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Predicting the perceived reverberation in different room acoustic environments using a binaural auditory model
Alejandro Osses Vecchi1, Armin Kohlrausch1, Winfried Lachenmayr2
1Human-Technology Interaction group, Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, the Netherlands a.osses@tue.nl, a.kohlrausch@tue.nl.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|May 4, 2017
Summary
This study used a binaural auditory model to estimate reverberance (pRev) in simulated halls, finding it correlates better with early decay time (EDT) than reverberation time (T30), depending on instrument properties and presentation level.
Area of Science:
- Acoustics
- Psychoacoustics
- Computational Auditory Scene Analysis
Background:
- Reverberance is a key room acoustic parameter influencing perceived sound quality.
- Objective acoustic parameters like reverberation time (T30) and early decay time (EDT) are commonly used to characterize halls.
- Existing binaural auditory models offer potential for more perceptually relevant reverberance estimation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compute reverberance estimates (pRev) using a binaural auditory model in simulated acoustic environments.
- To compare model-derived pRev with established room acoustic parameters (T30, EDT) across varying absorption conditions.
- To investigate the influence of instrument characteristics and presentation level on pRev estimates.
Main Methods:
- Simulation of four distinct hall acoustics with varied absorption coefficients.
- Application of a binaural auditory model to music excerpts from a 23-section orchestra.
- Calculation of pRev estimates and comparison with T30 and EDT at mid-frequencies.
Main Results:
- pRev demonstrated a stronger correlation with EDT than with T30 across simulated conditions.
- The relationship between pRev and acoustic parameters was found to be dependent on specific instrument properties.
- pRev estimates were sensitive to presentation level, and showed similar trends for instruments with comparable critical-band spectra.
Conclusions:
- The binaural auditory model provides a perceptually relevant measure of reverberance, closely linked to EDT.
- Instrument-specific characteristics and playback level are crucial factors in auditory reverberance perception.
- The study provides a computational framework and stimuli for further experimental validation of auditory reverberance models.
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