Methods and systems to determine the neural representation of digitally processed sounds
AssigneeNorthwestern University
InventorsNina Kraus, Trent George Nicol, Jennifer Lynn Krizman, Travis White-Schwoch
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to methods for evaluating the sound quality of a digital engineering process by, in part, measuring the frequency following response (FFR) of the human auditory system elicited by identical auditory stimuli (e.g., a musical interval) encoded with variations of a digital signal processing technique (e.g., various sampling rates). Once measured, the FFR may be analyzed to determine the comparative effect of each digital signal processing technique on a human subject's ability to process complex stimuli presented by the digital engineering process.
Claims17
A method for developing an audio device, the method comprising:
- (a) presenting at least two auditory stimuli to a subject, wherein each auditory stimulus is created by a process that uses different variations of the same digital signal processing technique;
- (b) measuring the frequency following response (FFR) elicited by each stimulus and comparing the measurements to identify any positive or negative effects in the FFR elicited by any one of the stimuli;
- and
- (c) developing an audio device that converts an analog auditory signal into a digital auditory signal using the digital processing technique determined in step (b) to have a more positive effect or less negative effect on FFR.
A method for evaluating the sound quality of a digital engineering process, comprising:
- (a) presenting a first auditory stimulus to a subject, wherein the first auditory stimulus is created by a digital engineering process that uses a first digital signal processing technique;
- (b) presenting a second auditory stimulus to a subject, wherein the second auditory stimulus is created by the digital engineering process of step (a) but using a variation of the first digital signal processing technique;
- (c) measuring the frequency following response (FFR) elicited by each of the first and second auditory stimuli, and comparing the measurements to determine the effect of each stimulus on FFR;
- and
- (d) identifying the digital engineering process of step (a) or step (b) resulting in the more positive effect or less negative effect on FFR as the process that provides superior sound quality.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.