Investigating energy integration time limits for listener envelopment perception using a real-time adaptable hybrid impulse response method

Abstract

Listener envelopment (LEV), the sense of being immersed in a sound field, is a common perception in concert hall acoustics, but more work is needed to establish a metric. The objective of this research is to further investigate LEV utilizing custom software building on Dick & Vigeant’s previous research to understand what contributes most to LEV in a concert hall (JASA 140:3175 2016). For this study, spatial room impulse response (SRIR) measurements were obtained using a 32-channel spherical microphone array in different performance venues. These SRIRs were used in a subjective listening test and processed for 3rd order Ambisonic reproduction over a 30-loudspeaker array. Utilizing a custom testing interface developed in Max 7, pairs of equal-length SRIRs with contrasting high and low LEV were time-windowed and summed together to create a hybrid SRIR. A dial in the interface controlled the hybrid SRIR’s time transition point, and subjects were asked to adjust the timing dial to the point at which they perceived the highest sense of LEV. Results will be presented showing the integration limits that produced noticeable changes in LEV and implications to the proposed LEV metric will be discussed. [Work was supported by NSF Award 1302741.]