Abstract:
There is interest in the use of sound quality metrics as aids in the design of the sounds that machines make. Assessment of aspects of sound quality by subjective testing is time consuming and difficult to perform; unintentional biases may be introduced into the test and comparisons of results from different tests are difficult to make, due to the changing criteria that people may use to judge the sounds. Currently available commercial instrumentation calculates many of these metrics, but, due to the absence of standards, different systems produce different results. Many metrics are based on a measure of time-varying loudness, and its calculation is not standardized either. A summary of the current status of metric calculation is given with examples taken from some commercially available hardware systems. Options for future directions will also be explored.