Context-Based Evaluation of the Opus Audio Codec for Spatial Audio Content in Virtual Reality

This paper discusses the evaluation of Opus-compressed Ambisonic audio content through listening tests conducted in a virtual reality environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect that Opus compression has on the Basic Audio Quality (BAQ) of Ambisonic audio in different virtual re...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kearney, G. (Author), Lee, B. (Author), Rudzki, T. (Author), Skoglund, J. (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Audio Engineering Society 2023
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Online Access:View Fulltext in Publisher
Description
Summary:This paper discusses the evaluation of Opus-compressed Ambisonic audio content through listening tests conducted in a virtual reality environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect that Opus compression has on the Basic Audio Quality (BAQ) of Ambisonic audio in different virtual reality contexts—gaming, music, soundscapes, and teleconferencing. The methods used to produce the test content, how the tests were conducted, the results obtained and their significance are discussed. Key findings were that in all cases, Ambisonic scenes compressed with Opus at 64 kbps/ch using Channel Mapping Family 3 garnered a median BAQ rating not significantly different than uncompressed audio. Channel Mapping Family 3 demonstrated the least variation in BAQ across evaluated contexts, although there were still some significant differences found between contexts at certain bitrates and Ambisonic orders. © 2023 Audio Engineering Society. All rights reserved.
Physical Description:10
ISBN:15494950 (ISSN)
ISSN:15494950 (ISSN)
DOI:10.17743/jaes.2022.0068