Domestic hi-fi listening is dominated by reverberant rather than direct sound

Evidence

Clearly the level of the reverberant field is strongly affected by the level of average absorption. The first example would be typical of an extremely “dead” acoustic environment, as found in some studios, whereas the second is typical of an average living room. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1776 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

One more important acoustic property of a loudspeaker is its directivity pattern. In an anechoic room, we are only interested in the direct radiation to the listener, but in normal spaces with wall reflections and reverberation the listener receives all these delayed signal counterparts as well. In a relatively reverberant room, it is desirable to use a loudspeaker that has some directivity; that is, it radiates more sound along the main axis than in other directions, especially at middle to high frequencies. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 474 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Multichannel home theater benefits require delivering direct sound to all listeners in the room.; Reverberant field dominates home hi-fi listening from just 2 meters away; Reverberant rooms make loudspeaker directivity important for sound quality — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 474 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Reverberant field dominates home hi-fi listening from just 2 meters away #corroborates (0.95)
• Reverberant fields supply most perceived loudness in normal rooms #corroborates (0.90) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1776
• Reverberant rooms make loudspeaker directivity important for sound quality #expands (0.82) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 474
• Increasing speaker directivity reduces the reverberant field like a tone control does #expands (0.80)
• Wide-dispersion speakers plus room reflections create listener envelopment. #expands (0.80)
• Room absorption determines the steady-state level of reverberant sound #expands (0.78) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1781
• Room reverberation time varies with frequency, altering perceived timbre #expands (0.78) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1876
• The listening room’s influence is suppressed during multichannel playback #qualifies (0.75)
• Room reverberant fields typically rise in bass, necessitating bandwidth-matched equalizer cuts for distant miking #expands (0.72)
• Room reverberation barely affects early reflection audibility but strongly elevates late-reflection thresholds #expands (0.72) — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 630