The auditory perceived aperture position of the transition between rooms

This exploratory study investigates the phenomenon of the auditory perceived aperture position (APAP): the point at which one feels they are in the boundary between two adjoined spaces, judged only using auditory senses. The APAP is likely the combined perception of multiple simultaneous auditory cue changes, such as energy, reverberation time, envelopment, decay slope shape, and the direction, amplitude, and colouration of direct and reverberant sound arrivals. A framework for a rendering-free listening test is presented and conducted in situ, avoiding possible inaccuracies from acoustic simulations, impulse response measurements, and auralisation to assess how close the APAP is to the physical aperture position under blindfold conditions, for multiple source positions and two room pairs. Results indicate that the APAP is generally within ± 1 m of the physical aperture position, though reverberation amount, listener orientation, and source position affect precision. Comparison to objective metrics suggests that the APAP generally falls within the period of greatest acoustical change. This study illustrates the non-trivial nature of acoustical room transitions and the detail required for their plausible reproduction in dynamic rendering and game audio engines.