Saint Louis University

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

LABORATORY MANUAL

Experiment ECE 515FL - 02

Title: Characteristics of Digital Audio Signal

TLO 2: Demonstrate signal synthesis using SCILAB.

At the end of this experiment, the student should be able to:

1. Demonstrate the different characteristics of digital audio signal.

2. Demonstrate the effects of the different characteristics of an audio signal to the
quality of the audio signal as perceived by a listener.

I. INTRODUCTION:

Digital audio signals are digital files that contain numbers representing the samples
of an audio signal. The samples are obtained by recording an analog audio signal using
an analog-to-digital converter. Also, the samples may not be obtained by recording but
generated by a computer. To reconstruct the analog audio signal, the samples are used
as input to a digital-to-analog converter. Most PCs are equipped with ADC and DAC in
their soundcards.
Digital audio signals are characterized in terms of the sampling frequency (Fs) at
which they are recorded, the number of bits used to represent the samples, and the
number of audio channels recorded. Typical sampling frequencies used are 44100Hz for
CD quality, 32000Hz or 22050Hz for FM broadcast quality, 11050Hz for AM broadcast
quality, and 8000Hz for telephone quality. The samples are typically stored using 8-bit.
16-bit, or 24-bit encoding. In terms of the number of audio channels, recorded
audio signals may have a single channel (mono), 2 channels (stereo) or even 5 channels
(surround).
II. EQUIPMENT/ MATERIALS NEEDED:
Software Requirement
 Microsoft Windows XP (32 and 64 bits), Windows Vista (32 and 64 bits),
Windows 7 (32 and 64 bits), Windows 8 (32 and 64 bits)
 Scilab 5.4.1 with the Image Processing Display Toolbox (IPDT)
 Audio files and image files for the laboratory activities (to be provided in
class)

Hardware Requirement
 Pentium IV class (or equivalent)
 2 GB RAM (1 GB minimum)
 600 MB hard disk space
 SVGA monitor
 Audio card
 Stereo Headset (with microphone); 0-20kHz frequency response

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LABORATORY MANUAL

III. PROCEDURES:

PRACTICE PROBLEMS

1. An analog audio signal has a frequency range of 0 to 20KHz.

(a) Determine the minimum sampling frequency, based on Nyquist sampling

theorem, that should be used in recording the audio signal.

Fs minimum = 40K Hz

(b) Determine the highest frequency content of the digital audio signal if it is
recorded with a sampling rate of 11025Hz.

Fmax = 5512.5 Hz

2. A 20-second analog audio signal is digitally recorded with a sampling frequency of

44100Hz and 8-bit encoding.

(a) Determine the output bit rate and memory needed to store the digital audio
if it is recorded as a mono signal.

Bit rate = 352800 bits/sec

Memory needed = 882000 bytes

(b) Determine the output bit rate and the memory needed to store the digital
audio if it is recorded as a stereo signal.

Bit rate =705600 bits/sec

Memory needed = 1764000 bytes

3. A digital audio file recorded with a sampling frequency of 44100 Hz and 6-

bit encoding has a file size of 2Mbytes (1Mbytes=220 bytes).

(a) Determine the playback duration of the digital audio signal if it is mono.
Playback duration = 63.406seconds

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LABORATORY MANUAL

(b) Determine the playback duration of the digital audio signal if it is stereo.

Playback duration = 31.703seconds

LABORATORY ACTIVITIES:

1. Determining the properties of an audio file.

(a) Locate the audio file DINAR_16bit_44100Hz_stereo.wav. This file is a
recording of a portion of the song Do I Need A Reason. The filename
indicates that the audio file is a stereo recording using 44100Hz sampling
frequency and 16-bit sample encoding. Right-click the file and display the
file properties.
List the displayed file properties.
Sampling rate: 44100 Hz

File size: 8934064 bytes

Bits per sample: 16 bits

Bit rate: 1411 kbps

(b) Open the audio file using Goldwave.

(b.1) How many waveforms are plotted? 2
If yes, are the waveforms identical? NO
(b.2) Note down the audio file properties displayed below the plots.
Sampling rate: 44100Hz

File size: 8934020 bytes

Bits per sample: 16 bits

Bit rate: 1411 kbps

Playback duration: 50.646 seconds

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LABORATORY MANUAL

2. Demonstration on the effects of sampling frequency on the file size and

perceived quality of a tone recording.
(a) The following audio files are mono recordings of a 1KHz tone at different
sampling frequencies.
tone1K_16bit_44100Hz_mono.wav
tone1K_16bit_8000Hz_mono.wav
Open and playback the audio files using Goldwave.
Is there a significant difference in the perceived quality of the played back tones? NONE

(b) Check the file size of the audio files.

(b.1) Which audio file is larger? How many times is it larger?

tone1K_16bit_44100Hz_mono.wav is larger. Its almost 5 times larger

than tone1K_16bit_8000Hz_mono.wav.

