Reflections arriving near the 50 ms echo threshold can severely disrupt performers

Evidence

Sometimes, however, the orchestra enclosure is so large that the reflections arrive later than this. If they arrive later than about 50 ms, the musicians will perceive them as echoes and ignore them. On the other hand, if these reflections arrive at the boundary between perceiving it as part of the sound or an echo of a previous sound, it can cause severe disruption of the performers’ perception of it. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1939

Categorization

• XREF: The 20-50 ms reflection/echo boundary recalls the reader’s other readings on timing thresholds in sound perception, and the disruptive boundary zone parallels annoyance thresholds in noise studies.