Evaluating the functionality of attributes in 3d sound with semantic differential scale on three dimensions:Importance, comprehensibility and noticeability

Abstract

This dissertation proposes a methodology for selecting and ranking sound attributes for 3D sound according to their functionality. Functionality is operationalized as a semantic differential scale with three dimensions such as importance, comprehensibility, and noticeability. A group of 20 expert assessors is presented with 51 attributes. They grade these attributes while listening to some 3D sound excerpts according to the provided scale. The dimensions have weights assigned to them by the results of a prior experiment. By using these weights, the weighted average scores of the attributes are calculated. This weighted average score is labeled as the functionality score, and attributes are ranked from 1 to 51 according to their functionality scores. In the end, top 20 most functional attributes are discussed in more detail.