Evaluation d'estimateurs de sonie

Loudness, the auditory sensation relative to sound intensity, can be measured only by psychoacoustic tests, implying several listeners and requiring significant investment. To avoid long and systematic experiments, perceptive models have been proposed, the goal being to design algorithms that estimate loudness from the physical signal. However, these various models tend to give reliable estimates only when applied to stationary signals. The aim of the research project presented here is the development of a «global» estimator of loudness, which can be applied to both stationary and non-stationary signals. This article describes two aspects of the project: 1) the development of an objective method to judge the quality of a loudness estimator, 2) the comparison of some existing estimation tools. The limitations of the perceptive level measurement using scales of weighted decibels (A, B or C) will be illustrated in the comparison.