Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124
www.elsevier.com/locate/apacoust
The role of reŻections from behind the listener in
spatial impression$
a, b a
Masayuki Morimoto *, Kazuhiro Iida , Kimihiro Sakagami
a
Environmental Acoustics Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering, Kobe University, Rokko, Nada,
Kobe 657-8501, Japan
b
AVC Research Laboratory, Matsushita Communication Industry Co., Ltd., Saedo, Tsuzuki,
Yokohama 224-8539, Japan
Received 19 July 1999; received in revised form 11 October 1999; accepted 27 June 2000
Abstract
This paper describes the results of two subjective experiments to clarify the role of reŻec-
tions arriving from behind the listener in the perception of spatial impression. The experi-
ments investigate the eects of reŻections from behind the listener on both listener
envelopment (LEV) and auditory source width (ASW) and which is more eective for LEV,
the early or late reŻections. The results of experiments clearly show that: (1) The listener can
perceive LEV and ASW as two distinct senses of a sound image. (2) The role of reŻections
arriving from behind the listener is to increase LEV in spatial impression. Namely LEV
increases as the relative reŻection energy of sound arriving from behind the listener increases.
(3) The early reŻections also contributes to the perception of LEV, while (4) the late reŻections
are more eective for LEV than the early ones. However, it cannot be denitely concluded
whether C80 aects LEV or not. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The auditory sensations associated with the acoustics of a space can be divided
into three groups. The rst group concerns temporal attribute (rhythm, durability,
reverberance, etc.). The second group involves the spatial one (direction, distance,
$
Portions of this paper were presented at the 125th (Ottawa, 1993) and 135th (Seattle, 1998) meetings
of the Acoustical Society of America.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +81-803-78-6035; fax: +81-78-881-2508.
E-mail address: mrmt@kobe- u.ac.jp (M. Morimoto).
0003-682X/01/$ - see front matter # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0003-682X(00)00051-7
110 M. Morimoto et al. / Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124
spatial impression, etc.), while the third relates to the quality one (loudness, pitch,
timbre, etc.) [1]. Among these sensations, it is well-known that spatial impression is
one of the most important in concert halls. In this paper, the present authors dene
the term ``spatial impression'' as the spatial extent of the sound image. Of course, it
is the more general overall concept, because they regard it as a multi-dimensional
sense and they suppose it to correspond to the term ``spatial impression'' which
Bradley and Soulodre use [2,3].
In 1989, Morimoto and Maekawa [4], demonstrated that spatial impression com-
prises at least two components by subjective experiments using a multidimensional
analysis. One is auditory source width (ASW) which is dened as the width of a
sound image fused temporally and spatially with the direct sound image and the
other is listener envelopment (LEV) which is the degree of fullness of sound images
around the listener, excluding a sound image composing ASW.
Before proceeding, the dierence between our previous work and the present one
in nomenclature for such spatial characteristics should be claried. Morimoto and
Maekawa [4] used the terms ``broadening,'' ``auditory spaciousness'' and ``envelopment,''
in place of such terms being used in the present paper as ``spatial impression,''
``auditory source width'' and ``listener envelopment,'' respectively, though the de-
nitions of each term used by Morimoto and Maekawa [4] are identical to those of
the corresponding terms used in the present paper. It should, however, be noted that
there were some reasons why Morimoto and Maekawa [4] did not use the same
terminology as being used in the present paper, i.e. why they did not use ``spatial
impression'' to address the general overall concept: Morimoto and Maekawa did
not use this term to avoid possible confusion the term ``spatial impression'' had
already been used mainly to describe the source broadening produced by early lateral
reŻections. Besides, the abbreviation SI for ``spatial impression'' for this meaning
had already been circulated: Barron [5] and Barron and Marshall [6] did not use the
term ``spatial impression'' for the general overall concept, nor did they suppose that it is
a multidimensional sense in their extensive and pioneering work. Barron used the term
``spatial impression'' for the sense of source broadening produced by early reŻections.
He stressed that early lateral reŻections produced a very dierent impression from that
produced by reverberation: reverberation was described as providing a certain degree of
envelopment in the sound and giving an impression of distance from the source.
