What is a "Sound Wheel"?
Sound Wheel
Figure: The Sound Wheel for reproduced sound. Inner ring: Main Groups, middle ring: Categories, outer ring: Attributes. (Courtesy of SenseLab/Force). (Further info:
Common language to describe sound (forcetechnology.com)).
The Sound Wheel provides a rather detailed set of descriptors that may apply to the reproduced sound. In general, the assessors must be trained to have the same understanding of the descriptors. When differences become very subtle, training is highly necessary. The structure of the Sound Wheel guides the meaning of the individual words by grouping them in categories. For more convenient reading, the table below organizes the descriptors in an easy-to-read format.
Main group |
Categories |
Attributes
|
| Loudness |
Loudness |
Perceived loudness |
| Dynamics |
Dynamics |
Attack |
| Bass precision |
| Punch |
| Powerful |
| Timbre |
Treble |
Treble strength |
| Brilliance |
| Tinny |
| Midrange |
Midrange strength |
| Nasal |
| Canny |
| Bass |
Bass strength |
| Bass depth |
| Boomy |
| Boxy |
| Timbral balance |
Dark-Bright |
| Full |
| Homogenous |
| Spatial |
Sound image |
Distance |
| Width |
| Depth |
| Balance |
| Localization |
Precise |
| Envelopment |
| Externalization |
| Transparency |
Transparency |
Presence |
| Clean |
| Detailed |
| Natural |
| Artefacts |
Signal related |
Shrill |
| Rubbing |
| Rough |
| Buzzing |
| Clipping |
| Distorted |
| Compressed |
| Noise |
Hissing |
| Humming |
| Bubbling |
| Fluctuating/intermittent |
Table Content of the Sound Wheel. A detailed description of the individual attributes is found in Pedersen and Zacharov [20].
The attributes selected must be relevant to the test; for instance, “Externalization” is primarily related to the assessment of headphones and/or spatialized sound. In the group of signal-related artifacts, distortion and clipping are two of the attributes described. Clipped audio is distorted; however, distorted audio is not necessarily clipped.
The Sound Wheel does, of course, not cover all descriptors applied to listening tests. For instance, in the field of spatial audio, a broader selection of terms is often necessary.