As computer modelling of the auditory system increases in complexity, the need for common working tools becomes more pressing. Such tools are necessary to allow the rapid dissemination of new computer code, and to permit other members of the scientific community to replicate and challenge published results.
The Development System for Auditory Modelling (DSAM) library brings together established models, developed by the group, and also contributed by other researchers in the field, which simulate various stages in the auditory process. Since the first release as the LUTEar Core Routines Library, the DSAM library has been tested and used both at the originating laboratory and at many other sites. It has been used as a tool for speech processing, speech and voice analysis as well as in the investigation of auditory phenomena, for which it was primarily constructed.
The auditory models developed by the Speech and Hearing Laboratory, at Loughborough University of Technology (UK.), have received much attention, due principally to their simple form and the many published papers in which the models are used to explain auditory phenomena. The many requests for the computer code of the model simulations led to the group releasing the DSAM library (DSAM, version 1.0.0, October 1993) as a computational platform and set of coding conventions which supports a modular approach to auditory system modelling. The system is written in ANSI-C and works on a wide range of operating systems. DSAM has now been consolidated and much improved in the latest release.
Available with this release is the Auditory Model Simulator (AMS) application. This is a fully-fledged, ready to use application with a graphical user interface. It comes as a finished product for Windows and Linux platforms, with ready-compiled installation packages. It can also be compiled on other UNIX systems.
Also available with this release is a comprehensive test program, "AutoTest". This program is used to test DSAM routines; It reproduces the behaviour of the respective published models included. The program also provides examples of how DSAM may be used in auditory investigation programs.
DSAM routines have been subjected as much as possible to careful and exhaustive testing. No system, however, is infallible so it is hoped that, with the gentle admonitions of the library's users, any problems or omissions will be quickly corrected.