A delayed sound can be 10 dB louder and still lose the localization battle

Evidence

Consider a loud note played from stage. Direct sound reaches the audience first, followed shortly by sound that has bounced once off a wall or ceiling. This early sound is clearly directional, and we use it to determine the location of the source. Sound arriving later from the same note has traveled farther, bouncing many times off back and side walls and ceilings and diffracting off statuary, balconies, and so on, and is nearly omnidirectional. In a rather reverberant hall with a T60 of 3 seconds, the sound will have traveled a kilometer before its last remnants reach the audience’s ears. The late sound has spread uniformly throughout the space and is moreover propagating every which way, equally. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2471 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Ear localizes to first-arriving sound unless delayed signal exceeds 12 dB louder; Delayed loudspeakers preserve direct-sound localization in public venues.; Early reflected sound localizes sources while late sound becomes directionless — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2471

Related

• Ear localizes to first-arriving sound unless delayed signal exceeds 12 dB louder (similarity 0.91)
• Delayed loudspeakers preserve direct-sound localization in public venues. (similarity 0.90)
• Early reflected sound localizes sources while late sound becomes directionless (similarity 0.88)
• Sound is localized to the first arriving acoustic source despite delayed reinforcement (similarity 0.85)
• Earlier-arriving sound from a less loud source dominates perceived location. (similarity 0.83)
• The first-arriving direct sound perceptually dominates despite carrying less energy (similarity 0.83)
• Direct sound determines localization, loudness, and perceived spectrum quality (similarity 0.83)
• First-arriving direct sound dominates localization and loudspeaker images are built from mono and double-mono (similarity 0.82)
• Late-arriving room sound becomes omnidirectional and uniformly distributed (similarity 0.82)
• Interaural timing alone cannot explain our sound localization ability (similarity 0.81)
• The first arriving sound wave dominates perceived localization regardless of level (similarity 0.81)
• Strong direct sound without supporting reflections causes in-head localization in loudspeaker listening (similarity 0.81)
• Haas measured how much louder a delayed sound could be before dominating localization (similarity 0.80)
• Echoes go unnoticed while unrelated simultaneous sounds are localized normally (similarity 0.79)
• Leading sounds win localization when paired sounds onset close together (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Ear localizes to first-arriving sound unless delayed signal exceeds 12 dB louder #corroborates (0.95)
• Delayed loudspeakers preserve direct-sound localization in public venues. #expands (0.80)
• Early reflected sound localizes sources while late sound becomes directionless #corroborates (0.72) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2471