Analyzing the Degree of Immersion of Music Reproduction by means of Acoustic Fingerprinting (vor Ort)
* Presenting author
Abstract:
In the past few decades the use of high-quality multi-channel audio reproduction formats and systems became widespread. Driven by developments and investments in the film industry, technologies and devices gained a market readiness level such that private use and mass distribution became more and more accepted and commercially successful. Each generation of audio formats and codecs developed by companies such as Dolby, DTS, THX or Auro/Barco, promises to deliver advanced audio playback quality and user experience as well as the feeling of being present in the reproduced auditory scene, what is known as “Immersion”.However, it has not been conclusively clarified to what extent advanced audio reproduction formats and systems actually contribute to the physical properties of the reproduced soundfield, the psychophysical perception or the emotional response. The interdisciplinary research project “Wagner 3.0” addresses these questions, whereby the presented work investigates the acoustic properties of 9 selected music recordings, each reproduced with three different loudspeaker setups (stereo, 5.1 and 5.1.4). For this, 189 signal-based parameters within the categories level, quality and spaciousness are calculated and compared. Appropriate dimensional reduction methods reveal the underlying components that characterise the differences of the respective music reproductions and form a so called acoustic fingerprint.