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Multitone testing of sound system components-some results and conclusions

Part 2: Modeling and application

Article  in  Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. Audio Engineering Society · December 2001

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PAPERS

Multitone Testing of Sound System Components—

Some Results and Conclusions
Part 2: Modeling and Application*

EUGENE CZERWINSKI, ALEXANDER VOISHVILLO, AES Member,

SERGEI ALEXANDROV, AND ALEXANDER TEREKHOV

Cerwin Vega Inc., (Sustaining Member), Simi Valley, CA 93065, USA

An historical retrospective analysis of the measurement of nonlinearities in audio is carried

out. A quantitative analysis of the responses of various nonlinear systems (theoretical and
experimental) to a multitone signal is made, and multitone testing is compared to conven-
tional harmonic and intermodulation measurements. The multitone test provides more
accurate information about the behavior of nonlinear systems when compared to standard
harmonic, two-tone intermodulation, and total harmonic distortion measurements. Modeling
of the nonlinear reaction of various sound system components to a multitone signal is
described.

4 MODELING more, designing a model that can handle the distortion of

4.1 Multitone and One-Dimensional Nonlinear
Waves
It was shown in [120], [121] that large sound systems
might be impaired by the severe distortion caused by the
nonlinear propagation of sound waves from horn arrays to
a listener. This physical effect is somewhat similar to the
nonlinear distortion produced by horns. In [120], [121]
nonlinear air propagation distortion was predicted theoret-
ically and confirmed by experiments. It is important to
know the level of propagation distortion in a sound system
because this distortion may be significant and may even
exceed the level of distortion in the compression drivers
and horns.
In [120], [121] air propagation distortion was presented
in the form of harmonic and intermodulation products.
Continuing the line of thought from Part 1, the multitone
stimulus can retrieve a much more detailed picture of air
propagation distortion than the traditional methods of har-
monic and two-tone intermodulation measurement. In
addition, through the use of multitone signals the Volterra
model of nonlinear air propagation can be built. The latter
potentially leads to the design of inverse operators, pro-
viding compensation for nonlinear distortion. Further-
* Presented at the 109th Convention of the Audio Engineering
Society, Los Angeles, CA, 2000 September 22 –25; manuscript
received 2000 November 30.
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 49, No.12, 2001 December
a multitone signal is only one step from modeling a non-
linear reaction to an arbitrary signal. This makes it possi-
ble to tackle the auralization of a musical signal impaired
by air distortion. Auralization allows us to predict the sub-
jectively perceived sound quality of a musical signal
impaired by air distortion and possibly to take measures to
minimize this distortion.
At this stage of our work, three one-dimensional non-
linear sound waves were considered: plane, cylindrical,
and spherical. In the next subsection, the distortion of a
multitone sound wave in a horn is analyzed.
The following equation describes the propagation of a
plane lossless sound wave [120]:
 
r βv(τ )
v(τ ) = F τ + , τ ∈ {0, . . . , τm }
c0 [c0 + βv(τ )]
(21)
where v() is the particle velocity, F denotes an arbitrary
continuous function,  is the angular frequency, c0 is the
undisturbed sound speed, r is the distance from the sound
source,  = ( + 1)/2 is the coefficient of nonlinearity, with
 being the ratio of specific heat at constant pressure to
that at constant volume and having a value of 1.4 for air,
 = t  r/c0 is retarded time, with t the current time, and
{0, . . . , m} is the time interval where the solution is
sought. For a periodic function F() = F( + T) the solu-
tion is sought for the time interval {0, . . . , T}, where T is
1181
CZERWINSKI ET AL. PAPERS

the period of the signal. a plane wave; Fig. 22 shows the distortion corresponding
This equation is implicit, because the particle velocity to the propagation of a spherical wave; and Fig. 23 shows
v() is presented in both parts of Eq. (21). Since F in Eq. how the distortion in a spherical wave grows with an
(21) is an arbitrary continuous function, it may take the form increase in the SPL from 110 to 120 dB. The character of
of Eq. (1) (see Part 1), describing a multitone stimulus, the distortion products in both these waves strongly
   resembles the distortion generated in a plane wave. The

N
r βv(τ )
v(τ ) − v0i sin ωi τ + =0
i=1
c0 [c0 + βv(τ )]
(22)

where v 0i is the amplitude of the ith multitone component.