In 1995, Bradley and Soulodre [2] also conrmed that spatial impression in con-
cert halls is composed of at least two distinct senses. The present authors believe
that, generally speaking, the listener perceives not only one sound image fused tem-
porally and spatially with the direct sound image based on the law of the rst wave
front, but also the other ones caused by reŻections not aected by the law. More-
over, both sound images appear regardless of the delay times of reŻections after the
direct sound and each sound image has its own spatial extent.
Fig. 1 illustrates the concepts of the two types of spatial impression. Of course,
ASW and LEV vary in terms of size and shape, depending on the nature of the
sound eld. The gure shows only one combination of ASW and LEV.
An alternative view is that ASW and LEV are an identical sense and that the dif-
ference between them is simply a matter of degree depending on the size. In other
M. Morimoto et al. / Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124 111
Fig. 1. Concepts of auditory source width (ASW) and listener envelopment (LEV).
words, spatial impression is a one-dimensional sense. For instance, a small degree of
spatial impression could be termed as ASW and a large one as LEV. But the border
between them is fuzzy.
Meanwhile, many pieces of research on physical measures related to spatial
impression have been reported over the 20 years since Keet [7]. Among them, well-
known measures are the lateral energy fraction and the degree of interaural cross-
correlation. If spatial impression is a one-dimensional sense which can be evaluated
by these measures, the results of the past experiments could yield a strange and
interesting conclusion about the acoustical design of concert halls. Based on the
character of the lateral energy fraction by Barron and Marshall [6], it can be con-
cluded that the reŻections with the same angle from the aural axis produce the same
amount of ASW (though Barron and Marshall [5,6] use the term spatial impression
as mentioned above, the present authors regard it as equivalent to ASW, from the
denition of spatial impression used by them as mentioned above), when the sound
pressure level of reŻections are equal. Furthermore, Morimoto et al. [8,9] indicated
that ASW produced by any sound eld with the same degree of interaural cross-
correlation measured without articial ear simulators and A-weighting, so-called
DICC [10], is identical, regardless of the number and the arriving direction of
reŻections. From these results, it can be concluded that it is possible to control
spatial impression by reŻections which arrive only from in front rather than behind
the listener. In other words, reŻections from behind the listener are not always
necessary to produce spatial impression. However, there is evidence that sound from
behind the listener is important. There must be some sense which needs reŻections
from behind the listener. Yamamoto [11] reported that one of the subjective mea-
sures for sound in rooms is correlated with front/back energy ratio that is the ratio
112 M. Morimoto et al. / Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124
of sound energy from in front to that behind the listener. But he did not make clear
what its subjective signicance was. The present authors suppose that it must be LEV.
The rst report on the physical measure of LEV by Morimoto and Maekawa [4] in
1989 indicated that the degree of interaural cross-correlation of the late reŻections
relates to LEV. Furthermore, the recent papers by Bradley and Soulodre [2,3] in
1995 indicated the late lateral sound level LG best predicts LEV. From these last
three pieces of work, it appears that the reŻections from behind are not necessary in
order to produce LEV. However, in each case the experiments were conducted with
sound only arriving from in front of the listener.
The purposes of this paper are to make clear the role of reŻections from behind
the listener in the perception of spatial impression, to conrm that the listener can
perceive LEV and ASW as two distinct senses of a sound image and to investigate
whether or not the energy in the early part of the impulse response of a sound eld
contributes to LEV, and which is more eective for LEV, front/back energy ratio
(FBR) in the early or late part of the impulse response of a sound eld.
2. Methodology
The authors are of opinion that there are two approaches for studying on concert
hall acoustics: one is to predict and evaluate physical and subjective characteristics
of existing concert halls, and explains physical and subjective phenomena in them.
From this standpoint a study will be made with parameters in a range actually
observed in the existing concert halls. The other is to investigate physical and sub-
jective phenomena, which could take place in realizable concert halls, regardless of
whether they actually take place in existing concert halls or not. From this stand-
point a study should sometimes include extreme cases, even if they are not observed
in the existing concert halls.
Therefore, how to select conditions of experiments and calculations is often a
subject of discussion in the eld of concert hall acoustics. Some architectural
acousticians cannot accept the results of experiments and calculations performed
under conditions which cannot be observed in existing concert halls and criticize
them as useless, because they sometimes confuse an existing concert hall with a
realizable one: one should know that some architectural and acoustic conditions,
which are dierent from those observed in all existing concert halls, can be realizable
in concert halls.
