Getting started with AIM-MAT

  AIM-MAT v 1.5
$Date: 20011-04-06 $

• To install AIM-MAT, recursively add the aim-mat, tools and demo folders to your MATLAB path
• To test the installation, run demo_aim2006_gtfb from the demo folder, this runs the analysis of the four scaled vowel sounds seen in the documentation. The script opens six figure windows, one for each stage of the model, and plots the output of each stage for the four vowels.
• To run AIM with a GUI type aim at the prompt

System Requirements

AIM-MAT was developed using MATLAB 7 and above.

The package should work on any platform supporting MATLAB 6.5 or above, with the Signal Processing Toolbox installed.

AIM-MAT has been tested while in development on the following platforms:

• Windows XP with MATLAB versions 6.5, 7.1, R2006a
• Mac OS X (version 10.4 onwards) with MATLAB version 7.1 and R2007b
• Ubuntu Linux with MATLAB versions 7.1, R2007b and R2008a

Tips for getting started

• If AIM-MAT is started from the command-line with no parameters, a file-open dialogue box will be displayed. Select the .wav or .aiff file you wish to process using this box.
• AIM-MAT is a MATLAB implementation of the Auditory Image Model. The buttons along the top of the main AIM-MAT window correspond to stages of this model. The model runs from left to right across the window. The calculation of any section of the model is contingent upon the calculation of the stage before it.
• To enable any of the buttons at the top of the AIM-MAT window, simply check the 'recalculate' checkbox below that button. This will automatically check any other parts of the module that need recalculating.
• If any section of the model needs calculating, the surround of the button for that section will light up blue. If the section needs recalculating the button surround will light up red. Sections of the model which have been calculated have button surrounds in dark green. The section whose output is currently displayed has the button surround illumninated in bright green.
• To get the contents of the AIM-MAT workspace into the MATLAB command line workspace at any point, simply select 'Copy current data to workspace (data)' from the 'Edit' menu.
• The plot window will show no activity for the first few frames of the output of the SAI module. This is because it takes a finite time for the stabilised image to build up. Use the 'Frame #' slider in the bottom left of the GUI to move on a few frames and see the image to build up.
• The autoscaling function should scale each plot to a reasonable level, however, if the activity in the plot window looks to large or too small, you can use the 'autoscale' button to re-run the autoscaling, or use the scaling slider to choose a suitable scale for the plot.
• AIM-MAT plots are just MATLAB figures; they can be manipulated using the MATLAB 7 plot tools, or command line functions.
• AIM-MAT stores parameters for a processed file in a subdirectory of that file's directory, named after the file without the extension. If you wish AIM-MAT to start afresh on working on a file, delete this subdirectory.