Eq. (22) can only be solved numerically. For a certain
moment of time k and distance r, the value of the particle
velocity v(k) satisfying Eq. (22) is computed by the
numerical methods of bracketing and bisection [122].
Afterward this process is repeated for the next moment of
time k+1, until the whole time interval of the input signal
is covered. The solution of Eq. (22) for each moment of
time k is the level of particle velocity v(k) at the distance
of reception r. Therefore the new distorted waveform of
the particle velocity is found. This process of solving Eq.
(22) can be repeated, increasing r, to observe the transfor-
(a)
mation of the distortion with distance. The sound pressure
is calculated simply as p() = 0c0v(), where 0c0 is the
plane wave radiation impedance, 0 is the undisturbed air
density, and c0 is the undisturbed speed of sound. In this
modeling the higher orders of propagation nonlinearity are
not truncated, as is typical for Volterra series models. The
spectra of original and distorted multitone plane waves,
calculated by the DFT, are shown in Fig. 20. The multi-
tone wave consists of 10 tones distributed logarithmically
in the frequency range of 1 –10 kHz (see Part 1, Table 1).
The distorted multitone plane wave corresponds to the dis-
tance r = 10 m and 110-dB SPL. A strong domination of
intermodulation products over harmonics is observed.
There is a pronounced increase in all distortion products
with frequency.
Similar to Eq. (22) characterizing the plane multitone (b)
wave, the equations describing cylindrical and spherical
Fig. 20. (a) Spectrum of original multitone plane wave.
multitone waves take the following form [120], [121]: (b) Calculated spectrum of distorted multitone plane wave.
SPL = 110 dB; distance = 10 m.
• Cylindrical wave:
 


r0 
N
2β

r
r

v(τ ) − v0i sin ωi τ + 2 r0

1 −
r v(τ ) = 0 (23)
r i=1 c0 r0 0

• Spherical wave:
    
r  N
β r r
v(τ ) − v0i sin ωi τ + 2 r0 ln v(τ ) = 0 (24)
r0 i=1 c0 r0 r0

where r0 is the radius of the source and r the distance from

the source.
Like Eq. (21), the implicit equations, Eqs. (23) and
(24), were solved numerically using the methods of brack-
eting and bisection [122]. To calculate the spectrum of
sound pressure in cylindrical and spherical waves, their
impedances were multiplied by the Fourier transform of
particle velocity. Fig. 21 shows the distortion in a cylin-
drical wave corresponding to conditions similar to that of
1182
distortion in a cylindrical wave is lower than that in a
plane wave, and the distortion in the spherical wave is
even less. This is explained by the spreading of a cylindri-
cal and a spherical wave causing a progressive decrease in
sound pressure with distance and slowing down the accu-
mulation of air propagation distortion. Modeling the prop-
agating multitone sound waves shows how the distortion
caused by air nonlinearity affects the signal. A graphical
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 49, No.12, 2001 December
PAPERS
representation of the distortion gives a very detailed and
versatile picture of the nonlinearity affecting this complex
signal.
The modeling was further extended to handle real musi-
cal signals. Pieces of musical signals of 10-s duration were
saved from a CD onto a hard disk in a “wav” format. The
sampling frequency of the signal was increased from 44.1
to 441 kHz to take into account the higher products of non-
linearity and to prevent aliasing. A fragment of the recorded
music therefore consisted of 4.41  10 6 samples. For each
time sample the current level of the signal was incorporated
into Eqs. (22) – (24), and the transformation of the wave-
form was calculated numerically using the methods of
bracketing and bisection. Repeating this process for each
time sample, the waveform of the signal corresponding to
the air distortion was calculated. Afterward the signal was
decimated back to 44.1 kHz. The modeling was carried out
for all three types of one-dimensional waves. This approach
made it possible to perform auralization of the air distortion
inherent in one-dimensional waves and to evaluate the
influence of the air distortion on the sound quality.
Modeling these simple types of nonlinear sound waves is a
first step toward the auralization of distorted musical sound
waves radiated by more complex sound sources, such as
horn arrays.
4.2 Multitone and Distortion in Horns
The nonlinear distortion generated in horns is a sibling
of the nonlinear distortion generated in free-propagating
sound waves of high amplitude. The sound wave propa-
gating in a horn remains confined within its boundaries
and does not lose much of its pressure. Consequently a
high-pressure sound wave promptly accumulates distor-
tion during its travel along a horn. Modeling the distortion
that adversely affect a multitone sound wave may lead to
the corresponding Volterra models. For the latter, inverse
functionals can possibly be built. Implementation of the
inverse functionals in the DSP could solve the problem of
minimizing nonlinear distortion in horns. Furthermore,
modeling nonlinear multitone propagation in horns helps
to tackle the nonlinear propagation of real musical signals
Fig. 21. Calculated spectrum of distorted multitone cylindrical
wave. SPL = 110 dB; distance = 10 m.
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 49, No.12, 2001 December
MULTITONE TESTING
in horns, leading to the auralization of nonlinearity in
horns.
The modeling of nonlinear distortion in horns is based
on a combination of matrix analysis in linear approxima-
tion and a nonlinear transformation of a plane wave. The
continuous flare of a horn is divided into n cascaded dis-
crete cylindrical sections (elements), each characterized
by the complex matrix [ai]. This matrix describes the rela-
tionship between the velocities and pressures at the inlet
and outlet of an ith cylindrical section [120]. Assuming
weak nonlinearity and little change in the pressure and
velocity along the length of a single cylindrical section,
each section is presented by a cascaded linear and nonlin-
ear element (Fig. 24). The modeling assumes that the
reflections from the horn’s mouth affect the signal in lin-
ear approximation, whereas the nonlinear products propa-
gate without reflections. This assumption is fair for the
frequency range above the horn’s cutoff frequency, essen-
tially where horns are used.
Calculation in the frequency domain is carried out as
follows. The complex particle velocity v t i and pressure pt i
at the throat of an ith cylindrical element and the particle
velocity v mi and pressure pmi at the mouth of an ith cylin-
drical element are expressed by the following matrix
Fig. 22. Calculated spectrum of distorted multitone spherical
wave. SPL = 110 dB; distance = 10 m.
Fig. 23. Calculated spectrum of distorted multitone spherical
wave. SPL = 120 dB; distance = 10 m.
1183
CZERWINSKI ET AL. PAPERS