The experiments in this paper are carried out from the standpoint of clarifying
physical and subjective phenomena, which could take place in realizable concert
halls. The main purpose is not to investigate LEV perceived in the existing concert
halls, but to prove a hypothesis that reŻections arriving from behind the listener
contribute to the perception of LEV in spatial hearing. Therefore, a simple sound
eld is used and physical factors are changed extremely, whether they can be
observed in the existing concert halls or not.
However, LEV in the existing concert halls can be inferred, if the relationships
between LEV and the physical factors are claried from the results of the experiments
M. Morimoto et al. / Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124 113
in this paper and if measured values of the physical factors in existing concert halls
are presented.
3. Denition of front/back energy ratio
In this paper, front/back energy ratio (FBR) is introduced as a physical factor to
investigate the eect of reŻections arriving from behind the listener, as dened by
Eq. (1):
FBR 10 logEf=Ebą dBą 1ą
where Ef and Eb are energies of reŻections arriving from in front and behind the
listener, respectively. In this equation, the energy of the direct sound and reŻections
in the transverse plane, which is the plane that intersects both the horizontal and the
median plane at right angles and contains the entrances of left and right ear canals,
are excluded.
4. Experiment 1
It is well known that most of subjective evaluations in concert halls is related to
the early part of the impulse response of a sound eld. On the other hand, some
authors have reported that the late part contributes to LEV as described in Section 5
[2ą4,14,15]. However, there is no conclusive evidence of their ndings. In this
experiment, therefore, FBR in both of the early and late parts were identical to
concentrate on the contribution of the reŻections from behind the listener to LEV,
setting a problem of which part contributes to LEV aside for the moment.
In this experiment, the eects of reŻections from behind the listener on not only
LEV but also ASW were investigated by changing FBR and the ratio of early to late
sound energy, C80 (clarity). Therefore, this experiment is capable to determining
whether the listener can perceive LEV and ASW independently [4] and for ASW if it
is independent of the arrival direction or reŻections from in front or behind listener
[5,8,9].
4.1. Method
In this experiment, a violin solo performance of Saint-Saens' ``Introduction et
Rondo Capriccioso'' (14 s long, bars 7ą12) recorded in an anechoic chamber was
used as a music motif. The parameters were FBR and C80. DICC, that is the degree of
interaural cross-correlation measured without articial ear simulators and A-weighting
[10,12], of the whole reŻections (early reŻections + reverberation), was kept constant.
Fig. 2 shows the arrangement of loudspeakers. Six loudspeakers each of which is
installed in a cylindrical enclosure (diameter: 108 mm, length: 350 mm) were arran-
ged at azimuth angles of 0 and 45 from the median plane, that is, they were
114 M. Morimoto et al. / Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124
Fig. 2. Arrangement of loudspeakers in the experiments.
arranged symmetrically to the aural axis, in an anechoic chamber. The distance
between the center of subject's head and the loudspeakers was 1.5 m. The frequency
characteristics of all loudspeakers were Żat within 2 dB in the frequency range
from 70 Hz to 9 kHz. Fig. 3 shows the impulse response of the stimulus. The sound
eld used as a stimulus consisted of a direct sound and four early discrete reŻections
and four reverberation signals. Their reverberation times were constant at 1.5 s and
their frequency characteristics were Żat. ReŻection delays were 20, 38, 53 and 65 ms
and reverberation delays were 80, 89, 97 and 104 ms.
The direct sound and the rst early reŻection were radiated from loudspeaker (F)
and the second one was radiated either from loudspeaker (F) or (B). The third and
fourth ones were radiated either from loudspeakers (FL) and (FR), respectively, or
(BL) and (BR), respectively. The rst and the second reverberation signals were
radiated either from loudspeakers (FL) and (FR), respectively, or (BL) and (BR),
respectively. When they were radiated from loudspeakers (FL) and (FR), the third
and the fourth ones were radiated from loudspeakers (BL) and (BR), and when they
were radiated from loudspeakers (BL) and (BR), the third and the fourth ones were
radiated from (FL) and (FR). However, all reverberation signals were not radiated
either only from loudspeakers (FL) and (FR) or only from loudspeakers (BL) and
(BR).
