Listeners respond to resonance spectral prominence, not decay rate reduction

Evidence

The result was that listeners reported little or no improvement over the simple smoothed magnitude equalization, which alone could only reduce the spectral prominence of the resonances, without addressing the decay rate. The inference is that listeners responded to the reduction of the “bump” rather than the reduction of the decay rate, and did so even with 1/3-octave equalization. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1648

Categorization

• XREF: Challenges the common assumption that modal (decay-time) EQ is clearly better than simple magnitude EQ, connecting to the reader’s applied work on room correction algorithms.
• DEEPTHINKING: Surprising empirical result: addressing long ringing decay — the classic complaint about room modes — buys little perceived benefit once the spectral bump is flattened, potentially reshaping how room correction priorities are set.