The Audio Engineering Society 16th International Conference: Spatial Sound Reproduction, 10-12 April 1999

i38442

Objective measures of spaciousness and envelopment

David Griesinger

Lexicon Inc.
Bedford, MA
USA

Research into concert hall acoustics has shown that acoustic preference is strongly influenced by spatial properties of the soundfield. Commonly discussed perceptions include Apparent Source Width (ASW), "Intimacy", and Listener Envelopment (LEV). Objective measures of these perceptions have proved difficult to construct, in part because the perceptions depend strongly on the source signal. Current measures for these properties have not always given consistent results, and are not in general applicable to sound systems in small rooms. This paper will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of conventional measures. It will present two new measures, the Diffuse Field Transfer function (DFT), and the Average Interaural Time Delay (AITD), that are useful at low frequencies in small rooms.

Audio Engineering Society AES 16th International Conference Home Papers Index

Last modified: 12.03.1999 aes16@acoustics.hut.fi