Compression Artifacts in Perceptual Audio Coding

Perceptual audio coding achieves a high compression ratio by exploiting the perceptual irrelevance and data redundancies. By using advanced and sophisticated signal processing methods, perceptual coding has generated artifacts that are quite different from the traditional distortions. A new audio technology becomes mature through the successful modeling, measuring, and control on the artifacts incurred from the technology. With the advance of new coding modules in advanced audio coding (AAC), spectral band replication (SBR), and parametric coding, the incurred artifacts are far more difficult to model, measure, and control than those caused by previous encoding systems like pulse code modulation. This paper models the audible artifacts through the time-frequency diagrams, considers the artifacts-susceptible music types, and analyzes the critical encoding technologies incurring these artifacts.