equation: throat impedance of the last nth element is calculated by

    Eq. (29), where Zamn is the complex radiation impedance
pti pmi of the horn, calculated as
= [ai ] (25)
vti Si vmi Si   
ρ0 c0 J1 (2krm ) S1 (2krm )
Z amn = 1− +j (29)
where Si is the cross-sectional area of the ith cylindrical Sm krm krm
element.
The matrix [ai] is expressed as where Sm is the mouth area, rm is the mouth radius, and
    J1(2krm) and S1(2krm) are the first-order Bessel and
a11i a12i cos(kli ) jRi sin(kli )
[ai ] = = (26)
a21i a22i j R1i sin(kli ) cos(kli )
where l is the length of the ith element, the parameter Ri =
0c0/si is the normalized plane√ wave impedance, k = /c0
is the wave number, and j = −1.
The pressure at the outlet of the ith element is related to
the pressure at its inlet through the equation
1 p lm1(i) at the outlet of the first linear element is calcu-
pmi = pti
a11i + a12i /Z ami
where Zami accounts for the complex termination imped-
ance of the ith cylindrical element, which is essentially the
input acoustical impedance of the next element, Zat(i+1),
that is, Zami = Zat(i+1).
The input impedance of the (i + 1)th cylindrical element
is calculated as
a11(i+1) Z am(i+1) + a12(i+1)
Z at(i+1) = . (28)
a21(i+1) Z am(i+1) + a22(i+1)
Therefore the calculation of the sound pressure in the
frequency domain is preceded by the calculation of the
throat impedance of each cylindrical element. This calcu-
lation starts from the input impedance of the last nth cylin-
drical element adjacent to the mouth of the horn. The
Strouve functions.
The initial linear multitone pressure p it1(i) at the throat
of the horn is assumed not to be dependent on the fre-
quency. Essentially this pressure may have any frequency
dependence. It may be obtained from measurements using
a real compression driver. Also it may be obtained from a
model of a compression driver. This pressure may even
have an arbitrary discrete spectrum, representing distortion
generated earlier in a compression driver. The pressure
(27)
lated by Eq. (27), p lt1(i) → p lm1(i). Afterward the spec-
trum of the signal is turned into the time domain by the
inverse Fourier transform, p lm1(t) = F1 {p lm1(i)}. The
time-domain pressure is nonlinearly processed through
the numerical solution of Eq. (22), p lm1(t) ⇒ p nm1(t). Then
p nm1(t) is turned, by the Fourier transform, into the fre-
quency domain again, and this pressure is considered as
the input signal for the next cylindrical element, p lt2(i) =
F{p nm1(t)}. Then the calculation is repeated, going through
all the sections until the waveform and the spectrum at the
mouth of the horn are calculated.
Fig. 25 shows the spectrum of a 30-tone sound wave at
the mouth of a 0.2-m-long 1-in-throat exponential horn.
The frequency-independent SPL at the throat of the horn
is 130 dB. The overall character of the distortion is some-
what similar to that of the freely propagating waves. The
envelope of the amplitudes of the primary tones character-

Fig. 24. Modeling of nonlinear distortion in horns.

