Perceptually-Motivated Audio Morphing: Warmth

Abstract

A system for morphing the warmth of a sound independently from its other timbral attributes was coded, building on previous work morphing brightness only (1), and morphing brightness and softness (2). The new warmth-softness-brightness morpher was perceptually validated using a series of listening tests. A Multidimensional Scaling analysis of listener responses to paired-comparisons showed perceptually orthogonal movement in two dimensions within a warmth-morphed and everything-else-morphed stimulus set. A verbal elicitation experiment showed that listeners’ descriptive labeling of these dimensions was as intended. A further ‘quality control’ experiment provided evidence that no ‘hidden’ timbral attributes were altered in parallel with the intended ones. A complete timbre morpher can now be considered for further work, and evaluated using the tri-stage procedure documented here.

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