Re: Student Interested in Music Transmission Index as a Possible Research Topic

[David Prince <dprince@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Perhaps those interested would look at loudspeaker research for a start on
metrics.  Unlike speech, there is no direct intelligibility measure but
rather a large number of more subtle measures.  Bandwidth and low "linear"
distortion (ie. flat frequency response) are the dominant factors.
Non-linear distortion (IM distortion, harmonic distortion) are secondary
factors.

Most recent research in one direction of measurement comes out of Brian
Moore's group and has been published in recent AES journals.  More
refinement of this approach targeting high fidelity playback devices is
merited and other approached might also be investigated.  But the subject is
over 70 years old so there is pleny of background material.  Currently the
AES SC-04-03 has project x-129 in relation to this topic.

It's a tricky area and highly dependent on the playback material (music) so
you'll probably need to focus to a tightly controlled study.

Best Regards

David Prince
SC-04-03 chair (Loudspeaker measurement and modeling)

 >I'm very interested in hearing people's opinions/advice on whether the
 >formulation of a "Music Transmission Index" would be a suitable
 >Phd-level research topic. It doesn't seem that much has been done in
 >this area, and that it would have useful practical applications.
 >
 >Regards,
 >
 >Chris Share
 >