Listener-Position and Orientation Dependency of Auditory Perception in an Enclosed Space: Elicitation of Salient Attributes

TL;DR

This study investigates how listener position and head orientation affect auditory perception in enclosed spaces, identifying key perceptual attributes and revealing both known and new attributes influencing sound perception.

Contribution

It introduces new perceptual attributes related to reverb and timbre, and demonstrates their consistency across in-situ and laboratory listening conditions.

Findings

Identified ten salient auditory attributes, including new ones like PRL, ARW, and Reverb Direction.

Found that listening position and head orientation clusters are consistent across experimental settings.

Revealed that timbral attributes such as Reverb Brightness influence sound clarity.

Abstract

This paper presents a subjective study conducted on the perception of salient auditory attributes depending on the listener's position and head orientations in an enclosed space. Two elicitation experiments were carried out using the Repertory Grid Technique; in-situ and laboratory experiments aimed to identify perceptual attributes among ten different combinations of the listener's positions and head orientations in a concert hall. Results revealed that, between the in-situ and laboratory experiments, the listening positions and head orientations were clustered identically. Ten salient perceptual attributes were identified from the data obtained from the laboratory experiment. Whilst these included conventional attributes such as ASW (apparent source width) and LEV (listener envelopment), new attributes such as PRL (perceived reverb loudness), ARW (apparent reverb width) and Reverb Direction were identified, and they are hypothesised to be sub-attributes of LEV (listener envelopment). Timbral characteristics such as Reverb Brightness and Echo Brightness were also identified as salient attributes, which are considered to potentially contribute to the overall sound clarity.