Evaluation of distance measures for MPEG-7 melody contours

In query by humming (QBH) systems, the melody contour is often used as a symbolic description of music. The MelodyContour description scheme (DS) defined by MPEG-7 is a standardized representation of melody contours. For melody comparison in a QBH system, a distance measure is required. This paper evaluates different distance measures for the MFEG-7 MelodyContour DS. The use of each measure is discussed.