Comparison of auralized and measured sound in moderately reverberant spaces.

Abstract

This research performs an in‐depth comparison of sound from computer auralizations with measured binaural room impulse responses and recordings taken in actual spaces. Binaural measurements and recordings have been gathered in two church naves with midfrequency reverberation times of about 1.5 and 2.5 s. The results from these measurements are compared with auralizations from computer models of the spaces in two different room acoustic modeling programs. The source and receiver positions used for the auralizations are the same as those measured in the real spaces. One of the naves was previously investigated [R.C. Coffeen and G. Caunt, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 105, 1174 (1999) (A)] with results from computer auralizations compared to measured binaural recordings in the space. As numerous advancements have been made to computer modeling programs since that time, this project revisits and expands the previous research using updated modeling and measurement techniques. The results of this research not only portray the developments in computer modeling that have occurred over the past decade, but also depict the relationship between current computer auralizations and actual sound in moderately reverberant spaces.