1184 J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 49, No.12, 2001 December

PAPERS
izes the frequency response of the horn, corresponding to
the frequency independent pressure at the throat of the
horn. The tendency of distortion products to increase
toward high frequencies is observed. Fig. 26 shows only a
linear sound pressure frequency response with the number
of tones increased to 200. Oscillations of the frequency
response in the vicinity of 500 Hz are indicative of the
reflections from the mouth.
Modeling the air distortion that adversely affects multi-
tone sound waves propagating freely or in a horn pursues
two possible goals. One goal is the development of
Volterra models of air propagation distortion. At the cur-
rent state of research it seems possible to obtain Volterra
kernels of the first-, second-, and probably third-order ker-
nels, using a multitone signal and treating the nonlinear
wave propagation as a “black box.” The Volterra models
might possibly lead to the synthesis of the inverse opera-
tors and therefore to the corresponding algorithms imple-
mented in DSP to compensate for air propagation distor-
tion. The second goal is the development of a system for
the auralization of air propagation distortion. Such a sys-
tem would be a helpful tool in the design of large sound
systems and horn loudspeakers.
5 APPLICATION
5.1 Use of Multitone Stimuli to Detect Sound
Quality – Related Nonlinearity Differences in
Compression Drivers
During the development of a new line of low-distortion
compression drivers with a principally different topology
of diaphragm and phasing plug, the performance of these
drivers was tested both objectively and subjectively. The
sound quality of the new drivers was compared with the
performance of conventional dome-diaphragm compres-
sion drivers. Regular objective test procedures included he
measurement of impedance, frequency response, second
and third harmonics, and THD. The drivers were loaded
by similar 60º by 90º exponential horns and measured at 2
m under unechoic conditions.
In one of the tests a reference conventional driver (with
a 4-in titanium diaphragm) showed a frequency response
Fig. 25. Modeled spectrum of a 30-tone sound wave at the mouth
of an exponential horn. SPL = 130 dB at throat.
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 49, No.12, 2001 December
MULTITONE TESTING
and a level of conventionally measured distortion quite
comparable with those of the new device. However, sub-
jective listening tests revealed a significant disparity in
sound quality, suggesting an inferior performance of the
reference compression driver. This discrepancy in sound
quality essentially stimulated the use of a multitone signal
for the assessment of the nonlinearity in horn drivers. The
testing of both compression drivers by the multitone stim-
ulus consisting of 20 logarithmically distributed tones in
the frequency range of 1 –10 kHz revealed strong differ-
ences in the nonlinearities of these drivers. The reference
driver had a significantly higher level of intermodulation
products, including those of the high orders.
Figs. 27 and 28 show the frequency responses of both
drivers, the second and third harmonics, and the THD
curves. At first glance the objective performances of both
compression drivers are quite comparable. They both have
very similar levels of second and third harmonic distor-
tion. The difference is in the levels of the higher harmon-
ics, the reference driver being characterized by the higher
levels. Since their levels are low anyway, one might take
them out of consideration as insignificant. The THD curve
even implies the superiority of the reference driver, whose
THD curve is lower in the frequency range of 500 Hz to 2
kHz (see Fig. 28). However, measurement by a multitone
signal reveals a stunning and bitter (for the reference
driver) truth: the reference compression driver generates a
significantly larger number of intermodulation products,
exceeding in level the products inherent in the multitone
response of the new driver. Fig. 29 shows the results of the
multitone testing of both drivers. The salient difference
between the two responses is self-explanatory. The refer-
ence driver has a much “dense” pattern of distortion prod-
ucts, occurring practically over the entire frequency range.
A zoomed picture of the distortion products in the fre-
quency range of 2 –3 kHz (Fig. 30) is even more impres-
sive. It shows the enormous difference in the number of
intermodulation products produced by the drivers. The
reference driver’s response has an abundant “forest” of
distortion spectral components. Since a great number of
these distortion products were generated by higher order
nonlinearities, these higher order products were “injected”
Fig. 26. Frequency response of “linear” horn, modeled through
use of 200 tones.
1185
CZERWINSKI ET AL.
into the output signal during listening tests, producing a
quite audible deterioration of the sound quality. Therefore,
measurements by the multitone stimulus gave information
relevant to the subjective sound quality, whereas the THD
curve gave a “wrong answer,” and harmonic measure-
ments did not give direct indications, suggesting the infe-
rior performance of the reference driver. The multitone
response did not provide an accurate quantitative measure
of the subjectively perceived quality (these measures are
not known thus far), but gave straightforward clues to
sound quality disparity, ruling out possible and impossible
“mysterious” causes.
5.2 Use of a Multitone Stimulus Signature to
Detect Air Propagation Distortion in the Testing