(b.2) How is ratio of the file sizes of the audio files related to their sampling
rates.

The bigger the file size the higher the sampling rate.

(b.3) Which is a more practical sampling rate for recording the 1KHz
signal, 8000Hz or 44100Hz? Explain your answer.
A sampling rate of 8000 Hz is more practical for a 1KHz signal
because it has already exceeded the minimum sampling rate,
which is 2Khz, needed for the reconstruction of the signal. And
since it has already exceeded the minimum sampling rate, a
sampling rate higher than the 8000 Hz is no different from it.

3. Demonstration on the effects of sampling frequency on the file size and perceived
quality of a voice recording.
(a) The following audio files are recordings of a voice signal at different
sampling frequencies.

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voice_16bit_44100Hz_mono.wav
voice_16bit_22050Hz_mono.wav
voice_16bit_11025Hz_mono.wav
voice_16bit_8000Hz_mono.wav
Open and playback the audio files using Goldwave.

(a.1) Is there a significant difference in the perceived quality of the played

back voice signals? YES
(b) Check the file size of the audio files.
(b.1) Which audio file is largest? voice_16bit_44100Hz_mono.wav
(b.2) Is there is a trade-off between quality and file size in the voice
recordings? Explain.
YES, better quality means larger file size in voice recordings.

(c) Which is the more appropriate sampling rate for recording voice signal,
8000Hz or 44100Hz? Explain your answer.
A sampling rate of 44100 Hz is more appropriate for recording voice
signal because it takes more samples and thus it results to a higher
file size but better quality.

4. Demonstrate the effects of sampling frequency on the file size and perceived
quality of a music recording.
(a) The following audio files are recordings of music at different sampling
frequencies:
DINAR_16bit_44100Hz_stereo.wav
DINAR_16bit_22050Hz_stereo.wav
DINAR_16bit_11025Hz_stereo.wav
DINAR_16bit_8000Hz_stereo.wav
DINAR_16bit_4000Hz_stereo.wav
Open and playback the audio files using Goldwave.

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(a.1) Is there a significant difference in the perceived quality of the

played back music? If yes, which has the best quality?

YES, DINAR_16bit_44100Hz_stereo.wav has the best quality

(b) Check the file size of the audio files.

(b.1) Which audio file is largest? DINAR_16bit_44100Hz_stereo.wav
(b.2) Is there a trade-off between quality and file size in the music
recordings? YES
(b.3) Which is the most appropriate sampling rate for music recording:
4000Hz, 8000Hz, 11025Hz, 22050Hz, or 44100Hz? Explain your
answer.
DINAR_16bit_11025Hz_stereo.wav because the music and
singing voice can still be heard clearly. The file size of this
sampling rate is not too big and the difference in quality when
compared to DINAR_16bit_44100Hz_stereo.wav is not
significant.

5. Demonstrate the effect of the number of bits used for encoding samples on the file
size and perceived quality of music recording.
(a) The following audio files are music recordings that use different number of
bits for encoding.
DINAR_16bit_44100Hz_stereo.wav
DINAR_8bit_44100Hz_stereo.wav
Open and playback the audio files using Goldwave.
(a.1) Is there a significant difference in the perceived quality of the played
back music? NONE
(b) Check the size of the audio files.
(b.1) Which audio file is larger? How many times is it larger?

DINAR_16bit_44100Hz_stereo.wav is two times larger than

DINAR_8bit_44100Hz_stereo.wav

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LABORATORY MANUAL

(b.2) Which is the more practical number of bits for encoding music, 8 bits or 16bits?
Explain your answer.
8-bit is more practical number of bits for encoding music because it’s half
the file size with no significant difference in quality.
6. Demonstrate the difference between a mono audio file and a stereo audio file.
(a) The following audio files are recordings of the same audio signal. One is
recorded as mono and the other as stereo.
multiplex_16bit_44100Hz_mono.wav
multiplex_16bit_44100Hz_stereo.wav
Open the audio files using Goldwave.
(a.1) How many waveforms are displayed for the mono signal? ONE
(a.2) Is the mono audio signal reproduced on both earpieces when played
back? YES
Are the signals on the left and right earpieces identical? YES
(a.3) Are there two waveform displayed for the stereo signal? YES
(a.4) Is the stereo signal reproduced on both earpieces when played
back? NO
Are the signals on both earpieces identical? NO
(b) Check the file size of the audio files.
(b.1) Which audio file is larger? How many times is it larger?

multiplex_16bit_44100Hz_stereo.wav is two times larger than

multiplex_16bit_44100Hz_mono.wav

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LABORATORY MANUAL

IV. DISCUSSION (observation/ interpretation of results):

V. CONCLUSION (option of the department if this part will be included):

VI. REFERENCES:

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