Anti howling (AH) systems a.k.a. acoustic feedback control allow to maintain sound quality and prevent the howling effect in public address (PA) systems. Various principles may be used for AH, each with its advantages and drawbacks. The objective of the present work is to propose a methodology for evaluating commercial or simulated AH systems as "black boxes". Following previous publications, the evaluation is based on three critical aspects : the Additional Stable Gain (ASG) which is achievable before Larsen howling occurs, the Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ), a standardized speech quality criteria, and the "Reactivity" which quantifies how fast the AH device adapts to changes of the electroacoustical environment. Preliminary results are presented for six different AH systems. They illustrate that the proposed protocol allows to distinguish small differences between designs, in addition to highlight the general trends already described in the existing literature.

Authors: Dupont, Samuel; Lambourg, Christophe; Leroy, Pierre; Herzog, Philippe
Affiliations: ARTEAC-LAB, 29 rue Saint Savournin, 13 005 Marseille, France; ARTEAC-LAB, 29 rue Saint Savournin, 13 005 Marseille, France; ARTEAC-LAB, 29 rue Saint Savournin, 13 005 Marseille, France; ARTEAC-LAB, 29 rue Saint Savournin, 13 005 Marseille, France(See document for exact affiliation information.)
AES Conference: AES 2024 International Conference on Acoustics & Sound Reinforcement (January 2024)
Paper Number: 14
Publication Date: January 23, 2024
Subject: Acoustics & Sound Reinforcment

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