A summary on acoustic room divergence and its effect on externalization of auditory events

Abstract

This contribution presents a summary of results from perceptual auditory experiments on context dependent quality parameters for virtual acoustic environments. The investigated quality features are influenced by divergence between synthesized scene and listening room and adaptation on congruence or divergence between the rooms. Two experiments are presented. The results from the first experiment show the room divergence effect on spatial auditory perception. A divergence between the listening room and binaurally synthesized room leads to a decrease of perceived externalization while congruence yields an increase. A more comprehensive statistical analysis regarding significance, effect size and visual influences is added to complement the original publication of this data. The second experiment shows this effect as the result of expectations of the listeners and can be shifted by adaptation and training. In the experiments we show, that training to congruent or divergent room combinations can increase or decrease the room divergence effect.