Reverberant sound level is position-independent while direct sound varies with position

Evidence

The direct sound and early reflections follow the inverse square law, with the addition of absorption effects in the case of early reflections, and so their amplitude varies with position. However, the reverberant part of the sound largely remains constant with the position of the listener in the room. This is not due to the sound waves behaving differently from normal waves; instead it is due to the fact that the reverberant sound waves arrive at the listener from all directions. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1786

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

• DEFINE: Clarifies why reverberant field is roughly constant in level regardless of listener position — because waves arrive from all directions.

Related

• Reverberant sound level stays constant with listener position because reflections arrive from all directions (similarity 0.91)
• Reverberant sound stays constant across a room while direct sound falls with distance (similarity 0.91)
• The reverberant field is an integrated sum of intensities arriving from all directions (similarity 0.87)
• Reverberant sound level stays constant with listener position while direct sound fades with distance (similarity 0.87)
• In steady state, reverberant sound level is uniform throughout a room. (similarity 0.86)
• Low absorption levels increase reverberant field level by sustaining sound energy (similarity 0.86)
• Moving away from a source makes reverberant sound progressively dominate while it stays constant (similarity 0.86)
• Physical sound absorption can be strong enough to measurably alter room reverberation (similarity 0.84)
• Room reverberation equilibrium mirrors a leaky bucket’s steady-state water level (similarity 0.84)
• Microphones become more directional at higher frequencies, darkening off-axis reverberant sound (similarity 0.83)
• A source’s changing directionality with frequency alters perceived timbre via the reverberant field (similarity 0.83)
• Higher absorption reduces the first-reflection energy that feeds the reverberant field (similarity 0.83)
• Reverberant fields typically color perceived sound with excess bass that equalization must fix (similarity 0.83)
• Absorption at each reflection governs how fast reverberation decays (similarity 0.83)
• Reverberant fields supply most perceived loudness in normal rooms (similarity 0.83)