M. Morimoto et al. / Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124 115
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of impulse response of the stimulus used in the experiments.
The directions and the relative sound pressure levels of early reŻections and
reverberation signals depend on FBR and C80 of a stimulus. But the sound pressure
levels of reŻections from the left and the right were identical and reverberation signals
from the left and the right were also identical, and they were radiated from loudspeakers
arranged symmetrically to the aural axis so that DICC of the whole part (early
reŻections + reverberation signals) of a sound eld as a stimulus would be constant.
FBR was set at 15, 7.5, 0, +7.5, and +15 dB. These values were obtained by
measuring the energy from in front and behind separately with a one-point omni-
directional microphone. The FBR in the early reŻection part and that in the rever-
berant part were the same. C80 was set at 11, 1, and +9 dB. The total number of
stimuli was 15. DICC of the whole part of a sound eld of all stimuli were constant
at 0.65 0.05 measured by the KEMAR dummy head without an articial ear
simulator (B&K Type DB-100). The sound pressure levels of all stimuli were con-
stant at 79.4 0.5 dBA slow, peak, measured at the left ear of the KEMAR dummy
head without an articial ear simulator.
Paired comparison tests were performed in the experiments. Two kinds of experi-
ment were carried out relating to both LEV and ASW. In experiment 1a, FBR was
changed keeping C80 constant in order to investigate the eects of FBR on LEV and
ASW. In experiment 1b, C80 was changed keeping FBR constant in order to inves-
tigate the eects of C80 on LEV and ASW. However, in order to shorten the time
necessary for the experiments, experiment 1a for ASW in which the FBR was
changed was only conducted with a C80 of 1 dB. Experiment 1b for both LEV and
ASW with C80 being varied was performed with FBR values of 15, 0, and +15 dB.
In experiment 1a, a paired comparison test was carried out separately for each
C80. For each C80 the test had 20 pairs including reversals. The interval between the
two stimuli was 2 s. Each pair of stimuli was arranged in random order and sepa-
rated by an interval of 5 s. In experiment 1b, a paired comparison test was carried out
together for all FBR. The test had 18 pairs composed of six pairs including reversals
for each FBR. As before, the interval between the two stimuli was 2 s. Each pair of
116 M. Morimoto et al. / Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124
stimuli was arranged in random order and separated by an interval of 5 s in the same
way as experiment 1a.
In both experiments, LEV and ASW were tested separately. Each subject was
tested individually and 10 times for each pair, while seated, with head xed. The task
of the subject was to judge which LEV is greater or which ASW is wider. Before the
experiments, the concepts of LEV and ASW were explained to the subject by using
Fig. 1. Five male students with normal hearing sensitivity acted as subjects for the
experiments. They had sucient experience as subjects in this kind of experiment.
4.2. Results and discussion
In both experiments, 50 responses to each pair (5 subjects by 10 times) were
obtained in total. The psychological scales of LEV and ASW were obtained using
the Thurstone Case V model [13]. The following must be considered in interpreting the
psychological scales obtained using this model: the psychological scales obtained from
the experiments performed separately are not comparable. The dierence of 0.68 on
any psychological scale means that the probability of discrimination of dierence
between two stimuli is 75%. Therefore, it is generally considered that the dierence
of 0.68 on the psychological scale corresponds to the just noticeable dierence (jnd).
Fig. 4 shows the psychological scale of LEV in experiment 1a, that is, LEV vs.
FBR for each C80. For each C80 value, LEV increases as FBR decreases. The dif-
ference between the maximum and the minimum LEV exceeds 0.68 for each C80
value. This means that FBR signicantly aects LEV which the listener perceives.
Namely, LEV increases as the sound energy from behind the listener increases.
Furthermore, this tendency seems to be greater for the lower C80. This suggests that
the perception of LEV is related to the law of the rst wave front. As C80 decreases,
the energy of the reverberation increases and as a result, the energy of the compo-
nent of reŻection beyond the upper limit of the law which can contribute to the
perception of LEV increases. In other words, FBR of the late reŻections (rever-
beration) may be more eective for LEV than that of the early reŻections.