of Direct Radiating Tweeters
While testing a horn driver’s harmonic distortion, an
increase in the distortion curves with frequency is typi-
cally observed. This tendency of harmonic distortion to
grow with increasing frequency is explained by the nature
of the compression within an air chamber and by the non-
(a)
(b)
Fig. 27. Frequency responses and harmonic curves (from second to sixth). (a) Reference compression driver (4-in voice coil, 2-in out-
put, dome titanium diaphragm). (b) New prototype compression driver (3-in voice coil; 2-in output; PEN film bicurved diaphragm).
1186
PAPERS
linear sound wave propagation in horns.
This frequency-dependent increase in the harmonic
curves is not expected from a direct-radiating high-
frequency loudspeaker. However, in the course of testing a
high-SPL, high-frequency array, consisting of several effi-
cient direct radiating tweeters, a tendency of the harmon-
ics to increase with frequency was observed. This effect
could not be explained by the influence of the aforemen-
tioned sources of distortion, since there was neither a com-
pression chamber nor a horn attached to the array. Two
reasonable explanations were considered: the mechanical
distortion produced by the vibration of the diaphragm at
partial resonances and the air distortion acquired by a
sound wave while propagating from the array to the
microphone. The latter effect was initially ruled out as
impossible, because the average pressure at the micro-
phone was only 110-dB SPL, hardly a “nosebleed” level.
Nevertheless, to evaluate the possible influence of air dis-
tortion, the array was tested by the 10-tone signal. The pat-
tern of distortion thus obtained was compared to the mod-
eled distortion of the multitone spherical wave, for a
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 49, No.12, 2001 December
PAPERS
similar level of sound pressure at the source, number of
tones, and distance. A comparison of the distortion pat-
terns showed a striking resemblance (Fig. 31). Many sub-
tle similarities in the pattern of the distortion response
could easily be observed. For example, the spectral com-
ponents marked by circles on both graphs are indicative of
the affinity between both distortion patterns. The results of
this experiment should alert the designer of high-SPL
tweeters and compression drivers that measured distortion
may not be produced within the devices tested, but rather
by the nonlinear propagation of sound waves on their way
from a loudspeaker to the microphone.
The two aforementioned examples of testing loud-
speakers with a multitone stimulus demonstrate the ability
of a multitone signal to produce specific patterns of dis-
tortion that can be used in the identification of specific
problems occurring in loudspeakers. This approach could
possibly be extended to the search for a relationship
between loudspeaker sound quality and specific patterns
of multitone response. This pattern recognition method
has not yet been developed, and the authors do not know
(a)
(b)
Fig. 28. Total harmonic distortion. (a) Conventional reference compression driver. (b) New prototype compression driver.
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 49, No.12, 2001 December
MULTITONE TESTING
of its use by anyone. The development of such a method
would be justified by the ability of multitone stimuli to
reveal a much more diverse and informative “picture” of
distortion than the sweeping tone methods, as has been
shown in Part 1, Section 2. Figuratively speaking, the mul-
titone stimulus sends us encrypted messages full of vital
information; we only need to learn how to decipher them.
6 RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
Traditional methods of measuring nonlinearity in audio
equipment, and in loudspeakers in particular, do not pro-
vide sufficient information to characterize accurately the
properties of equipment impaired by nonlinear distortion.
This lack of appropriate information may lead to erro-
neous results when the subjective performance of loud-
speakers does not correspond to traditional measurements
of nonlinear distortion. Historically the measurement of
nonlinear distortion in loudspeakers was carried out by
one or two sweeping tones. For years there were many
attempts to find the thresholds of traditionally measured
1187
CZERWINSKI ET AL.
distortion that would correspond to subjectively perceived
sound quality. This search for clues as to how harmonic
and two-tone intermodulation distortion is related to sub-
jective quality did not give perfectly credible or consistent
results. The investigations of different researchers sug-
gested different levels of distortion. This discrepancy was
explained by a lack of sufficient information obtained
through the sweeping tone measurements.
In this work a multitone signal was researched for its
ability to reveal more information about nonlinearity in
loudspeakers than do conventional methods of measure-
ment. The multitone signal stands halfway between a sin-
gle sinusoidal signal and a musical signal, having some
properties of both. Some characteristics of a multitone sig-
nal with logarithmically distributed frequencies were con-
sidered, including the statistical distribution of amplitudes
and the crest factor. Unlike the sinusoidal signal, the
waveform of a multitone signal and its statistical proper-
ties strongly resemble those of a musical signal. The sta-
tistical distribution of a multitone signal is close to a reg-
ular Gaussian curve and resembles the distribution of a
musical signal, unlike a sinusoidal signal whose statistical
