Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
image/svg+xml art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos Open Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svg art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos http://www.plos.org/ ZENODOarrow_drop_down
image/svg+xml art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos Open Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svg art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoos http://www.plos.org/
ZENODO
Conference object . 2025
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Article . 2025
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
addClaim

Looking Beyond Averaged Metrics in Music Source Separation

Authors: Saurjya Sarkar; Victoria Moomijan; Basil Woods; Emmanouil Benetos; Mark Sandler;

Looking Beyond Averaged Metrics in Music Source Separation

Abstract

Music source separation extracts individual instrument/performer stems from mixed musical recordings. Performance is typically evaluated using metrics like source-to-distortion ratio (SDR), with higher values indicating better separation. However, relying on global SDR averages across test datasets provides limited insight into model performance. While improved average SDR suggests superior performance, it reveals little about specific strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, averaged metrics fail to account for SDR variance, which depends heavily on the musical characteristics of the test set. These limitations make cross-task/stem comparisons potentially misleading. To address these issues, we conducted a listening study evaluating source separation models across three tasks: 6-stem separation, Lead vs. Backing Vocal Separation, and Duet Separation. Participants assessed diverse examples, particularly those with poor objective or subjective performance. We categorized failure cases into three error types and found that while SDR generally correlates with perceptual ratings, significant deviations occur. Some errors substantially impact human perception but aren't well captured by SDR, while in other cases, listeners perceive better quality than SDR suggests. Our findings reveal nuances missed in current evaluation paradigms and highlight the need to include error categorization and performance distribution alongside averaged metrics.

  • BIP!
    Impact byBIP!
    selected citations
    These citations are derived from selected sources.
    This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    0
    popularity
    This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
    influence
    This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    Average
    impulse
    This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average
Green