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17: Predicting Listener Preference Using the Harman Target Curve (working from home with SoundCheck)

In this short video, Cam Ruffle-Deignan walks you through how to predict listener preference based on the Harman Target Curve. This free sequence (which can be downloaded here) can recall previously saved data as well as capture new data, making this a great ‘work from home’ project if you have previously saved measurement data on your headphones.

Prediction of Listener Preference of In-Ear Headphones (Harman Model)

This sequence, inspired by AES papers on statistical models to predict listener preference by Sean E. Olive, Todd Welti, and Omid Khonsaripour of Harman International, applies the Harman target curve for in-ear, on-ear and over-ear headphones to a measurement made in SoundCheck to yield the predicted user preference for the device under test. The measurements are made in SoundCheck and then saved to an Excel template which performs the necessary calculations to produce a Predicted Preference score using a scale of 0 to 100. The spreadsheet calculates an Error curve which is derived from subtracting the target curve from an average of the headphone left/right response. The standard deviation, slope and average of the Error curve are calculated and used to calculate the predicted preference score. The sequence also provides the option to recall data rather than making a measurement, which saves time for engineers who already have large quantities of saved data, and enables historical comparison with obsolete products.

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