IEC TR 61305-6:2005

Household high-fidelity audio equipment and systems - Methods of measuring and specifying the performance - Part 6: Listening tests on loudspeakers - Single stimulus ratings and paired comparisons

Applies to loudspeakers conforming to IEC 61305-5 and intended for home use to establish standards for comparison of the sound characteristics of various loudspeakers with each other. Two test procedures are described: single stimulus ratings; paired comparisons.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 02-May-2005
• ICS: 01 - GENERALITIES. TERMINOLOGY. STANDARDIZATION. DOCUMENTATION
• ICS: 17.140.99 - Other standards related to acoustics
• ICS: 33.160.50 - Accessories
• Technical Committee: TA 20 - Analogue and digital audio
• Current Stage: PPUB - Publication issued
• Start Date: 15-Jun-2005
• Completion Date: 03-May-2005

Standards Content (Sample)

TECHNICAL IEC
REPORT TR 61305-6
First edition
2005-05
Household high-fidelity audio
equipment and systems–
Methods of measuring and specifying
the performance –
Part 6:
Listening tests on loudspeakers –
Single stimulus ratings and
paired comparisons
Reference number
IEC/TR 61305-6:2005(E)
Publication numbering
As from 1 January 1997 all IEC publications are issued with a designation in the
60000 series. For example, IEC 34-1 is now referred to as IEC 60034-1.
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TECHNICAL IEC
REPORT TR 61305-6
First edition
2005-05
Household high-fidelity audio
equipment and systems–
Methods of measuring and specifying
the performance –
Part 6:
Listening tests on loudspeakers –
Single stimulus ratings and
paired comparisons
 IEC 2005  Copyright - all rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from the publisher.
International Electrotechnical Commission, 3, rue de Varembé, PO Box 131, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
Telephone: [phone] Telefax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail] Web: www.iec.ch
PRICE CODE
Commission Electrotechnique Internationale R

International Electrotechnical Commission
МеждународнаяЭлектротехническаяКомиссия
For price, see current catalogue

– 2 – TR 61305-6  IEC:2005(E)
CONTENTS
FOREWORD.3
INTRODUCTION.5

1 Scope.6
2 Normative references .6
3 Test preparation .6
3.1 Characteristics of the listening room.6
3.2 Loudspeaker position and seat arrangement .7
3.3 Electrical requirements.8
3.4 Level setting.8
3.5 Listening levels for programmes.8
3.6 Programme material .8
3.7 Qualification and number of listeners.8
3.8 Test duration .8
4 Single stimulus ratings .9
4.1 Test procedure .9
4.2 Questionnaire.9
4.3 Test sequence.10
4.4 Reliability of judgements .10
4.5 Variance analysis .11
4.6 Factor analysis .11
4.7 Quality judgement .12
4.8 Representation of the results.12
4.9 Computer programs.13
5 Paired comparisons.14
5.1 Test procedure .14
5.2 Test criteria .14
5.3 Test sequence.15
5.4 Number of contradictory judgements .15
5.5 Determination of the scale values.15
5.6 Variance analysis .15
5.7 Factor analysis .15

Annex A (informative) Example calculation for tests using paired comparison.16

Bibliography.20

TR 61305-6  IEC:2005(E) – 3 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
HOUSEHOLD HIGH-FIDELITY AUDIO EQUIPMENT AND SYSTEMS –
METHODS OF MEASURING AND SPECIFYING THE PERFORMANCE –

Part 6: Listening tests on loudspeakers –
Single stimulus ratings and paired comparisons

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
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8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
The main task of IEC technical committees is to prepare International Standards. However, a
technical committee may propose the publication of a technical report when it has collected
data of a different kind from that which is normally published as an International Standard, for
example "state of the art".
IEC 61305-6, which is a technical report, has been prepared by IEC technical committee 100:
Audio, video and multimedia systems and equipment
The text of this technical report is based on the following documents:
Enquiry draft Report on voting
100/855/DTR 100/905/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical report can be found in the
report on voting indicated in the above table.

– 4 – TR 61305-6  IEC:2005(E)
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
the maintenance result date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in
the data related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
A bilingual version of this publication may be issued at a later date.

TR 61305-6  IEC:2005(E) – 5 –
INTRODUCTION
This technical report gives recommendations for establishing, conducting and evaluating
listening tests.
The tests described in this report are to be performed in a room, the size and acoustical
properties are similar to those of an average living room. Specific recommendations about the
room size, acoustical properties, arrangement of loudspeakers and listeners, and
environmental conditions are given.
This technical report describes experimental procedures, including recommendations on the
choice of programme material and the processing and presentation of the final data. It may be
useful to consider some of the recommendations in AES 20. It should be understood that the
topics of experimental design, execution and statistical analysis are complex, and that only
the most general guidelines can be given. It is recommended that professionals with expertise
of experimental design and statistics should be consulted.
The use of multichannel formats, principally for domestic presentation of surround audio and
cinema is becoming more usual. The procedures described in this report are applicable to any
number of channels.
If the number of loudspeakers to be tested is high, the paired comparison listening test is
lengthy because each loudspeaker has to be compared with the other. A shorter method is
the single stimulus rating. With this method, each object is judged once. The rating is almost
independent of the loudspeaker range in test. Each object is rated absolutely, whereas a
paired comparison provides a relative ranking of the order of the loudspeakers in test.
Another technical report for listening test has been published as IEC 60268-13 and it is
expected that the two technical reports should be combined in the maintenance work

– 6 – TR 61305-6  IEC:2005(E)
HOUSEHOLD HIGH-FIDELITY AUDIO EQUIPMENT AND SYSTEMS –
METHODS OF MEASURING AND SPECIFYING THE PERFORMANCE –

Part 6: Listening tests on loudspeakers –
Single stimulus ratings and paired comparisons

1 Scope
This technical report applies to loudspeakers conforming to IEC 61305-5 and intended for
home use.
The purpose of this report is, in addition to objective testing according to IEC 60268-5, to
establish standards for comparison of the sound characteristics of various loudspeakers with
each other.
Two test procedures are described:
– single stimulus ratings;
– paired comparisons.
The procedures described in this report are applicable to any number of channels.
NOTE The test procedures are specified for stereo systems. They can be applied to multichannel systems
accordingly.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application
...