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Introduction
All transducers have limitations, including our ears. There are many ways
to describe these limitations, both objectively through measurements, and
subjectively through personal listening evaluations. The goal, of course, is
to correlate what we measure with
what we hear, and so to better understand how the transducer works. This
in turn should help the designer to
make better performing and sounding
electroacoustic transducers faster than
by trial and error alone.
Before looking at distortion, some
fundamentals must be understood. It
is pointless to discuss nonlinear measurements without having first performed some linear measurements. For
example, what is the transducers fundamental frequency, phase, and time
response. These typical measurements
can tell a lot about a transducers performance and are necessary for a better understanding of its nonlinear behaviour. But these linear measurements cannot completely describe all
of the inaccuracies we hear. For example, people often refer to the perceived
ephones, and hearing aids will be presented. Of course, most of what is discussed can be equally applied to distortion measurements on other transduc-
Distortion Definition
Distortion occurs whenever the input/
output transfer function alters the
waveform of a signal, discounting noise,
interference, and amplification or attenuation (Fig. 1). Distortion can be
divided into two main categories [l].
Ideal linear
-1- -
Outpui
signal
c. Asymmetrical
b. Symmetrical
a. Ideal
az?n%*e -I
n
I mnnnn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I
Frequency
A: Time Signal
Input
signal
For convenience, the term fundamental is defined herein as the linear portion of the response, and distortion as
the nonlinear portion of the response
of the device under test.
A: Time Signal
Distorted
sine wave
-I--
b. Nonlineardistortion:changesin the
frequency content of the input signal such that energy is transferred
from one frequency at the input to
more than one frequency at the output. Nonlinear distortion products
usually have a fixed frequency relationship to the excitation frequency.
This phenomena is usually level dependent, e.g. clipping.
Distorted
sine wave
V
0
-1
-2
0
15m s
10m
5m
20m
25m
b,
HP
H4
H6
15m s
10m
20m
25m
HlO
-20
dB
-40
-20
dB
-40
-60
-60
-80
-80
0.0
0 2k
0.4k
0.6k
0.8k Hz
l.Ok
1.2k
920.5.52~
5m
0.0
L
0.2k
0.4k
0.6k
0.8k Hz
l.Ok
1.2k
9355%
Distortion Order
Distortion can be broken down into
individual even and odd order components, for example, 2nd and 3d harmonic distortion products (Fig. 2).
Asymmetrical system nonlinearities
cause only euen order distortion products (Fig. lc). Signals, like the positive
peak limited sine wave, limited only on
the upper half-cycle (Fig. 3), contain
higher amplitude even order harmonics than odd order harmonics. Symmetrical system nonlinearities cause
only odd order distortion products (Fig.
lb). Signals, like the positive and negative limited sine wave (Fig. 4), which
will look like a square wave if limited
enough, contain higher amplitude odd
order harmonics than even order harmonics.
Distortion is a relative measurement,
usually referenced to the linear portion of the output signal both in amplitude and frequency. For example, total
harmonic distortion (THD) is usually
described as a percentage of the power
sum of all the harmonics to the power
sum of all the harmonics plus the fundamental (i.e. amplitude normalization).
Low freq.
r o l l off
dB
High freq.
roll off
t-
4 Excitation
f level
Measured
level
H
I,
I
I
I
Hz H3
, ) ,! ,,,,
, , , ,,,, 1
(,,,,,
10k
lk
40 60 100
20
20k
I~~~-,
b
40 60 kHz f
9**.350e
H, = Harmonic response of
Nth harmonic.
HI = Fundamental response.
The distortion response is usually plotted under the corresponding excitation frequency of the measured fundamental response (i.e. frequency normalization). For example, the 2nd harmonic of 20 Hz occurs at 40 Hz and the
3d harmonic occurs at 60 Hz (Fig. 5a).
Instead of plotting the harmonic distortion products at their actual measured frequency (Fig. 5b), their values
are plotted at their excitation frequency
(Fig. 5c). This can lead to some difficulties in evaluation due to the influence
that the passband and shape of the
fundamental response have on the distortion responses. For example, a peak
at 1 kHz in the fundamental response
will show up as a peak in the 2nd harmonic response at l/2 the frequency
and l/3 the frequency for the 3rd harmonic response (Fig. 5c). When following this convention it is easy to misinterpret the relative distortion level.
