Skip to main content
added 61 characters in body
Source Link

A way of assessing the quality of a sound recording in Audacity is to use 'ACX Check' found under Analyze to calculate an SNR value. 'ACX Check' is not intended for batch calculation of SNR for more than one file in a file folder.

A more optimal way of assessing perceived signal quality, the is as perceived by a human listener, is to first apply a weighting curve reflecting the frequency dependent sensitivity of the human ear. As the human ear is significantly less sensitive to the lowest pitched sounds, applying such a weighting a curve to a recording prior to assessing its SNR makes the SNR estimate less prone to being adversely affected to loud low pitched or even infrasonic components in a recording.

The weight curve that best emulates human hearing is the ISO 226 curve. Human hearing responds differently to wide-band noise than to single tone signals, so the weight curve that best emulates human perception of noise is the ITU-R 468 curve. A weighted SNR(226/468) value, where the peak signal is assessed after ISO 226 weighting and the noise is assessed after ITU-R 468 weighting, would be as close to an optimal assessment of perceived acoustic signal quality as is possible, at least as far as I know.

What I most optimally would like is a piece of software that can batch calculate such SNR(226/468) values for several files in a file folder.

An application for such software would be for recordists uploading recordings to a database such as Xeno Canto, where recordings are supposed to be provided by the recordists with an objective assessment of signal quality, see. See for example https://xeno-canto.org/article/273 (unweighted) and https://xeno-canto.org/article/275 (weighted).

A way of assessing the quality of a sound recording in Audacity is to use 'ACX Check' found under Analyze to calculate an SNR value. 'ACX Check' is not intended for batch calculation of SNR for more than one file in a file folder.

A more optimal way of assessing perceived signal quality, the is as perceived by a human listener, is to first apply a weighting curve reflecting the frequency dependent sensitivity of the human ear. As the human ear is significantly less sensitive to the lowest pitched sounds, applying such a weighting a curve to a recording prior to assessing its SNR makes the SNR estimate less prone to being adversely affected to loud low pitched or even infrasonic components in a recording.

The weight curve that best emulates human hearing is the ISO 226 curve. Human hearing responds differently to wide-band noise than to single tone signals, so the weight curve that best emulates human perception of noise is the ITU-R 468 curve. A weighted SNR(226/468) value, where the peak signal is assessed after ISO 226 weighting and the noise is assessed after ITU-R 468 weighting, would be as close to an optimal assessment of perceived acoustic signal quality as is possible, at least as far as I know.

What I most optimally would like is a piece of software that can batch calculate such SNR(226/468) values for several files in a file folder.

An application for such software would be for recordists uploading recordings to a database such as Xeno Canto, where recordings are supposed to be provided by the recordists with an objective assessment of signal quality, see for example https://xeno-canto.org/article/275

A way of assessing the quality of a sound recording in Audacity is to use 'ACX Check' found under Analyze to calculate an SNR value. 'ACX Check' is not intended for batch calculation of SNR for more than one file in a file folder.

A more optimal way of assessing perceived signal quality, the is as perceived by a human listener, is to first apply a weighting curve reflecting the frequency dependent sensitivity of the human ear. As the human ear is significantly less sensitive to the lowest pitched sounds, applying such a weighting a curve to a recording prior to assessing its SNR makes the SNR estimate less prone to being adversely affected to loud low pitched or even infrasonic components in a recording.

The weight curve that best emulates human hearing is the ISO 226 curve. Human hearing responds differently to wide-band noise than to single tone signals, so the weight curve that best emulates human perception of noise is the ITU-R 468 curve. A weighted SNR(226/468) value, where the peak signal is assessed after ISO 226 weighting and the noise is assessed after ITU-R 468 weighting, would be as close to an optimal assessment of perceived acoustic signal quality as is possible, at least as far as I know.

What I most optimally would like is a piece of software that can batch calculate such SNR(226/468) values for several files in a file folder.

An application for such software would be for recordists uploading recordings to a database such as Xeno Canto, where recordings are supposed to be provided by the recordists with an objective assessment of signal quality. See for example https://xeno-canto.org/article/273 (unweighted) and https://xeno-canto.org/article/275 (weighted).

Source Link

Which software can batch calculate weighted SNR of recordings?

A way of assessing the quality of a sound recording in Audacity is to use 'ACX Check' found under Analyze to calculate an SNR value. 'ACX Check' is not intended for batch calculation of SNR for more than one file in a file folder.

A more optimal way of assessing perceived signal quality, the is as perceived by a human listener, is to first apply a weighting curve reflecting the frequency dependent sensitivity of the human ear. As the human ear is significantly less sensitive to the lowest pitched sounds, applying such a weighting a curve to a recording prior to assessing its SNR makes the SNR estimate less prone to being adversely affected to loud low pitched or even infrasonic components in a recording.

The weight curve that best emulates human hearing is the ISO 226 curve. Human hearing responds differently to wide-band noise than to single tone signals, so the weight curve that best emulates human perception of noise is the ITU-R 468 curve. A weighted SNR(226/468) value, where the peak signal is assessed after ISO 226 weighting and the noise is assessed after ITU-R 468 weighting, would be as close to an optimal assessment of perceived acoustic signal quality as is possible, at least as far as I know.

What I most optimally would like is a piece of software that can batch calculate such SNR(226/468) values for several files in a file folder.

An application for such software would be for recordists uploading recordings to a database such as Xeno Canto, where recordings are supposed to be provided by the recordists with an objective assessment of signal quality, see for example https://xeno-canto.org/article/275