Perceptual listening-through-room ability has finite limits

Evidence

It is reasonable to believe that up to a point we “listen through” rooms to discern subtle qualities in the sounds of voices and musical instruments. But there are limits. … Listening in a reflection-free space, like an anechoic chamber, is not pleasant. It is not pleasant even to converse in. We need some room sound, but how much, and what kind? — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 128

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

Related

• Humans can perceptually separate a sound source from its room. (similarity 0.89)
• Listening rooms impose their own acoustics on top of recorded sound (similarity 0.87)
• Room reflections are essential; anechoic listening is deeply unpleasant (similarity 0.87)
• Listeners can perceptually separate loudspeaker timbre from room coloration in comparisons (similarity 0.86)
• Human listeners can identify loudspeaker qualities through rooms, while microphones cannot. (similarity 0.85)
• Humans adapt to room acoustics through training over hundreds of trials (similarity 0.85)
• Listeners need some room sound but its required amount is unknown (similarity 0.84)
• Human hearing adapts to different room acoustics to preserve timbre perception (similarity 0.84)
• Room acoustics and presentation method alter how listeners perceive sounds (similarity 0.83)
• The listening room’s influence on sound diminishes as channel count increases. (similarity 0.83)
• No single ideal listening room acoustic exists because humans adapt to room differences (similarity 0.83)
• The listening room, not the loudspeaker, determines perceived bass quality. (similarity 0.83)
• Room acoustics smear directional perception and mask recorded reverberation (similarity 0.83)
• Direct sound governs perceived quality in rooms, not room curves (similarity 0.82)
• Room reflections shape how well speech communicates across a space. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Room acoustics and presentation method alter how listeners perceive sounds #expands (0.85) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2382