Typically when viewing such a graph
as in Fig. 5c, it is the difference in the
level that is observed between the distortion and the fundamental at a particular frequency (see Fig. 5c.: 3rd Har-
Passband
I_
20
10k
Ik
40 60 100
20k
40 60 kHz f
9.?0351~
dB
After normalization, the Fundamental and all the harmonics start here
~~~~~
I
l 100% 3ti Harmonic
1 (normalized)
20
I
40 60 100
II
I
,~~I~~~~1
333l 500
lk
*~1~~-~1
10k
1
20k
..n....r*
40 60 kHz f
920352C
frequency scale. Significantly different results will be obtained if the responses in Fig. 5b and 5c are used to
compute THD.
Psychoacoustics
The human ears sensitivity to sound
varies with frequency and level.
Fletcher-Munson loudness curves describe this relationship. These curves
indicate that tones at the low and high
frequency end of the audio band are
less audible than tones of the same
amplitude in the middle frequency
band. This also applies to distortion
products. For example, Moir found that
harmonic distortion below 400 Hz became increasingly harder to detect than
harmonic distortion above 400 Hz 121.
Distortion audibility is also a function of sound duration. The ear has a
finite time resolution. Moir has found
that distortion due to clipping of a 4
millisecond tone burst reached about
10% before it was detectable, but increasing the pulse length to 20 milliseconds reduced the just detectable
distortion point to around 0.3% [2].
Another important psychoacoustic
phenomena is masking. Sounds in our
environment rarely occur in isolation
as pure tones. The study of masking is
concerned with the interaction of
sounds. Tonal masking, for instance,
deals with the change in the perception threshold for a particular tone in
the presence of another tone (Fig. 6).
Narrow band noise is used instead of a
pure tone for the masking frequency in
order to reduce beating, low frequency
modulation, when the probe tone approaches the same frequency of the
masking tone. Fig. 6 indicates that
more masking occurs for frequencies
above the masking tone than below [3].
This becomes significant when discussing the audibility of different kinds of
distortion.
In the case of harmonic distortion,
the fundamental masks the 2nd harmonic component more than the
3rd
harmonic and very little for the higher
harmonic components. This is another
frequency and level dependent phenomena. The masking threshold widens in the low and high frequency end
of the audio band and with increasing
sound pressure level.
90
dB
80
Fig. 6 Masking threshold for a pure tone in the presence of narrow band noise centred at
1 kHz (Zwicker, 1975). For a masking tone of 100 dB SPL, the 2nd Harmonic is masked
for levels below 70 dB and the 3rd Harmonic is masked for levels below 60 dB SPL
A: Time Signal
O
0.5
V
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
1
0
80 r
5m
I
10m
I
15m
Hi!
3k
70
dB
60
50
40
30
0
lk
2k
I
20m
t ------_----------------------
dB
10%
G%THD
~ 1%
-40
-60
Ik
HZ0
HI0
0.1%
I,, I
3k Hz 4k
2k
5k
+f
BADSpeaker
10%
-20
dB
~-__--1--_--_~_~~T~_--_____________
-40
1%
-60
0.1%
lk
2k
3k
Hz 4k
9Z047&
Short-circuiting ring
Voice coil
Pole piece
Unequal magnetic
field lines
[51.
All electroacoustic transducers also
possess some symmetrical nonlinearities. This could be the result of physical limits on the diaphragms displacement or an actual limiting circuit such
as found in telephones to prevent hearing damage from excessively loud signals. So, odd order distortion products
should indicate these symmetric nonlinearities. For example, when a voice
coil approaches the physical excursion
limits of the motor system. Again at
low frequencies, where the displacement becomes greater, odd order distortion products should increase (Fig.
llc).
It is interesting to note that in the
process of reducing asymmetrical distortion, with the short circuiting ring,
some symmetrical distortion, 3rd harmonic, was reduced as well.
Measuring the 2nd, 3rd, and higher
harmonics of a transducer can be very
revealing as to some of the design problems, but as already discussed, some
harmonic distortion produced by the
transducer may not be especially displeasing nor audible. Third harmonic
distortion in a tweeter, for example, at
10 kHz occurs at 30 kHz. Clearly, the
distortion present at 30
kHz is not
audible, but it still represents a problem. So what significance should be
placed on harmonic distortion products? How and what levels are clearly
objectionable, and are there any other
ways that distortion can be produced
that might be more objectionable?
In the hope of answering these questions, different distortion test methods
need to be discussed with respect to;
How well do they simulate real operating conditions? Can they be correlated
with each other and perceived distortion audibility? How easy are they to
understand and perform?
Freauencv Response:
dB re 20~ Pei7.4 V Q lm
90
dB
80
70
60
50
2k
eb
B&K Type2012
Frequency Response:
dB re 20~ Pai7,4 V @ 1 m
90
dB
80
70
60
50
20
200
Hz
2k
20k
Fig. llc 3rd Harmonic Distortion with the addition of an aluminium short-circuiting
ring in the woofers motor
A: Time Signal
600m
400m
V
200m
-2OOm
0.0
0.5m
1 .Om
1.5m
2.0m
-60
dB
Which part is
Linear ?