distribution is the opposite of the Gaussian curve. An
attempt to minimize the crest factor of a multitone signal
with logarithmically distributed frequencies (by adjusting
the phases of the initial tones) was carried out. This task
(a)
(b)
Fig. 29. Multitone response. (a) Reference compression driver.
(b) New prototype compression driver.
1188
PAPERS
was tackled as an optimization problem. A global opti-
mization algorithm was used to reach the goal. It was
found that the minimization of the crest factor of a multi-
tone signal with logarithmically distributed frequencies is
possible within rather narrow limits. Minimization becomes
less effective with an increase of the signal’s time span.
Since the multitone signal with logarithmically distributed
frequencies is nonperiodic, it becomes increasingly difficult
to find a combination of phases that lead to the minimiza-
tion of the peaks of the signal over a longer signal duration.
The transformation of a multitone signal by static non-
linearity was analyzed. Simple examples show clearly that
harmonic products do not carry adequate quantitative meas-
ures of a signal’s distortion. With an increase in the number
of tones and the order of nonlinearity, the share of inter-
modulation products increases dramatically. Generated har-
monic products are believed to play a minor role in the
deterioration of the sound quality of reproduced musical
signals. Harmonics change the balance of the natural over-
tones in a spectrum of musical instruments, causing col-
oration, rather than subjectively distorting the reproduced
sound. Meanwhile intermodulation products fall into a
dissonant relationship with the primary tones and produce
audible deterioration of a reproduced sound.
Numerical experiments with static nonlinearity showed
(a)
(b)
Fig. 30. Multitone responses. (a) Reference compression driver.
(b) New prototype compression driver. Both zoomed in fre-
quency range of 2 –3 kHz.
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 49, No.12, 2001 December
PAPERS
that a higher order nonlinearity (for example, the fourth or
fifth order) produces an infinitesimally low level of har-
monics (of that order) compared to the level of the accom-
panying intermodulation products. This very strong differ-
ence between the level of high-order harmonics and the
corresponding intermodulation products may explain why
subjectively perceived distortion is often associated with the
presence of high-order harmonics in a measured output sig-
nal, even though the level of these harmonics is low. These
effects occur because the measured higher order harmonics,
not carrying a quantitative measure of subjectively detected
distortion, are always accompanied by the significantly
larger intermodulation products (in number and energy),
which usually are not measured. Figuratively speaking,
“stealthy” high-order nonlinearity creates a very small blip
on the display of the harmonic-measurement “radar.”
Higher order nonlinearity is very sensitive to the level of the
input signal. An increase in input signal, which produces a
negligible effect on low-order products, can wake up the
“evil forces” of nonlinearity, releasing an unfathomable
number of high-order intermodulation product “piranhas”
to tear the flesh of reproduced sound to pieces.
Another effect observed was the generation of first-
order products by odd-order static polynomial nonlinear-
(a)
(b)
Fig. 31. (a) Loudspeaker array distortion revealed by 10-tone
signal. SPL = 110 dB at microphone; distance = 1 m. (b) Air dis-
tortion of multitone spherical wave, modeled at SPL = 110 dB;
distance = 1 m.
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 49, No.12, 2001 December
MULTITONE TESTING
ity. The level of these first-order products can exceed the
level of the corresponding harmonics significantly and can
be quite comparable to the level of other intermodulation
products.
A strong difference in the number, level, and energy
between high-order harmonics and high-order intermodu-
lation products might explain why some transistor ampli-
fiers with low second and third harmonics, but character-
ized by higher order harmonic distortion, sound inferior
compared to tube amplifiers whose nonlinear distortion,
although being stronger, does not extend to the higher
orders. Figuratively speaking, the higher order harmonics
are only the tip of an iceberg whose larger hidden part is
the intermodulation distortion of this high order. Another
highly hypothetical explanation for “transistor” sound
might be the modulation of the linear component of the
signal by the products of the first order, generated by the
odd-order nonlinearities. This phenomenon might be a
source of some subtle nuances, such as poor transparence
and other fine effects in amplifier sound.
With an increase in the number of testing tones, the fre-
quencies of some nonlinear products may overlap with the
primary tones and other products. The overlapping of dis-
tortion products prevents a straightforward evaluation of
their amplitudes. Overlapping is strong if the distribution
of the tones is harmonic, and is inherent to a lesser degree
in the tones with logarithmically distributed frequencies.
Strictly speaking, a truly logarithmic distribution of pri-
mary tones puts them in an irrational relationship, which
prevents overlapping. However, the rounding of tone fre-
quencies to the nearest frequency bin inevitably causes
overlapping. In this work the number of overlapped tones
was analyzed as a function of the number of initial tones,
the order of nonlinearity, and the signal duration.
The transformation of a multitone signal by dynamic
