On the perceptual constituents of listener judgments of hyper-compressed music

Despite critical writing from music industry experts decrying the over use of compression and the introduction of loudness normalisation, hyper-compressed recordings are still released. Typically, hyper-compression is applied at the request of stakeholders, such as musicians and record companies, and against the advice of mastering engineers who cite sound quality degradations. The persistent requests for hyper-compressed recordings suggest that the benefits outweigh the possible sound quality artefacts generated. Prior research focusing on listener preference for dynamic range compression and hyper-compression reported conflicting results. To determine the reason for these conflicting integrated judgments, it was necessary to explore the perceptual constituents affecting listener judgments of hyper-compressed music. Six factors affecting listener preference were first examined. Following this, the perception of hyper-compression by untrained listeners and mastering engineers was then investigated. An elicitation study of the sound quality attributes and representative dimensions of hyper-compression was also undertaken. Finally, the influence of program material on the perception of sound quality artefacts in hypercompressed music was investigated. Principally, it was discovered that untrained listeners, in general, are unable to perceive the sound quality artefacts generated by hyper-compression. Conversely, a study with mastering engineers revealed that, in general, their perception of hypercompression artefacts was more acute than untrained listeners. This suggests that education and training strongly influences the judgment process. The attributes underlying this judgment process are found to belong to six sound quality dimensions. Further, this research extends current knowledge by identifying program material as a significant factor determining the audibility of sound quality artefacts generated by hyper-compression. Based on this work, a comprehensive model of a listener making a judgment of hyper-compressed music was developed. This model illustrates the core perceptual constituents affecting listener judgments of hyper-compressed music. This thesis therefore provides a detailed understanding of the factors influencing listener judgments of hyper-compressed music.