Studies on the perception of bass in four concert halls.

Tahvanainen, Henna; Pätynen, Jukka; Lokki, Tapio

doi:10.1037/pmu0000063

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Bradley had estimated that the seat-dip effect can take away as much as 6 dB of the double bass sound at the 200 Hz octave band and he considers this detrimental to bass. To address this issue, in recent listening test the level and quality (in terms of articulation) of bass were assessed with some bass-register instruments with different seat-dip effect conditions 19 . In the first part of the test (N=9 subjects), short musical excerpts with double bass, cello, tuba, and trombone were used, and in the second part (N=13), the stimulus contained random individual notes from one of the instrument at a selected frequency range.…”

Section: Perception Of Bass-register Instruments In the Presence Of T...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bass in Concert Halls Recent Studies on the Seat-Dip Effect

TAHVANAINEN,

LOKKI

2023

Auditorium Acoustics 2015

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The seat-dip effect is collectively referred to as the phenomena where the direct sound and its delayed copies starting after 5-7 ms interfere destructively leading to low frequency attenuation 8,15,16,18 . The delayed copies occur when the direct sound travels at grazing angles over the plane formed by the tops of the seat backs (or shoulders in occupied halls 18 ). The sound then bends between the seats, and reflects off the floor. At the receiver, this delayed copy joins the direct sound resulting in destructive interference being half-wavelength apart at certain frequency. In addition, delayed copies of the direct sound occur with diffraction from the tops of the seat backs. The main attenuation lies between 100-300 Hz, where its wavelength corresponds to four times the height of the seat backrest. The attenuation can extend up 1 kHz and it can be as deep as 15-20 dB.A rich bass and warmth are considered to be perceptually interchangeable terms 4,14 . In addition, bass is often clustered with fullness, depth and richness in listening tests using individual vocabulary profiling 11 . Hence, a loss of low frequencies in the direct sound caused by the seat-dip effect might be considered hazardous for the sound quality in concert halls. For example, Barron and Marshall observed that spatial impression is reduced if the early reflections also suffer from the seat-dip effect 3 .Most research on the seat-dip effect, for example related to the elimination of the effect, starts from the premise that such attenuation in the direct sound is detrimental to perception of sound quality in concert halls. Many methods focus on total elimination of the effect 1,7,8 or at least on shifting it to a lower frequency 15 -an approach often justified by the insensitivity of human hearing to low frequencies. However, for example intimacy seems to require pronounced bass below 100 Hz 12 meaning that this approach may not be beneficial after all. Furthermore, there is some evidence that if the later sound contains the low frequencies missing from the direct sound, the perception of bass might be enhanced 21 .

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Section: Perception Of Bass-register Instruments In the Presence Of T...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bass in Concert Halls Recent Studies on the Seat-Dip Effect

TAHVANAINEN,

LOKKI

2023

Auditorium Acoustics 2015

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“…One such playing style is that low frequency instruments play slightly before other instruments * . Recently, we organized a brief listening test to find out whether the hall could emphasize such microtiming 16 . The results showed that subjects preferred the chords in which bass instruments were played 40 ms earlier than high violins and woodwinds.…”

Section: Proceedings Of the Institute Of Acousticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Secret of the Musikvereien and Other Shoebox Concert Halls

LOKKI,

PÄTYNEN,

TERVO

et al. 2023

Auditorium Acoustics 2015

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In 2012 we made a European tour 18 measuring ten concert halls with the loudspeaker orchestra 12 . Here, we present the measured data in the time-frequency-space domain 13 of four concert halls on the seats that were used in the listening tests 8 (see Fig. 1). Data is averaged over 24 source positions. The purpose of the analysis is to describe typical acoustical conditions of shoebox and vineyard halls. The analysis shows clearly the differences across hall types are larger than in one hall across seats, except at balcony, where sound fields are more similar in all hall types.

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“…A major driving force of research in auditorium acoustics from its earliest days to the present is the complex question of how sound is perceived by the listeners. The papers by Henna Tahvanainen et al (2015; “Studies on the Perception of Bass in Four Concert Halls”) and of Aki Haapaniemi and Tapio Lokki (2015; “The Preferred Level Balance Between Direct, Early, and Late Sound in Concert Halls”) pick up this question and focus on how spectral and temporal timbre is perceived in rooms. The stimuli used in both of these studies were derived from measurements that were collected in several renowned European concert halls using the authors’ so called “virtual orchestra.” The timbre of sounds in concert halls is strongly controlled by the properties of the room’s boundaries.…”

Section: Organization Of the Contributions: The Communication Chainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Guest editors’ introduction to the special issue on “performance spaces for music: Acoustical and psychological measurements and their interactions” honoring Dr. Leo Beranek.

Witew¹,

Clements²,

Bradley³

2015

Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain

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This special issue of Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, & Brain, entitled "Performance Spaces for Music: Acoustical and Psychological Measurements and Their Interactions," is dedicated to Dr. Leo Beranek not only in acclaim of his 100th birthday in 2014 but also in recognition of his lifelong contributions to the field of architectural acoustics. The significance his work as a researcher, consultant, and author is manifested in countless ways and seems impossible to overestimate. His books, Music, Acoustics, and Architecture (1962), Concert Halls and Opera Houses: How They Sound (1996), and Concert Halls and Opera Houses: Music, Acoustics, and Architecture (2004, represent one of the most important textbook series in concert hall acoustics, and has significance far greater than the sum of its parts. The impetus from reading these works ranges from fuelling an individual's interest and enthusiasm for concert hall acoustics to building bridges between experts from different fields collaborating on concert hall projects, allowing both scientists and practitioners to figuratively stand upon Leo Beranek's "giant's shoulders" so as to see a little further.There is no doubt that the initial publication of Beranek's book in 1962 on concert hall acoustics triggered ongoing research on how sound is perceived in auditoria. This ranges from the initial works of Hawkes and Douglas (1971) in London, United Kingdom; the works by the Göttingen group (e.g., Gottlob, 1973); and research in Berlin, Germany; (Wilkens, 1977) to more recent works by Barron (1988) in the United Kingdom and Lokki, Pätynen, Kuusinen, and Tervo (2012) in Finland. Their studies and many others have refined the fundamental ideas that Leo Beranek had put into discussion.Scientific research on panel reflector arrays, audience absorption of grazing sound (also known as the seat dip effect), and interaural cross correlation as a predictor of spatial perception of sound all carry the distinctive signature of Leo Beranek's work as a consultant on many outstanding projects. Just to name a few, these

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Studies on the perception of bass in four concert halls.

Cited by 12 publications

References 26 publications

Bass in Concert Halls Recent Studies on the Seat-Dip Effect

Bass in Concert Halls Recent Studies on the Seat-Dip Effect

The Secret of the Musikvereien and Other Shoebox Concert Halls

Guest editors’ introduction to the special issue on “performance spaces for music: Acoustical and psychological measurements and their interactions” honoring Dr. Leo Beranek.

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