Audio Analysis and Assessment Flashcards
Audio represents…
sound pressure changes over time
Sound is converted into what, by a transducer?
Voltage
Audio can be … or …
Continuous or Discrete
Continuous signal represents…
Real world sound pressure variations
An example of continuous signal equipment is…
Analogue Equipment
Discrete signal represents…
sound as a series of ones and zeros
ADC stands for…
Analogue to Digital Converter
Sampling frequency is found on what axis?
X-axis
Sampling frequency is…
Number of samples taken per second
Sampling frequency is measured in…
Hertz
Amplitude quantisation is found on what axis?
Y-axis
Amplitude quantisation is a…
Binary Encoding Scheme
In amplitude quantisation, the number of bits dictate…
The number of levels we can represent
What is the amplitude quantisation bit equation?
2^n
n = the number of bits
What are three examples of digital audio files?
WAV, AIFF, AU
In digital audio files, the Y-axis could represent? (4)
- Normalised (-1 - 1)
- Sample Value
- dB
- Percentage
In digital audio files, the X-axis could represent? (2)
- Time
- Samples
What does PCM stand for?
Pulse Code Modulation
Aspects of the PCM encoding process directly affect…
Signal quality
Digital data can only represent…
A finite set of values
Digital data’s finite set of values are set by…
The number of bits
What is digital value?
The nearest approximation of the analogue signal
Approximation introduces what to each sample?
Quantisation error
What is quantisation error?
It is the difference between the analogue input signal and the quantised level assigned by the encoder
Quantisation =
Approximation
When is the maximum quantisation error reached?
At a half step
What does quantisation error create?
Quantisation Noise
What does SNR stand for?
Sound to Noise Ratio
As SNR increases, noise…
Decreases
As SNR decreases, the distance between signal and noise…
Decreases
What does SQNR stand for?
Sound to Quantisation Noise Ratio
What two factors does SQNR have?
- Number of bits encoding audio
- Input signal amplitude
What is the SQNR equation?
SQNR = (6.02*B)+1.76dB, where B = number of bits (16, 24, etc.)
Under what two conditions of the input signal makes quantisation noise similar to white noise?
When signal has large amplitudes
or
When signal has wide bandwidth
What two problems occur when input signal has a low amplitude?
- Relative magnitude of distortion increases (SQNR decreases)
- Quantisation noise is correlated with the input signal
Whats the difference between quantisation distortion and white noise?
Distortion is more annoying due to its its unpredictability
What are the two ways to reduce quantisation noise?
- Increasing bit depth
- Dither
How does increasing bit depth decrease reduce quantisation noise?
Each additional bit increases SQNR by 6dB (halving QN)
Increasing bit depth causes what issue?
Increasing bit depth increases processing burden
What is dithering?
Adding noise to signal before sampling to reduce the audible effect of quantisation error
As well as reducing the audible effects of quantisation error, dithering does what at low amplitudes?
Randomises quantisation error
Why does dither work even though quantisation error can still be audible?
Noise is easier to listen to than distortion so dither helps make audio less annoying
Most audio we hear is… (hint - digital files, streaming)
Compressed
Noise is created when quantisation depth is manipulated by…
Compression
Nyquist frequency is…
Half of sampling rate
Signals sampled at discrete intervals have…
An upper limit to frequencies
When above Nyquist frequency, there is a period between…
Samples to reproduce the input signal correctly
What is aliasing?
When frequencies greater than Nyquist frequency appear as lower frequencies within the spectrum
What happens when sampling at twice the highest frequency in the spectrum?
A correct representation of all frequency spectrum
Aliasing can be looked from both…
A time and frequency domain perspective
Aliasing can be avoided by having at least how many samples per cycle of waveform?
Two
When does aliasing occur? (2)
- When sample rate is too low
- When signal with twice the sampling frequency is observed by system
Aliasing introduces what to audio?
Unwanted frequencies
What is the aliasing equation?
Af = Fs - F
Fs = sampling frequency
F = input frequency
Aliasing affects what frequencies?
All frequencies above Nyquist frequency
Sampling process is called…
Pulse Code Modulation
What occur around carrier frequency?
Sidebands
Sidebands occur around carrier if bands arent…
Limited
Sidebands make output spectrum…
Complex
What is the sideband equation?
