Evaluation of Spatial Audio Reproduction Methods (Part 2): Analysis of Listener Preference

It is desirable to determine which of the many different spatial audio reproduction systems listeners prefer, and the perceptual attributes that are most important to listener experience, so that future systems can be perceptually optimized. A paired comparison preference rating experiment was performed alongside a free elicitation task for eight reproduction methods (consumer and professional systems with a wide range of expected quality) and seven program items (representative of potential broadcast material). The experiment was performed by groups of experienced and inexperienced listeners. Thurstone Case V modeling was used to produce preference scales. Both listener groups preferred systems with increased spatial content; nine-and five-channel systems were most preferred. The use of elicited attributes was analyzed alongside the preference ratings, resulting in an approximate hierarchy of attribute importance: three attributes (amount of distortion, output quality, and bandwidth) were found to be important for differentiating systems where there was a large preference difference; sixteen were always important (most notably enveloping and horizontal width); and seven were used alongside small preference differences.