Physiologically based measures for clarity and engagement
David Griesinger · 2013
Humans evolved to detect the direction and the information content of sounds that travel directly from a source to the ear of a listener, and evolution has provided us with sophisticated neurology that separates direct sound from noise with remarkable acuity. When separation is possible signals become clearer, more attention-grabbing, more reverberant, and easier to remember. Reflections and reverberation garble the sonic information that makes separation possible; knowing when and how this happens is vital to room and hall acoustics. But the measures in ISO3382 are nearly blind to the direct component of a sound field, and a continuing legacy of these standards may be a diminishing number of audience members willing to sit in expensive, mediocre seats. This talk will demonstrate the vital importance of clarity through examples of “clear” and “muddy” speech and music. We will discuss the physics which makes direct sound separation possible, and propose measurement methods based on the physiology of this process, using data from impulse responses and live speech. Techniques for maximizing both clarity and reverberance will be suggested.