Can personalized sound preference profiles be transferred between consumer products and automotive audio systems?

Several studies have shown that individual preferences with respect to frequency- and loudness-dependent amplification can differ markedly across listeners. To accommodate such individual preferences, sound personalization concepts have been proposed. This study investigates if differences in individually preferred settings across different audio systems can be predicted from measurable differences in acoustic transmission properties of the audio systems. Self-adjusted preference profiles of 20 normal-hearing listeners were measured for seven audio playback systems including automotive audio systems, a soundbar, and two types of headphones. The results indicate that, while interindividual preferences varied largely, there were systematic differences between audio systems which appeared to compensate acoustic differences, suggesting that future applications could benefit from known individual preference data in other playback systems to automatically adapt to an individual users needs.