Summary of Publication:

Musical instruments are complex sound sources that exhibit directivity patterns that not only vary depending on the frequency, but can also change as a function of the played tone. It is yet unclear whether the directivity variation as a function of the played tone leads to a perceptible difference compared to an auralization that uses an averaged directivity pattern. This paper examines the directivity of 38 musical instruments from a publicly available database and then selects three representative instruments among those with similar radiation characteristics (oboe, violin, and trumpet). To evaluate the listeners' ability to perceive a difference between aural

Summary of Publication:

In the UK a quarter of all students are mature students and many of them have work experience relevant to their subject of study. These students can continue their jobs whilst studying for a higher degree. When teaching an acoustics-based discipline, it is always important to explore what is the background of the individual students, and how their experience and previous education could be utilised best to progress into the new level of knowledge. The other challenge is the allocation of time for teachers to engage with the students. Considering that the students have full time jobs, their time for study is limited, and this should be reflected in timing of tuto

Summary of Publication:

This work aims at deriving a minimum required resolution for optimization of head-related transfer functions (HRTFs). It builds on existing metrics, used to numerically evaluate HRTF differences, as well as on a model estimating just noticeable differences (JNDs) for uni-lateral variation of HRTFs. Integrating this model, as well as descriptors for both monaural and binaural cue differences, a three-alternative forced choice experiment is set up to investigate JNDs for bi-lateral variation of HRTF sets. Rather than introducing manual changes to the spectra, an exchange between magnitude spectra of generic HRTF sets is employed, while controlling for multiple cond

Summary of Publication:

The principle of out-of-head sound image localization technology is the correction of the sound stimulus at the eardrum in the free sound field and that at the eardrum of the headphone listener to equalize them. A correction filter is designed assuming that the pressure division ratio (PDR) is unity. However, it is impossible to strictly achieve a PDR of one, which can result in a timbre change of the reproduced sound. In this study, to reproduce the original sound field more faithfully, we used open-ear-canal microphones instead of the conventionally used blocked-ear-canal microphones and evaluated sound reproducibility from the viewpoint of PDR. It was found th

Summary of Publication:

This two-part study explored the efficacy of binaural renderers to accurately reproduce the placement of objects within a three-dimensional, virtual soundscape. Many previous works have only tested localization on the horizontal plane (Part I) whereas this research expanded on prior methodology by adding vertical targets along the medial and two sagittal planes (Part II). Two industry leading binaural renderers were compared. The subject task was to map where each sound source was perceived onto a planar response sheet. Results were consistent with previous research in that renderer performance was found to be weak in the horizontal domain. Findings presented her

Summary of Publication:

Small form-factor and thin devices exhibit a high-pass frequency response due to loudspeaker-enclosure constraints. The low-frequency reproduction loss from these devices severely degrades the audio experience for music and cinematic content. This paper presents a new perceptual bass extension model using a side chain for music and cinematic content and leveraging the principle of the missing fundamental frequency. Optimizing the nonlinear function parameters enables the nonlinear function output to be invariant to input signal level changes. The model employs a unique input gain normalization scheme based on loudness metadata and level-matching between multiple

Summary of Publication:

While multichannel mediation continues to grow in popularity, traditional mono and stereophonic recording techniques remain those underpinning audio production workflows. By incorporating dual-output microphone technology into established practices, capacity exists for nuancing recordist agency in ways not documented in existing literature. The Dynamic Polar Pattern is introduced as a simple process to simulate polar patterns changing shape over time, with affordances associated to proximity effect, distance factor, frequency masking and stereo width. Practice-led and practice-based methodology catalogues benefits of dual-output agency including the ability to ca

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Should r/audiophile Continue To Run These Weekly Discussions?

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Summary of Publication:

Convolution with spatial room impulse responses (RIRs) is often used to create realistic auralisations. The technique can be combined with spatial interpolation to create navigable virtual environments. This paper reports the preliminary results of an experiment designed to assess the impact of various interpolation parameters on perceived auditory source stability under various auralisation conditions. Participants freely explored a virtual scene while listening to a 3rd order Ambisonic RIR auralisation over headphones equipped with a tracked head-mounted display. They were asked to rate source stability under various conditions of RIR grid density, interpolatio

Summary of Publication:

Difficulties in following speech on TV due to loud background sounds are a common issue in broadcasting. Object-based audio (OBA) systems like MPEG-H Audio can solve this problem by providing a personalized speech level. Recently, international broadcasters have employed dialogue enhancement (DE) together with OBA, providing customization and improved accessibility to their audiences, e.g., during the football World Cup 2022. To also add customizable dialogues to material produced without OBA, deep neural networks (DNNs) can be applied to separate dialogues from the music and effects of the final audio mix. One of the technologies used for this is MPEG-H Dialog+,

By popular demand, your winner and topic for this week's discussion is...

Best Audiophile Albums So Far In 2024

Please share your experiences, knowledge, reviews, questions, or anything that you think might add to the conversation here.

Vote for the next topic in the poll for the next discussion.

Previous discussions can be found here.

Are you interested in discussing a topic with r/audiophile?

On the 1st and 15th of every month, the top upvoted comment here will become topic of discussion and the next 15 highest rated will carried over to the next poll.

All previous discussions may be found here so please check before suggesting a topic that was already discussed!

To suggest a new topic, reply to this post with a discussion topic as the first line of your comment.

Summary of Publication:

In both entertainment and professional applications, conventionally produced stereo or multi-channel audio content is frequently delivered over headphones or earbuds. Use cases involving object-based binaural audio rendering include recently developed immersive multi-channel audio distribution formats, along with the accelerating deployment of virtual or augmented reality applications and head-mounted displays. The appreciation of these listening experiences by end users may be compromised by an unnatural perception of the localization of frontal audio objects: commonly heard near or inside the listener’s head even when their specified position is distant. This a

Summary of Publication:

This paper formalizes the praxis of the Female Ear in the research and teaching of the science and cultures of music production and audio engineering. After raising awareness of the hegemony of the Male Ear in audio and record-making conventions, alongside strong biases in psychoacoustic knowledge, we report on a preliminary study that was co-created with audio/music production students and music industry professionals, which explored alternative ways of hearing, listening, and negotiating sounds in the workplace.

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