Absorption and aperture size effects on subjective response to complex computer modeled coupled volume systems

Abstract

A typical coupled volume concert hall consists of a large, absorbent main volume linked to a smaller, reverberant auxiliary space through a series of acoustically transparent openings. This type of space can exhibit a nonexponential sound decay, a phenomenon that is referred to as the double slope effect (DSE). An imagined, realistic coupled volume concert hall has been computer modeled, and room impulse responses of the space have been obtained. Several configurations of the hall were conceived in which the absorption and aperture size were modified. Paired-comparison tests were conducted to determine listener preference for the sound fields developed from auralizations of the configurations. The results from this subjective testing were statistically analyzed using multidimensional scaling methods. The analysis showed that listener preference increased with decreasing DSE, with highest preference levels for low and medium DSE. These results will be presented and contrasted with objective parameters calculated from the room impulse responses of the computer-modeled configurations.