RESEARCH
My academic publications
ACADEMIC PAPERS
Katarzyna Sochaczewska, Hyunkook Lee, Christopher Dewey
Immersion is a multidimensional concept; when considering the interplay between technological advancements, cognitive processes, and individual subjective preferences - it becomes even more challenging to measure the level of immersive experience.
In immersive audio and spatial audio technology, we most often focus on lower-level attributes, such as envelopment, externalisation, and spatialisation. There is a noticeable lack of investigation into higher-level concepts, particularly those that impact user experience more holistically. In this preliminary study we try to addresses this gap by exploring narrative engagement — a specific aspect of immersion that deals with the user's emotional and cognitive involvement in a story. We are looking at both self-report and physiological measures to see whether the format of presented audio sample affects one, or the other, or both.
Pawel Malecki, Magdalena Piotrowska, Katarzyna Sochaczewska, Szymon Piotrowski, Journal of AES
A case study of an original electronic music production in stereo and means for then creating an Ambisonic remix. The main goal of this work was to explore the potential for extending all dimensions into extended space. The stereo and Ambisonic mixes, as well as the stereo and binaural renders, were subjectively evaluated by experts performers. When compared, the stereo and Ambisonic mixes differ not only in terms of space but also with regard to the timbre and dynamics. In general, the listeners preferred the spaciousness and selectivity of the Ambisonic version over the stereo. The obtained results are consistent with the outcomes from other studies that focused on the differences between stereo and multichannel reproduction. The most interesting conclusion can be formulated from a comparison between the stereo and binaural renders of the Ambisonic mix. The results clearly show the preference of spaciousness of the binaural version, and the general preference also indicated binaural as preferred. Due to the popularity of headphone playback, the obtained results show the potential of Ambisonic productions with targeted binaural playback.
Katarzyna Sochaczewska, Pawel Malecki, Magdalena Piotrowska, IEEE Xplore
Immersive audio technologies such as ambisonics are receiving increasing recognition as the range of the applications is widening. Decoding algorithms, beside accurate mathematical representation of the soundfield, consider the psychoacoustic phenomena in order to deliver more convincing listening experiences. Therefore, determining the parameters that describe the acuity of human auditory perception system can help, among others, in further optimization of the algorithms or picking the right playback system layout. The aim of the presented study is to evaluate the perceived spatial resolution within the 3rd order ambisonic speakers’ playback system through determining the Minimum Audible Angle (MAA) parameter. Through the years, different researchers performed the MAA test with the use of the physical sound sources. In this paper the procedure is the same but with the use of the phantom sources encoded with the use of the ambisonic tools. Obtained results are compared with the reference. The experiment incorporated 2 different listening tests, where MAA was determined using two types of the signal samples: pure tones and Gaussian noise. The panel of subjects consisted consecutively of 7 and 5 experienced listeners. Analysis of the results is a base for further research focused on perception of the phantom sources produced in ambisonics.
Pawel Malecki, Katarzyna Sochaczewska, Journal of AES
The issues of reverberation in acoustic architecture and music production share the same theoretical core; nevertheless the first one has been scientifically researched in depth while the second one remains at technical and experimental crossroads. It could be stated that the ISO 3382 parameters were proposed in the “analog” era for room acoustics (actual halls) whereasthe “digital” parameters introduced in software, artificial reverbs, are not standardized in any way but help to create desired reverberation for music or audio effects. The interest herein is to bind these two disciplines together and analyze some of the significant descriptors of room acoustics (RT, C50, C80, BR, ER, CT) applied in plug-in reverberant processors to observe how the virtual space is affected by changing the values of different parameters. Psychoacoustic ranges of JND were applied to conclude their relevance (or rather influence) and whether it is possible to perceive alteration. Five of the selected popular and commercial VST reverbs are juxtaposed with five similar settings and the results of analysis might be useful for sound mixers and automated mixing algorithms.