(n * Fc) +/- Fm
In terms of sidebands, what component of audio is the carrier and what component is the modulator?
Audio signal = Modulator
Sampling frequency = Carrier
The input signal spectrum forms sidebands around…
Integer multiples of the sampling frequency
When do sidebands move closer together (overlap)?
When sampling frequency is less than twice the highest frequency
When do sidebands increase in width (overlap)?
When audio signal is greater than Nyquist frequency
Anti-aliasing filters remove…
Frequencies above Nyquist frequency
- abs() function is used for measuring…
- Why?
- Peak on bipolar waves
- abs() ignores negative values
- How do we measure dB?
- If amplitude decreases by half, what is the change in dB?
- 20log(a/b)
- -6dB
What is the dB change for every bit increased?
6dB
What does RMS stand for?
Root Mean Square
What does RMS represent?
Distribution of sample values
What info does RMS give us?
Average energy/power
RMS can be affected by…
Compression
What is the crest equation?
Crest = 20log(peak amplitude / RMS)
The ratio between peak amplitude and RMS is called…
Crest
Crest controls…
Relationship between average energy and peak values
What are the equations for frequency and period?
f = 1 / T
T = 1 / f
Why do audio signals change dynamically over time?
Because amplitude and frequency change
What is based on frequency, amplitude and time parameters?
Human hearing response
- Distinguishing separate frequencies throughout audible frequency range isn’t…
- What is the term for the above?
- Constant
- Discrimination
As well as distinguishing separate frequencies throughout frequency range not being constant, what else is not constant?
Sensitivity
Amplitude response has a…
Very large dynamic range
What is the threshold of feeling in dB?
120dB
Give an example of a non-linear graph.
Fletcher Munson curve
The Fletcher Munson curve shows…
Non-linear sensitivity over frequency
As frequency increases, resolution…
Decreases
Humans find it harder to discriminate … frequencies.
Higher
Log scales and constant Q reflect…
Human perception of frequency/pitch
What is constant Q?
Relation of bandwidth
As band centre frequency increases, frequency…
Increases
As bandwidth increases, frequency…
Increases
- What is the equation for Q?
- What is heavy cool about this?
- Q = centre frequency / bandwidth
- Q will always remain constant
What two things are crucial to audio processing operations?
- Frequency
- Amplitude
What does audio frequency analysis do?
Extract frequency from signal
Audio frequency analysis describes…
Frequency and amplitude over time
What is the most common approach to extract frequency information?
Fourier Analysis
Our boy, Fourier, stated - ‘Any periodic function may be represented as…
An infinite series of harmonically related sinusoids’
In terms of Fourier, an input signal is a combination of…
Harmonically related sinusoids
Why do we want good frequency resolution?
To see down to the individual frequencies
Why do we want good time resolution?
To see down to a few milliseconds
We can think of Fourier analysis frequency resolution as…
A series of frequency bands or filters
- In Fourier analysis frequency resolution, bands are…
- Unlike…
- Spaced linearly
- Human hearing system
Analysis bins refer to…
Bands
Frequency resolution is determined by…
The number of samples of the input signal
Close spaced frequencies separate when…
Filters narrow
To increase accuracy, we can increase what three things?
- Transform
- Samples
- Frequency Resolution
What is the bin bandwidth equation?
Band bandwidth = Fs / length of transform (in samples)
What is the bin centre frequency equation?
Bin centre frequency = n * bin bandwidth
What is the length of transform equation?
Length of transform = Fs * t (seconds)
What is the window duration equation?
Window duration = number of samples * sample period
What is the sample period equation?
Sample period = 1 / Fs
What problem arises with frequency and time resolution?
- Good frequency resolution results in bad time resolution
- Good time resolution results in bad frequency resolution
If we analyse a whole track (3 mins), would we have good frequency or good time resolution?
Good frequency resolution
If we analyse a short segment (0.1 seconds), would we have good frequency or good time resolution?
Good time resolution
Does time resolution or frequency resolution have a smaller computational expense?
Time resolution
Fourier analysis is … on the computer
Strenuous
What method is faster than Fourier analysis?
Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)
FFT requires transform length to be…
to the power of two (256, 1024, 2048 samples)
FFT requires what to be to the power of two?
Transform length
A window size of power of two will result in…
Faster processing