APE: Audio Perceptual Evaluation Toolbox for MATLAB
Brecht De Man, Joshua D. Reiss · 2014
We present a toolbox for multi-stimulus perceptual evaluation of audio samples. Different from MUSHRA (typical for evaluating audio codecs), the audio samples under test are represented by sliders on a single axis, encouraging careful rating, relative to adjacent samples, where both reference and anchor are optional. Intended as a more flexible, versatile test design environment, subjects can rate the same samples on dif-ferent scales simultaneously, with separate comment boxes for each sample, an arbitrary scale, and various randomisation options. Other tools include a pairwise evaluation tool and a loudness equalisation stage. We discuss some notable experiences and considerations based on various studies where these tools were used. We have found this test design to be highly effective when perceptually evaluating qualities pertaining to music and audio production. 1.