Industry relies on objective methods because exhaustive listening tests are impractical

Evidence

A device that enters the market should thus be tested under many different conditions. Unfortunately, conducting such a set of listening tests that would cover all possible combinations of different conditions would be a tedious task. Instead of listening tests, objective methods are used widely in industry, which is reflected in the active standardization of the methods. The methods are signal-processing structures that normally include some parts simulating the properties of human hearing. The methods may also include acoustic measurements of the devices under controlled acoustic conditions. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 2441

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the recurring theme of perceptual models substituting for human listeners across audio quality measurement.