Effect of Sound Source Stimuli on the Perception of Reverberation in Large Volumes

The aim of the presented research is to determine whether the perception of reverberation is dependent on the type of sound stimuli used. We quantified the discrimination thresholds for reverberations that are representative for large rooms such as concert halls (reverberation times around 1.8 s). For exponential decays, simulating an ideal simple room, thresholds are around 6% (Experiment 1). We found no difference in thresholds between a short noise burst and a male voice spoken word, suggesting that discrimination is not dependent on the type, or spectral content, of the sound source (Experiment 2). In two further experiments using a magnitude estimation paradigm we assessed the perceived amount of reverberation as a function of various types of stimuli. Whereas the discrimination of reverberant stimuli does not seem to be affected by the sound stimulus, the perceived amount of reverberation is affected. Vocal stimuli are perceived as being more reverberant than nonvocal stimuli. The results are discussed in light of current neuroscientific models of auditory processing of complex stimuli but also with respect to their consequences for the use of reverberation in auditory display.