Investigation of relationships between changes in EEG features and subjective quality of HDR images

Quality of Experience (QoE) assessment of multimedia services is a challenging task and an understanding of how the user perceives quality at the physiological level would facilitate this. Physiological signals, such as the electroencephalogram (EEG), have shown promise in revealing the subject's emotion or attention in quality assessment and the correlation of this with media service quality. This paper investigated the relationships between changes in EEG features and subjective quality test scores (i.e. MOS) for High Dynamic Range (HDR) images viewed with a mobile device. Results show that changes in the gamma and beta bands correlated negatively with MOS, whereas positive correlations were observed in the alpha band. Coupling between activities in the delta and beta bands (i.e. positive correlation between power in the fast beta and slow delta frequency bands) is related to anxiety and dissatisfaction. Thus, the results suggest that increases in the degree of coupling are associated with decreases in HDR quality. This also suggests that in the HDR image QoE assessment, human emotions play a significant role. Potentially, these findings may be exploited in objective QoE perception modelling.