Design and evaluation of a music retrieval scheme that adapts to the user's impressions

Abstract

We have developed a scheme for music retrieval that adapts to the user's impressions of the musical pieces. First, we conducted impression-estimation experiments in which 100 subjects gave their impression of 80 musical pieces, and then, using a clustering method, we classified the 100 subjects into 20 groups based on the results. Next, we created a user model for each group consisting of formulas for numerically expressing the impressions and a set of vectors calculated using the formulas. We then developed a procedure for identifying the most suitable model for an unidentified user. Testing of the models and procedure in an existing impression-based music-retrieval system demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.