Profiling the distortion characteristics of commercial music using amplitude distribution statistics

Wilson, A; Fazenda, BM

Abstract

As digital audio is encoded as discrete samples of the audio waveform, much can be said about the nature of the recording by the statistical properties of the sample distribution. By analysis of the probability mass function and associated summary features, various distortion profiles can be detected in CD-quality audio, such as hard and soft clipping. This represents the changing nature of signal statistics in digital music of the last 30 years. Subjective testing shows that listeners can perceive differences in these profiles, through differences in quantitative ratings of quality and qualitative descriptions of quality. These detection methods are extended to higher bit-depth audio, which is now often distributed online by recording artists, for which the much-larger size of the probability mass function demands a new approach.

Citation

Wilson, A., & Fazenda, B. (2005, October). Profiling the distortion characteristics of commercial music using amplitude distribution statistics. Presented at Reproduced Sound 30, Birmingham, UK

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: Reproduced Sound 30
• Conference Location: Birmingham, UK
• Start Date: Oct 13, 2005
• End Date: Oct 1, 2005
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Nov 7, 2014
• Book Title: Reproduced Sound 2014
• ISBN: 9781634395212
• Publisher URL: http://reproducedsound.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/RS2014.pdf
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference