Objective Quality Metrics in Correlation with Subjective Quality Metrics for Steganography

Abstract

The main goal of hiding data is to conceal the very existence of the hidden information, therefore there is a significant demand for steganographic approaches that can ensure imperceptibility of such infromation. However, there is a limited corresponding evaluation parameters available. Most of the studies use the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) as a metric for imperceptibility evaluation, although it could provide less accurate results than the Human Visual System (HVS) evaluation. This paper provides a review of the existent evaluation metrics that are used to assess the quality of steganography. The examination of the correlation between the existing objective and subjective metrics is also conducted. Pixel differences metrics have a poor correlation with the subjective metrics, hence the HSV based metrics have better correlation than pixel metrics.