Sensory evaluation of spatially dynamic audiovisual soundscenes: a review

Spatial audio systems are capable of rendering moving sound sources. This is becoming more common in commercial and domestic environments, driven by interest in spatial audio and virtual reality, and underpinned by object-based audio delivery formats. When consulting standard methods for sound quality evaluation in terms of spatially dynamic sound scenes (SDSS), challenges emerge indicating the methods are inadequate for the application. This article presents an overview of state-of-the-art sound quality evaluation methods, particularly focusing on their appropriateness for evaluation of SDSS. Limitations of current methodologies are discussed, and research of temporal evaluation methodologies used in other sensory sciences are reviewed for their potential applicability to audio quality assessment.