Development and Validation of an Unintrusive Model for Predicting the Sensation of Envelopment Arising from Surround Sound Recordings

An objective prediction model for the sensation of sound envelopment in five-channel reproduction is important for evaluating spatial quality. Regression analysis was used to map the listening test scores on a variety of audio sources and the objective measures extracted from the recordings themselves. By following an iterative process, a prediction model with five features was constructed. The validity of the model was tested in a second set of subjective scores and showed a correlation coefficient of 0.9. Among the five features: sound distribution and interaural cross-correlation contributed substantially to the sensation of envelopment. The model did not require access to the original audio. Scales used for listening tests were defined by audible anchors