For perceptual audio coding of immersive content, the investigation of masking effects between spatially distributed sound sources is of interest. We conducted subjective listening experiments to determine the masking thresholds for “tone-masking-noise” conditions when masker (1 kHz sine tone) and probe (1 kHz narrow band noise) are spatially distributed using an immersive 22.2 loudspeaker setup. Our results show masking thresholds in the range of –35 dB to –26 dB probe-to-masker-ratio. As expected, least masking was found between left/right opposed sources with up to 5 dB lower than for coincident sources. Other noteworthy observations included an increase of masking for certain elevations and cases of selective masking decrease due to interaural phase difference phenomena.

Authors: Dick, Sascha; Sweidan, Rami; Herre, Jürgen
Affiliations: International Audio Laboratories Erlangen, a joint institution of Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and Fraunhofer IIS, Erlangen, Germany; Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, Erlangen, Germany; University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany(See document for exact affiliation information.)
AES Convention: 147 (October 2019) Paper Number: 10260
Publication Date: October 8, 2019
Subject: Perception

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