Audio quality can be measured either subjectively, with human subjects who compare audio stimuli in listening tests and generate opinion scores, or objectively, with computations performed on the audio stimuli being tested. In both cases, the goal is to obtain a number that reliably represents the perceived audio quality.

CRC-SEAQ (System for the Evaluation of Audio Quality) is a Windows 95/98/NT4/2000/XP software package for the subjective and/or objective evaluation of the quality of audio signals, including speech. With its intuitive graphical user interfaces, CRC-SEAQ provides an environment and a comprehensive set of tools for users who wish to accurately measure audio quality while developing or evaluating audio technologies, products and equipment. The system was developed by researchers at the Communications Research Centre, in Ottawa, Canada who have been involved for many years in the development of subjective and objective methods for audio quality measurements.

CRC-SEAQ can be configured to include a Subjective Test Module and/or an Objective Test Module. CRC-TimeSync, a companion program for time synchronizing audio files, can also be included as a module in CRC-SEAQ or licensed separately.

The Subjective Test Module is an audio playback system with a series of control buttons and features (triple-stimulus A-B-C or multi-stimulus presentation, switching, zooming, looping and scoring) provided in three easy-to-use graphical user interfaces (GUI). The triple-stimulus GUI is designed to conduct ITU-R Recommendation BS.1116 compliant subjective tests and is particularly well suited for detecting and rating signals with small audible impairments. The multi-stimulus GUI comes in two versions: a multi-button and a multi-slider. It is ideal when signals (up to 12) with medium and large impairments need to be compared and rated reliably against a reference, such as in the MUSHRA test method defined in ITU-R Recommendation BS. 1534. The audio sequences to be compared are read from files and played via any audio card with Windows MME support. The Subjective test Module supports a variety of audio signals and file formats, sampling frequencies and resolutions.

The Subjective Test Module is available in a 2-channel version, for mono and stereo signals, or a multichannel version which supports up to 16 audio channels.

The Subjective Test Module can be used for:

• Formal and informal listening tests
• Evaluating different implementations of audio processing equipment such as audio and speech codecs, 3D audio systems, etc.
• Status or reality checks during audio system development
• Perception and psychoacoustics research
• Demonstrations involving the comparison of different audio stimuli

Key Features:

For more information:

Mr. Louis Thibault
Manager, Advanced Audio Systems
Communications Research Centre
3701 Carling Ave., P.O. Box 11490, Station H
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2H 8S2
Tel:+1 613 990-4349
Fax:+1 613 993-9950
E-mail: louis.thibault@crc.gc.ca