Fig. 5 shows the psychological scale of LEV in experiment 1b, that is, LEV vs. C80
for each FBR. LEV is maximum at C80 of 1 dB for any FBR. But the dierence
between the maximum and the minimum LEV does not exceed 0.68 for FBR of 0
and +15 dB, while the dierence for FBR of 15 dB exceeds 0.68. From these
results, it cannot be concluded whether or not the eect of C80 on LEV is signicant.
On the other hand, Bradley and Soulodre [3] concluded that C80 signicantly aec-
ted LEV. According to their experimental results, LEV increases at C80 decreases
from 7 to 1 dB. Furthermore, the results of ANOVA show that C80 signicantly
aects perceived LEV.
It seems that the following reasons caused the dierence between the two conclu-
sions. The rst reason is that the data analyzing method is dierent. In their
experiments, paired comparison test were performed in which subjects rated the
magnitude of the dierence of LEV between each pair of sound elds with dierent
C80 from 1 to 7 dB. Subjects rated the magnitude of the dierence in LEV using a
ve-point response scale. A score of 1 indicated that the two sound elds had the
M. Morimoto et al. / Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124 117
same LEV. A score of 5 indicated the largest expected dierence in LEV. An ana-
lysis of variance test of the results showed that there was a highly signicant main
eect of C80, but this does not necessarily mean that the dierence is psychologically
signicant. On the other hand, in this paper, the signicance of the dierence in LEV
is discussed on the basis of jnd of LEV. Namely, the present authors investigate
whether or not C80 is psychologically signicant. The second reason is that the range of
the change of C80 is dierent. C80 varied from 1 to 7 dB in the experiments by Bradley
and Soulodre [3] while it varied from 11 to 9 dB in the present experiments. However,
the results of the present experiments also show that LEV increases as C80 decreases
in the limited range from 9 to 1 dB, and that the dierence in LEV exceeds 0.68 for
FBR of 15 dB. By the way, Fig. 5 shows the highest LEV with a C80 of 1 dB,
Fig. 4. Psychological scale of LEV as a function of FBR for each C80.
118 M. Morimoto et al. / Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124
which is not an obvious result. However, any reasonable explanation for this tendency
has not yet been obtained, and a further study will be needed to gain more insights.
Fig. 6 shows the psychological scale of ASW in experiment 1a. Experiment 1a for
ASW was performed under the condition in which FBR was changed at only C80 of
1 dB as mentioned above. There is no noticeable dierence more than 0.68
between any FBR. This result coincides with the previous observations [8,9] that
ASW perceived in any sound eld with the same DICC are identical, regardless of
the arriving direction of reŻections. Comparing the middle graph of Fig. 4 with Fig. 6,
it is reconrmed that ASW is independent of whether the reŻections arrive from in
front or behind the listener and that LEV and ASW can be perceived independently
since LEV changes but ASW is constant when FBR changes.
Fig. 5. Psychological scale of LEV as a function of C80 for each FBR.
M. Morimoto et al. / Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124 119
Fig. 6. Psychological scale of ASW as a function of FBR for C80 of 1 dB.
Fig. 7 shows the psychological scale of ASW in experiment 1b, that is, ASW vs.
C80 for each FBR. There is no noticeable dierence more than 0.68 between any C80
for any FBR, neither. This result supports the result of the previous observation [12]
that the whole part of the impulse response of a sound eld contributes to the per-
ception of ASW. Because, if it were a part of the impulse response that contributes
to the perceived ASW, C80 would aect the perceived ASW.
The results of experiment 1 are summarized as follows: it can be concluded that
the role of reŻections arriving from behind the listener is to increase LEV in spatial
impression. In addition, it can be reconrmed that the listener can perceive LEV and
ASW as two distinct senses of a sound image, and that ASW is independent of
whether the reŻections arrive from in front or behind the listener.
5. Experiment 2
The denitions of LEV both by Beranek [14] and by ISO [15] mean that the late
part of the impulse response of a sound eld contributes to LEV. Morimoto and
Maekawa [4] also demonstrated that the degree of interaural cross-correlation of the
late reŻections relates to LEV. Furthermore, Bradley and Soulodre [2,3] proposed
the relative level of the late lateral sound energy as a physical measure of LEV.
