Swept Sine Chirps for Measuring Impulse Response

Impulse response and, equivalently, frequency response measurements are fundamental to characterizing any audio device or audio environment. In principle, any stimulus signal that providesenergy throughout the frequency range of interest can be used to make these measurements. In practice however, the choice of stimulus signal has important implications for the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), distortion, and speed of the audio measurements. We describe two signals that are generated synchronously with FFT analyzers (chirp signals) that offer great SNR and distortion properties. They are the log-sine chirp and the variable speed chirp.

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