perceived differences between recordings made with microphones in a multi-microphone array might be due to (i) the characteristics of the microphones and/or (ii) the different locations of the microphones. Listening tests determined the maximum acceptable size of a multi-microphone array to be 150 mm in diameter, but the diameter must be reduced to no more than 100 mm if the microphones to be compared are perceptually very similar.

Details

Published in
AES Convention 139
AES Convention
139
Paper number
9385
Publication date
October 6, 2015
Session subject
Perception
Affiliation
University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK (See document for exact affiliation information.)
Type
Convention Paper