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Updated: May 11, 2026

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition
Published on: October 29, 2018
The effect of diffuse reflections on spatial discrimination in a simulated concert hall
Philip Robinson1, Jukka Pätynen, Tapio Lokki
1Department of Media Technology, School of Science, Aalto University, P.O. Box 15500, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland. philip.robinson@aalto.fi
Abstract:
This letter presents results from a study on diffusive architectural surfaces and auditory perception. Spatial discrimination of multiple sources is investigated in a simulated performance venue with various diffusive surface treatments. Simulations were generated with closely spaced sound sources on the stage of a concert hall and a listener in the audience area. Subjects were asked to distinguish signals in which pairs of simultaneous talkers were presented at various lateral separations, in halls with flat or diffusive surfaces. The experiments reveal that discriminating differences in the lateral arrangement of sources is possible at narrower separation angles when reflections come from flat rather than diffusive surfaces.
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