nonlinearity was discussed using Volterra models, pre-
senting nonlinearity in the multidimensional space of
intermodulation combinations. It has been shown that
dynamic nonlinearity is a significantly more complex phe-
nomenon than static nonlinearity and demands a much
more involved mathematical apparatus for analysis. It has
also been demonstrated by computer modeling how the
measurement of distortion by conventional harmonic and
two-tone intermodulation methods might lead to erro-
neous conclusions about the scale of the dynamic nonlin-
earity in a DUT. Sweeping tone measurements may sim-
ply not “see” certain high-level intermodulation
combinations, which would, however, be spotted by the
multitone signal. The multitone stimulus gives a versatile
view of the distortion products of different orders, map-
ping the “multidimensional” intermodulation combina-
tions on the one-dimensional frequency scale.
Modeling of the nonlinear transformation of multitone
sound waves by air propagation distortion was carried out.
The modeling included nonlinear propagation of one-
dimensional waves and propagation within horns. These
distortions are typical for large sound systems. Modeling
of these multitone distortions was an initial step toward
two future goals. One goal is building Volterra models that
may evolve into the synthesis of a compensating device to
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decrease propagation distortion in large sound systems. believed to have several possible applications (Fig. 35).
The other goal is the development of an auralization sys- One way to use the multitone signal is the identification
tem that would be a helpful tool in the design of sound approach, in which the multitone stimulus “digs out”
systems, allowing us not only to measure distortions but information about a DUT, sufficient to build Volterra mod-
literally to hear them as well. Auralization of the distortion els. The latter could split a distorted musical signal into its
in one-dimensional sound waves of high amplitude was linear and nonlinear components, corresponding to the lin-
carried out. ear and nonlinear distortions in a tested loudspeaker. An
It has been demonstrated the measurements obtained by auditory system model could process this “dissected” sig-
a multitone stimulus were able to explain the strong dif- nal to answer questions about the detectability of nonlin-
ference in sound quality of two compression drivers when ear distortion in a measured loudspeaker, taking into
that difference had not been unraveled by regular har- account the specific characteristics of the human hearing
monic distortion measurements. The compared compres- system, such as frequency and temporal masking. This
sion drivers showed a tremendous difference in the
amount and level of intermodulation products. These data
correlated well with the subjective impression of sound
quality. The multitone stimulus did not provide quantita-
tive measures of the distortion responsible for the deterio-
ration of sound quality; however, it gave clues to help
explain the difference in the subjectively perceived per-
formance.
Another example showed how using a multitone signal
to produce specific patterns of the spectral components of
distortion may help to identify specific types of distortion Fig. 32. Two major areas of multitone application.
or the physical effects causing them. It was demonstrated
how a multitone measurement was helpful in identifying
the air distortion affecting sound waves propagating from
an array of direct radiating tweeters to a microphone.
Historically a multitone stimulus has been used inde-
pendently in two different areas: the testing of audio, elec-
tronic, and broadcasting equipment, and in the “black-
box” identification of physical and biological nonlinear
systems whose structure either is not known or cannot be
described analytically (Fig. 32). The latter use of a multi-
tone signal was substantiated by the fundamental theoret-
ical inputs of Volterra, Wiener, Shetzen, and others. The
application of multitone stimuli for identifying nonlinear
systems evolved into a mature part of the theory of
dynamic nonlinear systems (Fig. 33). The results of this
application of a multitone stimulus have been described in
numerous publications covering various aspects of multi-
tone use for nonlinear identification, such as minimization
of the crest factor, separation of overlapping products,
optimal choice of primary tone frequencies, and the deri-
vation of kernels from measured data. Meanwhile the use Fig. 33. Multitone application for “black-box” identification of
of a multitone signal for testing audio equipment focused nonlinear system.
predominantly on practical goals, such as quick testing of
the frequency response or the evaluation of the nonlinear
behavior of a DUT in general terms (Fig. 34). Some audio
publications on multitone stimulus have hailed it as a pow-
erful measurement tool. However, little explanation has
been given as to how the data provided by a multitone
stimulus could be turned into an objective criterion for
subjectively perceived nonlinear distortion. In truth, the
multitone signal, which is capable of revealing numerous
intermodulation products of different orders, is a very use-
ful tool for evaluating the nonlinear behavior of audio
equipment. With its ability to generate specific patterns of
distortion products, a multitone stimulus outperforms the
traditional methods of sweeping tone measurements.
The information provided by a multitone signal is Fig. 34. Application of multitone stimulus in audio.

