Objective Characterization of Perceptual Dimensions Underlying the Sound Reproduction of 37 Single Loudspeakers in a Room

This study is focused on the relationships between perceptual and physical evaluations of the reproduction of timbre by loudspeakers in monophonic reproduction.Aprotocol compatible with both approaches wasproposed by Lavandier et al.(2008)t oe valuate as et of 12 loudspeakers.It consisted in recording the sound radiated by the loudspeakers in ar oom.The recorded sounds were submitted to listening tests under headphones where listeners were asked to judge their dissimilarity,h ighlighting the perceptual dimensions involved using am ultidimensional scaling analysis.The recorded sounds were also submitted to signal analysis in order to propose an acoustical attribute describing each perceptual dimension.The present study further evaluated the reproduction of timbre by testing as et of 37 loudspeakers in ad i ff erent room.Evaluating al arger set of loudspeakers led to constraints concerning the perceptual evaluation.Therefore, twop erceptual tasks, free sorting and similarity picking with permutation of references, were compared.The perceptual results and the objective attributes of these experiments consolidate the twot imbral dimensions revealed by Lavandier et al. (bass/treble balance, emergence of medium)a nd highlight at hird dimension associated with as patial sensation (feeling of space) despite amonophonic reproduction.An influence of the listening task wasalso observed, indicating that the free sorting paradigm might not be the most appropriate to evaluate dissimilarity.