Individual attributes describing the perception of synthesized sound fields in listening rooms

Abstract

Sound field synthesis techniques such as Wave Field Synthesis (WFS) are in theory defined in an anechoic environment but real-world installations have to be placed inside listening rooms with reflective walls. The arising reflections influence the desired synthesized sound field both from a physical and a perceptual point of view. This study investigates the perceptual aspects that are relevant for WFS in reflective environments by means of the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT). By comparing a representative range of auditory scenes with real and virtual sources in free field and in different listening rooms, subjects generate individual constructs to describe perceived differences and similarities as contrastive pairs. In a second step, subjects rate the scenes on scales constructed by their own contrastive pairs. The ratings are used to reveal relations between the constructs and the scenes on an individual basis. Clusters of constructs can be found that in terms of content can be associated with a common perceptual aspect.