Earliest arriving sound dominates localization despite later room reflections

Evidence

Rooms produce a complex acoustic field that consists of a direct path of sound from the source to the ear and multiple reflected paths because sound is reflected from surfaces and objects. These multiple sound paths produce a great deal of noise in the acoustic signal, yet we normally do not notice these sound reflections nor do they drastically affect our judgments of sound location. Wallach, Newman, and Rosenzweig (1949), who coined the term the precedence effect, demonstrated that sound localization is based on the acoustic cues associated with the sound that arrives first at the ears. That the reflections do not alter the perceived sound location of the source implies that the first arriving sound takes precedence over the reflections of that sound in determining its location. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1564

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• DEFINE: Defines the precedence effect: localization is based on the first-arriving sound’s cues, not reflections.
• XREF: Connects to the law of the first wavefront / Haas effect in acoustic design and concert hall architecture.

Related

• The first arriving sound wave dominates perceived localization regardless of level (similarity 0.94)
• Ear localizes to first-arriving sound unless delayed signal exceeds 12 dB louder (similarity 0.92)
• Earlier-arriving sound from a less loud source dominates perceived location. (similarity 0.88)
• Early reflected sound localizes sources while late sound becomes directionless (similarity 0.87)
• The first arriving sound wave dominates perceived direction of a source (similarity 0.86)
• Precedence accumulates source information while late arrivals actively disrupt perception (similarity 0.86)
• Leading sounds win localization when paired sounds onset close together (similarity 0.85)
• The first-arriving direct sound perceptually dominates despite carrying less energy (similarity 0.85)
• The precedence effect suppresses spatial identity of reflections, not their audibility (similarity 0.84)
• The precedence effect reduces masking from reflections in rooms (similarity 0.84)
• First-arriving direct sound dominates localization and loudspeaker images are built from mono and double-mono (similarity 0.84)
• Echoes go unnoticed while unrelated simultaneous sounds are localized normally (similarity 0.82)
• Three distinct perceptual phenomena define the precedence effect. (similarity 0.82)
• Direct sound determines localization, loudness, and perceived spectrum quality (similarity 0.82)
• Near-wall listening positions create early strong rear reflections (similarity 0.82)