ITU and EBU listening tests differ fundamentally as relative versus absolute judgments.
Evidence
The ITU listeners look for differences between two sounds, relative judgments. The details of the listening circumstances are constant factors, and placing the listeners in a dominant direct sound field may be advantageous. The EBU listeners are making absolute judgments of sound and spatial qualities. The performances of the loudspeakers and room are inseparable parts of the sound they are judging. These listening experiences become the reference for the “translation” of the art. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 329
Categorization
- DEFINE: Clarifies the distinction between relative (ITU) and absolute (EBU) listening evaluations—crucial for understanding why test setups differ.
- QUESTION: Worth investigating how this relative vs absolute distinction maps onto modern audio coding evaluation methods.
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 329
- XREF: connects to: Auditory assessment must account for the listener’s response bias, not just sensitivity