Increasing speaker directivity reduces the reverberant field like a tone control does

Evidence

This appendix has presented the basic Fourier relationship between the far-field polar response and the near-field illumination of the aperture. It has demonstrated its utility in a variety of electroacoustic applications. In particular, it is possible to derive some useful relationships between the size of the speaker, with respect to wavelength, and its directivity performance versus frequency—in particular that for directivity, size really does matter! — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2946 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Reverberant rooms make loudspeaker directivity important for sound quality — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 474; Loudspeaker directivity determines which curve predicts the room; Directivity mismatch at crossover frequency causes predictable dips in sound power (+13 more)

Related

• Larger speaker size relative to wavelength enables higher directivity (similarity 0.93)
• Speaker drivers’ directivity at high frequencies causes spectral dips in the reverberant field (similarity 0.93)
• A speaker’s coverage angle roughly doubles for each octave below its minimum directivity frequency. (similarity 0.91)
• Reverberant rooms make loudspeaker directivity important for sound quality (similarity 0.89)
• At low frequencies only drivers and ports define a loudspeaker’s effective source size (similarity 0.87)
• EQ cannot fix directivity problems that a better loudspeaker requires (similarity 0.86)
• Domestic hi-fi listening is dominated by reverberant rather than direct sound (similarity 0.86)
• Directivity, not equalizable response, is the fixed determinant of loudspeaker sound. (similarity 0.85)
• Loudspeaker directivity determines which curve predicts the room (similarity 0.84)
• Reverberant rooms favor directional loudspeakers to control sound colouration (similarity 0.84)
• Non-environment rooms suppress all but direct sound for clearer audio detail and imaging (similarity 0.84)
• A source’s changing directionality with frequency alters perceived timbre via the reverberant field (similarity 0.84)
• Speaker and instrument directivity at high frequencies alters perceived timbre (similarity 0.84)
• Highly regarded loudspeakers measured far from flat in anechoic response (similarity 0.84)
• Microphones become more directional at higher frequencies, darkening off-axis reverberant sound (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Reverberant fields typically color perceived sound with excess bass that equalization must fix #contradicts (0.80)
• Larger speaker size relative to wavelength enables higher directivity #qualifies (0.75) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2946
• Concentrating loudspeakers at one point yields the best direct-to-reverberant ratio for a space #expands (0.72)