Listeners perceptually normalize voices across changing room acoustics via direct sound and visual cues

Evidence

Adaptation is at work in daily auditory perceptions, allowing us to “normalize” the acoustical environment within which we listen. Imagine a scenario in which you and a colleague are conversing while walking down the street (a “dead” space). You enter a building foyer (a large reverberant space), take the elevator (a tiny space) and walk down a corridor (a distinctive reverberant space) into an open plan office (a relatively dead, semi-reflective space). While you are conversing, your colleague’s voice is a constant factor in spite of the enormous changes in the acoustical environment. It is the same voice in different acoustical spaces. The only relatively constant factor in all of these situations is the direct sound, combined with the cognitive correlation of visual cues with what it being heard. It all happens subconsciously, and very quickly. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 491

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to psychoacoustic precedence effect and room-acoustics perception; resonates with Haas effect literature and with adaptive normalization in vision.