Influence of musical stimulus on the perception of clarity in rooms and its relation to [formula omitted

Abstract

C80 is an acoustic parameter that evaluates the influence of the room on the perception of musical clarity. Numerous studies have been carried out to determine its just noticeable difference (JND). In those evaluations different musical pieces have been used, and different results have been observed depending on the pieces. In some studies, the difference was considered significant, while in others it was not. The lack of agreement on the effect that the musical piece has on the assessment of C80 is the main motivation for this research.A listening test was carried out in order to assess whether the musical motif has an influence on the perceived musical clarity of a room. In studying this influence, it was necessary to use musical motifs with very different characteristics. A total of five pieces were selected: one liturgical vocal piece, one fast tempo solo piece, one slow tempo solo piece and two orchestral pieces, one fast and one slow. These motifs were used to create the stimuli used in the test by convolution with impulse responses of rooms with different C80 levels. Impulse responses were obtained by modifying the virtual models of three rooms. Eighteen impulse responses were used with C80 levels between −5.90 and 6.75 dB. The listening test was carried out by 36 participants with varying degrees of musical training.It was intended to answer two different questions. Firstly, whether the participants were able to percieve C80 changes in all musical motifs. And secondly, whether the musical motif was a significant factor when assessing the C80 level of a stimulus. The first question was assessed using regression analysis and Cochran-Mantel–Haenszel (CMH) analysis. It could be observed that the participants were able to notice changes in the C80 level for the solo instrument pieces and the vocal motif. For the orchestral pieces, on the other hand, this differentiation ability could not be seen. To assess whether the motif is a significant factor in evaluating a C80 level, a CMH analysis was performed. The results indicate that, for all rooms, musical motifs are a significant factor in assessing the clarity of a venue. Consequently, it can be stated that the musical motif used for the evaluation of the clarity of a room by means of a listening test has an influence on the results obtained.