Impulse response measurements can misrepresent what listeners actually hear

Evidence

Measurements with microphones at ear level should be discouraged because they introduce acoustical interference irregularities that are tempting to equalize, but that are not audible problems to human listeners. Microphones should be elevated well above the seat backs, preferably at varied heights to average out regular patterns of interference. However, all such measurements are reliable at low frequencies. — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 1355 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

An alternative goal of sound reproduction is to control the sound field within the loudspeaker set-up. This means that the pressure and velocity waves originating from the virtual sources are to be synthesized as plane waves or as spherical waves. The targeted sound field would then be well defined, and the reproduced sound field can also be simulated, or even measured. Unfortunately, the errors in the synthesis of the sound field between the targeted and reproduced fields do not say much about the perceptual significance of the deviation. Sometimes a small difference in the wave field causes a large perceptual deviation, and a large deviation in the wave field may be perceptually irrelevant in some cases. However, the advantage of this starting point is that the reproduction techniques can be derived mathematically. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1902 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Earphone frequency response must be measured on real ears, not couplers; Headphone test-fixture measurements often fail to predict what individual listeners hear; Ear-level microphone measurements capture artifacts inaudible to human listeners — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 1355 (+6 more)

Related

• Headphone test-fixture measurements often fail to predict what individual listeners hear (similarity 0.95)
• Earphone frequency response must be measured on real ears, not couplers (similarity 0.95)
• Ear-level microphone measurements capture artifacts inaudible to human listeners (similarity 0.91)
• Measured interference at ear level often needs no correction (similarity 0.86)
• The ‘we can’t measure what we hear’ myth stems from inadequate measurements (similarity 0.86)
• Sound reproduction’s endpoint is the human listener, not fidelity per se (similarity 0.85)
• Headphone positioning causes large measurement variation below 500 Hz and above 3 kHz. (similarity 0.83)
• Physical accuracy of a sound field does not predict perceived accuracy (similarity 0.82)
• Headphone reproducibility varies strongly with frequency, worse at bass and treble extremes (similarity 0.82)
• Headphone measurement variability is greatest below 500 Hz and above 3 kHz (similarity 0.82)
• The hearing system is not outmeasurable; inadequate measurements explain apparent gaps (similarity 0.81)
• Microphone directivity in impulse response recording controls perceived reverberation amount (similarity 0.81)
• Headphone measurements vary most between individuals at high frequencies. (similarity 0.80)
• Test fixture fidelity to human measurements remains an open question (similarity 0.80)
• Conventional distortion metrics cannot predict human response to music or movies (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Headphone test-fixture measurements often fail to predict what individual listeners hear #corroborates (0.90)
• Ear-level microphone measurements capture artifacts inaudible to human listeners #exemplifies (0.85) — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 1355
• Physical accuracy of a sound field does not predict perceived accuracy #corroborates (0.80) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1902
• Equal-loudness contours vary greatly across individual listeners #complicates (0.75)