0 Nonlinear?
. Noise ?
-80
-100
-120
20
200
HZ
20k
Multichannel
Analysis System
3550
Ear Simulator
4157
Hearing Aid
under Test
Module:
Noise Spectrum
and equalization
50
-10
Fig. 14a Hearing aid with a varying response due to its built-in compressor. Frequency
response measured with stepped sine stimulus from 50 - 90 dB input level in 2 dB
increments
20
0
200
100
lk
500
2k
Hz 5k
10k
Fig. 14b Coherent and Noncoherent Power output of a hearing aid measured using a
channel FFT analysis. Speech-weighted noise stimulus at 70 dB input level
2-
Individual
Tracking Filters
dB
Hi
Hz
H,
b
H,
H,
H,
H,
Hs
20 kHz
f (lin)
w
R?.w9r,
Fig. 15a Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) measured with a tracking filter (includes
selected distortion components)
10
/
_ _ _ - - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Overall n o i s e level
dB
HI
Hz
H3
Ha
Hs
20 kHz f (lin)
HB
H7
92034&
Fig. 15b THD+N measured with a notchfilter (includes overall noise level)
fl
ft + f2
f, - f2
I
I
I
I
lI
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
f, + 2
f2
I
I
1 k
1,l k
Hz
7.508441 3
Fig. 16a Illustration of IM distortion resulting from the interaction of a 100 Hz and 800
Hz input signal
f2
fl
2 f, - f,
I
I
I
I
f1 - fz
!
I
I
I
100
2 f, -2
f*
I
I
i
I
I
I
I
I
;
I
200
2 f, - f,
300
400
500
600
I
I
700
800
900
lk
1,lk
Hz
P
7.5*.%%
Fig. 16b Difference frequency distortion resulting from a 800 Hz and 900 Hz input
signal
quency coefficients (Fig. 17a and b). A
negative distortion order means that
the measured distortion component
falls below the higher of the two test
tones.
Example: -3 IM
The distortion order of
f, - 2fi (Fig. 16a) is
I1 I - I-21 = 3rdorder
distortion product
Positive even order difference frequency distortion products are equivalent to their negative even order counter parts, except that they occur at
negative frequencies and are, therefore, not measured.
It is important to be careful not to
measure too low in frequency where
the measured distortion component
falls either too close to DC or one of the
-3 -2
23
fl
f2
Distortion Order Definition:
Frequency
Example: -3 DF
If Af=f,-f,=lOOHz
f,= 100 Hz
when
f, = 200 Hz
and
then 2fi- lfi= 0 Hz
so the frequency sweep
should start above
(- even)
-2-4 -N
-N
-5 -3
....
....
rl n
f2 f,
Distortion Order Definition:
(+ odd)
35
n ....
Frequency
( y) f, - ( y) f,
2 Harmonic Distortion
dB
dBpjjjq\
)
- 2 DF: f, - f,
f,
fl
HZ
Fig. 18 Harmonic distortion components are attenuated by the high frequency roll-off of
the system, while difference frequency distortion components remain inside the
passband
of the system (assuming 100% distortion)
11
Audio Analyzer
Telephone Interface
5906/V/H 2517
20
dB 0
Fundamental
-20
-40
2 Difference Frequency
-60
lk
2k Hz 5k
10k
Actual value
Hz
dB
Measured and
actual value
b
-3DF:2f,-f,- f2 f,
HZ
%?058&
Fig. 21a Harmonic Distortion components are attenuated by filter networks while 3rd
order difference frequency components remain the same level as the excitation frequencies,
f1 and 6 (assuming 100% distortion)
80
dB
60
I
10
lk
HZ
10k
1 OOk
I
O?dll,r
Fig. 21b Fundamental, 3rd harmonic, and -3 difference frequency distortion for 2-way
home loudspeaker system with a crossover filter network. Measured in an anechoic
chamber at 1 meter for 96 dB SPL at 1 kHz, fr - fz = 100 Hz
/ Fundamental
80
dB
60
40
20
0
100
lk
HZ
10k
100k
0
-20
dB
-40
-60
- - - - - Spk 8: Full-range
-80
lk
10k
1 OOk
^__.__
Equalized
Sound Sources
Microphone
Under Test
Audio Analyzer
Audio Power
Amplifier
WQ 0917
13
-20
-40
-60
-60
20
200
HZ
2k
20k
A: Time Signal
20
-20
0
20m
40m
60m
B: Time Signal
300
F Time window
200
Pa
100
f Condition signal -W
-200
0
20m
40m
60m
Fig. 25 a) Upper curve shows a high level Tone Burst input signal with -20 dB relative
conditioning signal to minimize ringing
b) Lower curve shows the tone burst reproduced by a loudspeaker. FFT analysis is
performed on windowed time data.
