Rajar is working with two audiometers, the Arbitron Portable People Meter and the Eurisko Media Monitor, and is to begin extensive fieldwork tests in the UK in June.
Sally de la Bedoyere, Rajar's managing director: "Rajar's additional investment of £500,000, on top of the £1.5m we have already spent on audiometer testing, is further confirmation of our commitment to this ground breaking research.
"With this new cash injection and our working partnership with Arbitron and Eurisko, we are now not only able to implement the most extensive fieldwork tests ever undertaken in the UK, but also ensure we are on course with our roadmap to enhanced radio audio measurement, earmarked for 2007."
The national fieldwork tests are set to begin on June 6 2005 and will run for 12 weeks in an effort to assess what digital measurement system will take over from Rajar's creaking diary system, which has come under fire from critics such as TalkSPORT's Kelvin Mackenzie.
MacKenzie has fought a long-running battle with Rajar, accusing it of using an outdated measurement system that he argues severely underestimates the TalkSPORT audience and the advertising revenue it can earn.
The latest tests follow the findings of Rajar's Audiometer Validation Test, announced in February 2005, which saw Rajar move forward with two audiometers after tests of three competing systems.
Rajar said that the new tests will focus largely on compliance issues looking at how respondents relate to the audiometers. In particular, it wants to sooth concerns that came out of its last tests relating to the actual time respondents put on the audiometers and whether they wear them all day.
"The tests will also provide a first opportunity to analyse listening data which has been captured on a national basis, and ascertain whether there are any regional variances in the data, or, indeed, in compliance," De la Bedoyere said.
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