1190 J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 49, No.12, 2001 December

PAPERS
approach differs from the “ideal input—distorted output”
approach used in the objective assessment of low-bit com-
pression systems. The new approach “output signal only
linearly distorted—output nonlinear products” is more
suitable for the assessment of loudspeakers whose linear
distortion always occurs anyway (because a loudspeaker is
essentially a band-pass system characterized by phase dis-
tortion at the extremes of its frequency range). This
approach could separate the influences of linear and non-
linear distortions, and it could help to consider these
effects independently, possibly taking into account such
linear effects as the directivity of loudspeakers, the influ-
ence of the listening environment, and some multichannel
aspects. For the time being this approach belongs to the
realm of science fiction. The limitations of this approach
are now yet know. Clearly the “curse of dimensionality,”
which demands gargantuan volumes of calculations to
describe Volterra kernels of high orders, cuts off many
possible applications in the foreseeable future. As the
speed of computers increases by several orders, these cal-
culations may become feasible.
The second possible application of a multitone signal
could be for pattern analysis. Figuratively speaking, the
multitone signal, with its ability to produce specific pat-
terns of distortion products, can help in the detection of
some problems in loudspeakers more effectively than reg-
ular sweeping tone distortion measurements. An example
of this use of a multitone signal has been shown in this
work. This application requires more involved investiga-
tions to be developed into a working tool.
A multitone stimulus could also be used in the search
for the thresholds of distortion detectability. A multitone
response could possibly replace regular sweeping tone
measurements in setting these thresholds. The develop-
ment of this approach could begin with the search for a
correlation between specific “signatures” of a multitone
response to modeled physical nonlinearities and the sub-
Fig. 35. Possible use of multitone stimulus in audio.
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 49, No.12, 2001 December
MULTITONE TESTING
jectively detected deterioration of the reproduced musical
sound. Using the ability of a multitone stimulus to excite
more distortion products than sweeping tones are able to,
could provide more adequate data than traditional meth-
ods of measurement. In other words, by grasping a view of
distortions through the “eyes” of a multitone signal we are
able to see more than we could by peeping at nonlinearity
through the keyhole of harmonic measurements. We only
need to learn how to read the messages from a multitone
stimulus and how to translate them into a language that
describes the relationship between objective data and sub-
jectively perceived sound quality. There are many possible
ways to present data measured by a multitone signal,
including plotting the energy of different-order nonlinear-
ities between adjacent primary tones (similarly to Audio
Precision’s method), plotting the difference multitone
response, which characterizes a difference between the
responses of two DUTs being compared, comparing
different-order products, using a “sweeping” multitone
signal, or plotting a multitone response at different levels
of input signal. There are no obvious obstacles preventing
the feasibility of this approach; however, its expediency
has not yet been proven.
Returning to reality, today’s multitone application for
the objective evaluation of sound quality is still far from
achieving its potential. Therefore for the time being, and
in the foreseeable future, the most credible way to evalu-
ate the performance of loudspeakers remains a listening
test, which will be used until new approaches to evaluate
sound quality objectively, possibly based on the use of a
multitone stimulus, mature into credible methodologies
and techniques.
7 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are indebted to Susannah Kenton for edit-
ing this manuscript.
1191
CZERWINSKI ET AL.
8 REFERENCES
[120] E. Czerwinski, A. Voishvillo, S. Alexandrov, and
A. Terekhov, “Air-Related Harmonic and Intermodulation
Distortion in Large Sound Systems,” J. Audio Eng. Soc.,
vol. 47, pp. 427 – 446 (1999 June).
[121] E. Czerwinski, A. Voishvillo, S. Alexandrov, and
A. Terekhov, “Propagation Distortion in Sound Systems—
Can We Avoid It?,” J. Audio Eng. Soc., vol. 48, pp. 30 – 48
1192
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(2000 Jan./Feb.).
[122] W. Press, S. Teukolsky, W. Vettering, and B.
Flannery, Numerical Recipes in C (Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, UK, 1995).
The biographies for Eugene Czerwinski, Alexander
Voishvillo, Sergei Alexandrov, and Alexander Terekov were pub-
lished in the 2001 November issue of the Journal.
J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 49, No.12, 2001 December