Frequency perception as a measure of room acoustic quality

For the development of auditorium acoustics as a science, a reliable proced ure for rating halls needs to be developed which is independent of the musi c, performers and other confounding non-acoustical variables. The present w ork: is aimed at producing a test which can be used to rate the acoustic qu ality of rooms for music. Listeners' perceptions of frequency change in sou nds were investigated in the search for a useful subjective indicator of th e acoustics of a room. The influence of the acoustics of the listening envi ronment on the listeners' perceptions of frequency change at mid- and high- frequencies was observed and analysed based on the 2AFC (two alternative fo rced choice) and 2-down, I-up adaptive test paradigm. Also, listeners' pref erred positions for listening to music were investigated in a reverberant l istening condition using music excerpts recorded under anechoic conditions. It was found that different listening positions in a room have a significa nt effect on the listeners' perceptions of frequency change. A negative rel ationship was found between a listener's preference tie. the acoustics) Tor the flute recordings and the JNDs of frequency change while the perception of frequency change was negatively correlated with the listening preferenc e for the guitar and percussion recordings. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.