Evaluation of stage acoustics preference for a singer using oral-binaural room impulse responses

Abstract

There are two main objective measurement methods in current practice that can be used to evaluate the stage acoustic conditions for singers. One is the stage support metrics (STEarly and STLate, included in the standard ISO 3389-1), and the other is the voice support metrics proposed by Pelegrín-García (room gain (GRG) and voice support (STV)). All of these metrics use energy integration from impulse responses to derive the acoustic descriptors. This overlooks two potentially important features of the responses: the temporal distribution of the impulse response within the evaluation period, and the directional distribution for the spatial impulse response within the evaluation period. In this paper, a method to study the effect of these features is proposed and tested. This method is based on the auralization of ones’ own voice in rooms using oral-binaural room impulse responses (OBRIRs). The OBRIRs used are created by combining synthesized early reflections with a recorded reverberant tail. The early reflections are manipulated in their arrival time, arrival direction, and strength. Results of a pilot study indicate that a wide range of on-stage acoustic quality can be achieved for responses showing a given STEarly value due to variation in the temporal and spatial distribution of reflected energy.