The optimum direct-to-reflected sound ratio rises from speech to music

Evidence

The direct sound: This is the sound that carries information and articulation. For speech it is important that the listener receive a large amount of direct sound if they are to comprehend the words easily. Unfortunately, as discussed in Chapter 1, the direct sound gets weaker as it spreads out from the source. Every time you double your distance from a sound source the level of the direct sound goes down by a factor of four, that is, an inverse square law. Thus the further away you are from a sound source, the weaker the direct sound component. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 2434 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The direct component is important because it carries the information in the signal in an uncontaminated form. Therefore a high level of direct sound is required for a clear sound and good intelligibility of speech. The direct sound also behaves in the same way as sound in free space, because it has not yet interacted with any boundaries. This means that we can use the equation for the intensity of a free space wave some distance from the source Figure 6. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1729 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Optimal reverberation and strength targets differ sharply by music type; Speech intelligibility depends on high direct-to-reverberant sound ratios — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 2434; Direct sound carries signal information uncontaminated and governs speech intelligibility — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1729 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Speech intelligibility depends on high direct-to-reverberant sound ratios #corroborates (0.90) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 2434
• Direct sound carries signal information uncontaminated and governs speech intelligibility #corroborates (0.82) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1729
• Concentrating loudspeakers at one point yields the best direct-to-reverberant ratio for a space #expands (0.78)