Multidimensional scaling maps perceived sound dissimilarities without labeling the perceptual dimensions

Evidence

The third group of descriptive sensory analysis methods comprises techniques based on indirect elicitation, as shown in Figure 8.4. The test methods included in this group are significantly different from the verbal and non-verbal elicitation methods discussed earlier, since the subjects do not elicit directly the perceived sensory characteristics of the stimuli. Multidimensional scaling (Carroll, 1972) is an example of an indirect elicitation method commonly utilized. A number of samples are produced, and the target is to find the main auditory attributes responsible for the dissimilarities between the samples. The listener rates the perceived dissimilarity pairwise between all combinations of the samples, thus forming distance matrices between the samples. The matrices are scaled to a lower-dimensional space for easier interpretation. The perceptual attributes are assumed to be present in the resulting space. However, the distance matrices alone do not offer a way to interpret the perceptual dimensions associated with the spatial map, because no labelling of the sensation is asked of the subjects. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 943

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains indirect elicitation and multidimensional scaling as methods that derive perceptual attributes without direct subject labeling.