14
0.5k
l.bk.
Hi
lik
2:Ok
lOO-
giving an exaggeration of the distortion or vice-versa (a peak or dip of 20 30 dB leads to an error of1000 - 3000%).
Therefore, it is necessary to have an
anechoic chamber or some other technique to measure the free-field
response.
15
16
dB 4
in an ordanary
i
Reflections
I
II
100
42-f \
I\ I\ 3f
f \I\
4f
I I \I
II,,, b
5f
,200
\ ?OO
400
500
S=1OHz/ms
6f
600 f [Hz]
t, +1Oms
t, + 20 me
I/
100
IV I I
I II
200
300
400
500
600
w
f
WI
dB
Anechoic
80
60
40
20
-1
-2
Sine: a = 1.41 V,.,
= 1 .oo VsMs
a2 = l.l3V,.,
= 0.80 Vsp_qs
B: Time Signal: DF, f2=900Hz, fl=l kHz, a2=al, sine wave = 1OOHz
2
-2
\I
0
10m \
20m
30m
40m
WR&
Fig. 30 The total peak value of the distortion test signal must be equal in order to
compare results for different distortion test methods:
a) Single sine wave (e.g. Harmonic distortion) and a Two-tone
signal consisting of Two
sine waves with different amplitudes (e.g. Zntermodulation distortion, a2= 4aJ
b) Two-tone signal consisting of two sine waves of equal amplitude (e.g. Difference
Frequency distortion, az = a,)
17
Conclusion
Nonlinear distortion measurements
and their interpretation can be complicated by the human ears perception of
distortion, the passband nature of electroacoustic transducers, and measurement instrumentation requirements.
From a psychoacoustics or audibility point of view, what is important is
where the distortion products fall in
relation to the excitation frequency or
frequencies. Real world signals and
operating conditions will determine
whether these inherent transducer
nonlinearities will be excited and to
what extent. Unfortunately, real world
signals such as music or speech are not
Type of Distortion
Measurement
Measurement Set-up
Notes
General Cases
Displacement/Low frequency
limits
3harmonic response
2 harmonic response
Diaphragm break-up/High
frequency limits
3d DF response
Transients
FFT spectrum
Excitation at resonance
Near field measurement
Crossover/filter effects
3d DF
2d IM
fi at resonance
Measure above 2 fi
Special Cases
Signal processing/Source
dependent
Coheren/Noncoherent power
Microphones
Table 1
18
Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank Christopher Struck, Martin Rung, Poul Ladegaard, John Bareham, Ole Zacho Pedersen,
Henrik Biering and a special thanks to Peerless for their help.
This application note is based on a paper presented at the AES 11 th International Audio Test and Measurement Conference,
Portland, Oregon, U.S.A., May 31,1992.
References
[ll
N. K. Taylor, A Survey of Audio Distortion Measurement Techniques, ITCA Technical Development Laboratory, Report No. 129/83,1983.
El
J. Moir, Just Detectable Distortion, Wireless World, vol. 87, no. 1541, Feb. 1981.
[31
W. Yost and D. Nielsen, Fundamentals of Hearing, Holt, CBS College Publishing, 1985.
[41
J. Bareham, Automatic Quality Testing of Loudspeaker Electroacoustic Performance, Brel & Kjr Application
Note, BO 0141-11,1989.
El
161
J. Bareham, Hearing Aid Measurements Using Dual Channel Signal Analysis, Brel & Kjr Application Note,
1989.
[71
C. Thomsen and H. Mller, Swept Measurements of Harmonic, Difference Frequency, and Intermodulation
Distortion, Brel & Kjr Application Note, no. l5-098,1975.
[81
D. Yong-Sheng, A Tone-Burst Method for Measuring Loudspeaker Harmonic Distortion at High Power Levels,J.
Audio Eng. Soc., vol. 33, no. 3, March 1985.
[91
C. Struck, An Adaptive Scan Algorithm for Fast and Accurate Response Measurements,
presented at the AES 91st Convention-New York, Oct. 1991.
no1
C. Struck and H. Biering, A New Technique for Fast Response Measurements Using Linear Swept Sine Excitation,
Preprint 3038 (F-6), presented at the AES 90th Convention- Paris, Feb. 1991.
Ml
Electronic
19
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