Headphone preference ratings can be predicted from objective measurements like loudspeakers’ can.

Evidence

Conducting controlled headphone listening tests is a challenging, time-consuming and expensive proposition. Section 11.1 described a statistical model to predict listener loudspeaker preference ratings based on objective measurements that reduces—not eliminates—the reliance on listening tests (Olive, 2004). Loudspeakers that deviated from a flat, wide and smooth frequency response were penalized with lower preference ratings. A similar approach was taken here to predict listener’s headphone preference ratings using objective measurements (Olive et al., 2018a). — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1803

Categorization

• XREF: Ties to the reader’s interest in psychoacoustic models — this is the modeling methodology that converts measured responses into predicted preference scores.