Abstract
This thesis describes the background, motivation, development and testing of a Spatial Audio Attribute Listener Training System (SAALTS). Previous studies in spatial audio attributes are examined, and Rumsey's Scene-Based Paradigm is found to be the only one that provides a rigorous approach for describing spatial audio scenes. Issues that would cause complications when implemented in a training system are resolved with the development of the Simplified Scene-Based Paradigm (SSBP) which can be used in the description of a wide range of spatial audio scenes for normative, product evaluation or training investigations. A pilot study to ascertain the effectiveness of a spatial audio attribute training system based upon the training of ranking tasks, and its transferral to tasks involving the rating of spatial audio attributes is reported. As a result of the pilot study, it is concluded that training naive listeners in the concept and judgement of spatial audio attributes as outlined in the SSBP is possible. This training, however is only found to have transferred as an increase in the range of the scale used by a (potentially more motivated) sub-set of the trained listeners. Informed by the pilot study and the literature on transfer and motivation, the Spatial Audio Attribute Listener Training System (SAALTS) detailed in this thesis employs the following elements: a tutorial explaining the SSBP and its importance; active learning using the Spatial Audio Attribute Toolkit (SAAT) and self-guided training drills involving motivation-inspiring elements. As a result of the research described in the transfer investigation, it can now be concluded that training in spatial listening can improve performance in spatial audio evaluation tasks that transfers to similar tasks with similar and different stimuli. It was also found that the performance of SAALTS was comparable to a repetitive practice regime for the target task.