The auditory system estimates source signals by ignoring the room’s spectral contribution

Evidence

Listeners are able, at least partially, to compenstate for the frequency response of the listening room; that is, our hearing tries to estimate the signal emitted by the sources without the effect of the room. Humans also have the ability to listen selectively to a certain direction in binaural listening. In multi-source situations, the sources are audible with a 0–8 dB lower level compared to monaural listening. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1535 (#expands, via linked claim)

Listeners are also able to adapt to spectral colouring caused by the room using binaural listening, which is called binaural decolouration. The goal of the mechanisms is interpreted to be the estimation of sound signals emanated by sound sources in an enclosed space. They show a remarkable ability to estimate the sound signal emanated by the source by ignoring the spectral contribution of the room response present in the ear canal signals (Brüggen, 2001). … Bilsen (1977) states that some pitch phenomena can be explained by assuming that listeners somehow up the spectra of the left and right ears to form a central spectrum. Such a summation would make the dips in the room responses less audible, since the dips typically occur at different positions in frequency, which could explain, at least partly, the decolouration effects. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1520 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Listeners perceptually subtract room coloration from source signals, called binaural decolouration. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1520; The auditory system cancels room coloration to recover source signals — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1520; The auditory system compensates for room acoustics to recover the original source signal — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1535 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Listeners reconstruct the source signal by ignoring spectral room colouration #corroborates (0.98)
• The auditory system cancels room coloration to recover source signals #expands (0.95) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1520
• The auditory system compensates for room acoustics to recover the original source signal #expands (0.95) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1535
• Auditory streaming explains how listeners separate loudspeaker from room sound #complicates (0.72)