Precedence fusion suppresses spatial perception but never masks the delayed sound

Evidence

Some people have mistakenly taken this to mean that the delayed sound is masked—it isn’t. Within the precedence effect fusion interval, there is no masking; all of the reflected (delayed) sounds are audible, making their contributions to timbre and loudness, but the early reflections simply are not heard as spatially separate events. They are perceived as coming from the direction of the first sound—this, and only this, is the essence of the “fusion.” The widely held belief that there is a “Haas fusion zone,” approximately the first 20 ms after the direct sound, within which everything gets innocently combined, is simply untrue. — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 840 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The first arriving sound wave dominates perceived localization regardless of level — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1564; A 30-40 ms delay separates fusion from echo in the precedence effect; The precedence effect suppresses spatial identity of reflections, not their audibility — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 840 (+2 more)

Related

• A 30-40 ms delay separates fusion from echo in the precedence effect (similarity 0.93)
• Precedence accumulates source information while late arrivals actively disrupt perception (similarity 0.92)
• The precedence effect suppresses spatial identity of reflections, not their audibility (similarity 0.92)
• Precedence fusion is not masking; all reflections remain audible (similarity 0.92)
• Late-arriving reflections within the fusion zone are audible but merge into one directional image (similarity 0.92)
• The first arriving sound wave dominates perceived localization regardless of level (similarity 0.86)
• Sound is localized to the first arriving acoustic source despite delayed reinforcement (similarity 0.85)
• Coincident delayed sounds are far harder to detect than spatially separated ones (similarity 0.84)
• Late-arriving room sound becomes omnidirectional and uniformly distributed (similarity 0.84)
• ETC spike heights correlate inversely with actual audibility of reflections (similarity 0.84)
• Three distinct perceptual phenomena define the precedence effect. (similarity 0.83)
• Ear localizes to first-arriving sound unless delayed signal exceeds 12 dB louder (similarity 0.83)
• Two identical sounds within 30–40 ms are fused into one located auditory event. (similarity 0.83)
• Delayed sounds arriving from different angles are perceived as spaciousness, not comb filtering (similarity 0.83)
• The precedence effect reduces masking from reflections in rooms (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• The precedence effect suppresses spatial identity of reflections, not their audibility #corroborates (0.95) — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 840
• Precedence accumulates source information while late arrivals actively disrupt perception #expands (0.80)
• Coincident delayed sounds are far harder to detect than spatially separated ones #qualifies (0.75)