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Journal of the Acoustical Society of America / Volume 130 / Issue 5 / JASA EXPRESS LETTERS

Lateral reflections are favorable in concert halls due to binaural loudness

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 130, Issue 5, pp. EL345-EL351 (2011); (7 pages)

Tapio Lokki and Jukka Pätynen

Department of Media Technology, Aalto University School of Science, FI-00067 Aalto, Finland Tapio.Lokki@aalto.fi, Jukka.Patynen@aalto.fi

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A recent study on perceptual difference in simulated concert halls showed that a concert hall renders stronger sound with more bass when the temporal envelope of a signal is preserved in the reflections [Lokki et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 129, EL223–EL228 (2011)]. In the same study the lateral reflections were shown to contribute to the perceived envelopment and openness. Moreover, the listening test results suggest that lateral reflections contribute to perception of sound source distance. Here, it is shown that lateral reflections are beneficial due to their increasing effect on binaural loudness—the phenomenon known well in psychoacoustics, but not in architectural acoustics. The reflections from the side are amplified more than median plane reflections, in particular at high frequencies, due to the shape of the human head.

© 2011 Acoustical Society of America

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank H. Vertanen for the help in listening tests and Professor Lauri Savioja, Dr. P. Zahorik, and Dr. V. Sivonen for discussions. The research leading to these results has received funding from the Academy of Finland (Project Nos. 218238 and 140786) and the European Research Council under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. (203636).

Article Outline

  1. Introduction
  2. Listening test results and binaural loudness
  3. Discussion and conclusions

RELATED DATABASES

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

architectural acoustics, hearing, loudness

PACS

  • 43.55.Hy

    Subjective effects in room acoustics, speech in rooms

  • 43.55.Ka

    Computer simulation of acoustics in enclosures, modeling

  • 43.55.Fw

    Auditorium and enclosure design

  • 43.66.Pn

    Binaural hearing

ARTICLE DATA

History
Received 08 Jul 2011
Accepted 19 Sep 2011
Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.3647866

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0001-4966 (print)  

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef Acoustical Society of America

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  4. T. Lokki, J. Pätynen, and N. Zacharov, “Concert hall acoustics assessment with sensory evaluation – tools and practices,” in The IOA International Conference on Auditorium Acoustics, Dublin, Ireland, 2011, pp. 35–44.
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  15. J. Pätynen, S. Tervo, and T. Lokki, “Investigations on the development of the frequency response along time in concert halls,” in The IOA International Conference on Auditorium Acoustics, Dublin, Ireland, 2011, pp. 159–168.

Figures (4) Tables (1)

Figures (click on thumbnails to view enlargements)

FIG.1
(Color online) Results of the listening test with five distance attributes. (a) Reflection properties in each condition. (b) Means and 95% confidence intervals (CI). (c) Interaction between concert hall and music.

FIG.1 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.2
(Color online) (a) All measured positions used in the plots. (b) All measured positions used to compute the diffuse field normalization. (c)–(i) Plots at different cones of confusion, corresponding to azimuth angles, show binaural loudness level normalized with the diffuse field HRTFs in elevations in front (0°) to the back (180°).

FIG.2 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.3
(Color online) Binaural loudness levels at cones of confusion compared to median plane reflections.

FIG.3 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.4
(Color online) Examples of frequency spectra for instruments in a symphony orchestra.

FIG.4 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

Tables

Table I. All 30 elicited attributes with their definitions (translated from Finnish to English).

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