However, at present, there exists no psychoacoustic evidence that the early part does
not contribute to the perception of LEV at all. Bradley and Soulodre suggested the
relation between the perception of LEV and Haas eect, [16], that is, the law of the
rst wave front. Meanwhile, Morimoto and Iida [1] showed that only the energy of
the components of reŻections under the upper limit of the law of the rst wave front
contributes to ASW, when the reŻections do not satisfy the law. This fact hints that
the components of reŻections beyond the upper limit of the law contributes to LEV.
If the perception of LEV is in relation to the law, any reŻection which exceeds the
upper limit of the law must contribute to LEV, regardless of its delay time relative to
the direct sound. The results on LEV obtained in experiment 1 suggest that FBR in
120 M. Morimoto et al. / Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124
the late part (reverberation) is more eective for LEV than that in the early part, as
mentioned above. However, it could not be concluded which is more eective for
LEV, FBR in the early part of the late part, because FBR in both parts were iden-
tical in the experiment.
The purpose of experiment 2 is to make clear whether or not the energy in the
early part of the impulse response of a sound eld contributes to LEV, and which is
more eective for LEV, FBR in the early or late part of the impulse response of a
sound eld. In the experiment, FBR in the early or late parts were changed inde-
pendently. The boundary between the early and the late was 80 ms relative to the
direct sound.
Fig. 7. Psychological scale of ASW as a function of C80 for each FBR.
M. Morimoto et al. / Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124 121
5.1. Method
The major part of the method in this experiment was the same as that in experiment 1.
The music motif, the loudspeakers, the loudspeaker arrangement, the frequency
characteristics of loudspeaker, and the impulse response of stimulus which were
used in this experiment were the same as those used in experiment 1. Furthermore,
each loudspeaker, which provided each reŻection and each reverberation signal, was
the same as that in experiment 1. The directions and the relative sound pressure
levels of early reŻections and reverberation signals depend on FBR in each the early
and the late parts.
FBR in the early part was set at 13.7, +0.1 and +14.5 dB and FBR in the late
part was set at 15.0, +0.4 and +14.4 dB. FBR in the early part and that in the late
part were changed independently. The total number of stimuli was nine. C80 ranged
from +0.2 to +1.1 dB. As a result, FBR in the whole part (early part + late part)
of the sound eld as a stimulus ranged from 14.7 to +14.5 dB. Furthermore,
DICC of the whole part ranged from 0.26 to 0.45, measure by the KEMAR dummy
head without an articial ear simulator (B&K Type DB-100), because FBR in the
early part and the late part were not always the same. But it can be considered to be
constant on the basis of jnd [10]. The sound pressure levels of all stimuli were con-
stant at 80.0 dBA slow, peak, measured at the left ear of the KEMAR dummy head
without an articial ear simulator.
Paired comparison tests were performed in the experiments. The test had 36 pairs. The
interval between the two stimuli was 2 s. Each pair of stimuli was arranged in random
order and separated by an interval of 7 s. Each subject was tested individually and 10
times for each pair, while seated, with head xed. The task of the subject was to judge
which LEV is greater. Before the experiments, the concept of LEV was explained to
the subject by using Fig. 1. Five male students with normal hearing sensitivity acted
as subjects for the experiments and they have sucient experience as subjects in this
kind of experiment, but they were dierent from the subjects in experiment 1.
5.2. Results and discussion
In the experiment, 50 responses to each pair (ve subjects by 10 times) were
obtained in total. The psychological scales of LEV were obtained using the Thur-
stone Case V model [13]. As mentioned in Section 4.2, it is generally considered that
the dierence of 0.68 on the psychological scale corresponds to jnd.
Fig. 8 shows the psychological scale of LEV as a function of FBR in the early part
and as a parameter of FBR in the late part. FBR of the whole part of a sound eld
which makes the listener perceive the maximum LEV is 14.7 dB, and in contrast,
FBR of the whole part of a sound eld which makes the listener perceive the mini-
mum LEV is +14.5 dB. The dierence between the maximum and the minimum
LEV is 1.75. This dierence is almost equal to the dierence between LEV for FBR
of 15 and +15 dB in experiment 1 as shown in Fig. 4, though the subjects in the
rst and the second experiments were dierent. Therefore, LEV obtained in both
experiments can be regarded as being reasonable.
