Check Audio Quality Metrics

Analyzes a Sound object for common quality issues and returns diagnostic metrics. This function provides basic quality control checks useful for validating recording quality in production pipelines.

Usage

check_audio_quality(
  sound,
  clipping_threshold = 0.99,
  intensity_floor = 100,
  time_step = 0
)

Arguments

sound

A Sound object to analyze

clipping_threshold

Amplitude threshold for clipping detection (default 0.99)

intensity_floor

Minimum pitch for intensity calculation (default 100 Hz)

time_step

Time step for intensity analysis (0 = auto, default 0.0)

Value

A list with the following components:

max_amplitude

Maximum absolute amplitude in the recording

is_clipped

Logical: TRUE if amplitude exceeds clipping_threshold

n_clipping_samples

Number of samples above clipping threshold

clipping_percentage

Percentage of samples that clip

mean_intensity_db

Mean intensity in dB

min_intensity_db

Minimum intensity in dB

max_intensity_db

Maximum intensity in dB

intensity_range_db

Dynamic range (max - min intensity)

rms_amplitude

Root mean square amplitude

duration

Total duration in seconds

sampling_frequency

Sampling frequency in Hz

Details

This function is designed to catch common recording problems:

**Clipping Detection**: Identifies if the signal exceeds a threshold (default 0.99). Clipped recordings have distorted peaks and should typically be re-recorded.

**Intensity Analysis**: Uses Praat's intensity measurement to assess signal strength. Very low mean intensity may indicate recording level problems.

**Dynamic Range**: The difference between maximum and minimum intensity can help identify recordings with poor signal-to-noise ratio or excessive compression.

**Quality Criteria** (general guidelines): - No clipping (is_clipped = FALSE) - Mean intensity: -20 to -10 dB for speech - Dynamic range: > 20 dB - Max amplitude: 0.7-0.9 range (good headroom without clipping)

Examples

# \donttest{
sound <- Sound$create_tone(frequency = 220, duration = 0.5, sampling_rate =
 16000)
quality <- check_audio_quality(sound)

cat("Audio Quality Report:\n")
#> Audio Quality Report:
cat("  Duration:", quality$duration, "seconds\n")
#>   Duration: 0.5 seconds
cat("  Sampling rate:", quality$sampling_frequency, "Hz\n")
#>   Sampling rate: 16000 Hz
cat("  Clipped:", quality$is_clipped, "\n")
#>   Clipped: FALSE 
cat("  Max amplitude:", round(quality$max_amplitude, 3), "\n")
#>   Max amplitude: 0.99 
cat("  Mean intensity:", round(quality$mean_intensity_db, 1), "dB\n")
#>   Mean intensity: 90.9 dB
cat("  Dynamic range:", round(quality$intensity_range_db, 1), "dB\n")
#>   Dynamic range: 0 dB
# }