The Headphone and Loudspeaker Test–Part II: A comprehensive method for playback device screening in Internet experiments

Abstract

HALT (The Headphone and Loudspeaker Test) Part II is a continuation of HALT Part I. The main goals of this study (HALT Part II) were (a) to develop screening tests and strategies to discriminate headphones from loudspeakers, (b) to come up with a methodological approach to combine more than two screening tests, and (c) to estimate data quality and required sample sizes for the application of screening tests. Screening Tests A and B were developed based on psychoacoustic effects. In a first laboratory study (N = 40), the two tests were evaluated with four different playback devices (circumaural and intra-aural headphones; external and laptop loudspeakers). In a final step, the two screening tests A and B and a previously established test C were validated in an Internet-based study (N = 211). Test B showed the best single-test performance (sensitivity = 80.0%, specificity = 83.2%, AUC = .844). Following an epidemiological approach, the headphone prevalence (17.67%) was determined to calculate positive and negative predictive values. For a user-oriented, parameter-based selection of suitable screening tests and the simple application of screening strategies, an online tool was programmed. HALT Part II is assumed to be a reliable procedure for planning and executing screenings to detect headphone and loudspeaker playback. Our methodological approach can be used as a generic technique for optimizing the application of any screening tests in psychological research. HALT Part I and II complement each other to form a comprehensive overall concept to control for playback conditions in Internet experiments.

PSYCHOACOUSTICS-WEB: a free online tool for the estimation of basic auditory sensitivity thresholds

“…There is currently no way to know, via software, whether the user is using headphones or, for example, loudspeakers. However, there are several behavioural solutions that help screening whether a participant is wearing headphones, earphones or loudspeakers (Woods et al, 2017;Milne et al, 2021;Wycisk et al, 2023aWycisk et al, , 2023b. These screenings make use of test sounds that can be perceived only with headphones.…”