Independent large-venue preference studies across 47 years converge on the same target curve

Evidence

The results are extraordinary in that seven room curves arrived at by four experimenters over a 47-year time span cluster closely around each other over most of the frequency range. Most fall within the 4 dB tolerance window proposed by Ljungberg in 1967 and published in 1969. They all are close approximations of what would be measured from loudspeakers radiating a flattish, direct sound. This is a direct parallel to subjective preferences in domestic listening spaces. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 360

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what explains the convergence across such different eras and venues — robustness of human preference or shared assumptions about good reproduction?
• SHARE: A striking empirical convergence result ideal for a psychoacoustics-minded colleague.

Related

• Preferred large-venue room curves converged across 47 years of independent experiments. (similarity 0.92)
• In-room measurement curves are dominated by reflections, not direct sound (similarity 0.81)
• Listeners largely agree on preference, and preferred speakers measure smoothest (similarity 0.81)
• Anechoic early-reflections data predict steady-state room curves across rooms and sample variations. (similarity 0.80)
• Room curves show loudspeaker results, not targets worth equalizing toward (similarity 0.79)
• Above 500 Hz room curves are predictable from anechoic loudspeaker data (similarity 0.79)
• PIR predicts preference via smoothness cues, not the room curve itself (similarity 0.79)
• The direct, on-axis sound dominates perceived loudspeaker quality in rooms. (similarity 0.79)
• Listener preferences for neutral loudspeakers proved stable across decades and countries. (similarity 0.79)
• Blind listeners largely agreed on loudspeaker preferences, matching measurement quality (similarity 0.79)
• Fine-grained anechoic measurement statistics can near-perfectly predict listener preference rankings (similarity 0.79)
• Early loudspeaker preference studies were too crude to validate any measurement model (similarity 0.79)
• Anechoic loudspeaker data reliably predict in-room high-frequency response above 500 Hz. (similarity 0.78)
• Precedence effect threshold curves hold stable across very different listening environments (similarity 0.78)
• Loudspeaker directivity determines which curve predicts the room (similarity 0.78)