Perceptual changes detected at threshold become desirable when heard as image broadening

Evidence

All of the data points are thresholds, the sound levels at which listeners detected a change in their perceptions. As will be seen later, some of the perceived changes are beneficial and that, up to a point, listeners find that levels well above threshold provide greater pleasure. For example, the perception described at threshold as “image shift or spreading” may seem like a negative attribute, but when translated into what is heard in rooms it becomes “image broadening” or apparent source width (ASW), highly favored qualities. Even “second image” thresholds can be exceeded with certain kinds of sounds, expanding the size of an orchestra beyond its visible extent in a concert hall, or extending the stereo soundstage beyond the spread of the loudspeakers. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 619

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines apparent source width (ASW) as the positive translation of image spreading threshold.