122 M. Morimoto et al. / Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124
The results show that FBR in the early part aects LEV as well as that in the late
part. There is an overall tendency that the decreasing of FBR in the early part
increases LEV. Furthermore the dierence between the maximum and the minimum
LEV exceeds 0.68 for FBR in the late part of 13.7 and +0.1 dB. From the results,
it can be concluded that FBR in the early part also aects LEV. In other words, the
early part can also contribute to the perception of LEV. Meanwhile, the decreasing
of FBR in the late part increases LEV for any FBR in the early part. Furthermore,
the dierence between the maximum and the minimum LEV clearly exceeds 0.68 for
any FBR in the early part. From the results, it can be concluded that FBR in the late
part eects LEV.
The multiple regression analysis was used to investigate which is more eective for
LEV, FBR in the early or late part. The multiple regression equation is given in Eq.
(2). The multiple correlation coecient is 0.956.
LEV 0:018 earlyą 0:041 lateą 0:901 2ą
This equation indicates that the contribution of the late part to LEV is about
twice as much as that of the early part. In this experiment, C80 was ranged from
+0.2 to +1.1 dB. Therefore, it might be considered that this result was caused by
the reason that the energy in the early part was less than that in the late part, but it is
unrealistic, because a change in LEV as a function of FBR of whole part decreases
at C80 increases; that is, the energy of the early part increases, as shown in Fig. 4.
Furthermore, following the law of the rst wave front, it is easy to speculate that the
energy in the late part which exceeds the upper limit of the law by more than does
the early part in the situation when the levels of the reŻections in both parts are
identical. In conclusion, one can say that the FBR of the late part is more eective
for LEV than is the early part of the impulse response.
Fig. 8. Psychological scale of LEV as a function of FBR in the early part and as a parameter of FBR in
the late part. Triangle, closed circle and open circle indicate LEV for FBR in the late part of 13.7, +0.1,
and +14.5 dB, respectively.
M. Morimoto et al. / Applied Acoustics 62 (2001) 109ą124 123
6. Conclusions
In experiment 1, the subjective experiments on LEV and ASW were performed by
changing the FBR and C80 while keeping the degree of interaural cross-correlation
of the whole part of the impulse response of the sound eld constant. The results
show that FBR signicantly aects LEV. LEV increases with a decrease of FBR,
that is when the portion of reŻected energy arriving from behind the listener
increases. On the other hand, ASW is independent of whether the reŻections arrive
from in front or behind the listener so that FBR does not aect ASW. From these
results, it can be concluded that the listener can perceive LEV and ASW as two
distinct senses of a sound image and that the role of reŻections arriving from behind
the listener is to increase LEV in spatial impression. It cannot be denitely con-
cluded whether C80 aects LEV or not.
In experiment 2, subjective experiments on LEV were performed by changing the
FBR in the early and the late parts of the impulse response of a sound eld inde-
pendently. The results show that the FBR in the early part also contributes to the
perception of LEV but that the FBR of the late part is more eective for LEV than
that of the early part.
In both experiments, major changes were made to the FBR in order to determine
the eects of FBR more clearly. The results indicate that a change of about 15 dB in
FBR causes a noticeable change in LEV. Note that, even if a dierence in FBR
between seats within concert halls or between dierent halls is less than 15 dB, it
does not mean that FBR is not useful for subjective evaluation of existing concert
halls, but that there is no noticeable dierence between LEV perceived at dierent
existing seats or in dierent existing concert halls. It is clear that in concert halls
where the rear wall is highly absorbent the FBR will be large and the perceived LEV
will be small. In this condition more reŻections from behind the listener will play a
role in creating LEV.
In addition, one should not jump to the conclusion that reŻections arriving only
from exactly behind the listener can make the listener perceive LEV. A preliminary
experiment with direct sound and reŻections only from directly behind the listener
showed that a sense of envelopment is not produced in this situation, even with
signicant reŻection energy. In this condition the listener perceives a somewhat
broad sound image in front of him and a sharp sound image exactly behind him, but
no feeling of envelopment. This suggests that the spatial distribution of reŻections
plays an important role in the perception of LEV as well as FBR.
References
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