Investigation of the perceptual relevance of directivity of real and virtual sources in different acoustic environments (vor Ort)
* Presenting author
Abstract:
Researchers invest huge efforts in capturing and modelling the directivity of musical instruments with high spatial-resolution in order to analyse or auralize a musical instrument accurately. However, its perceptual relevance in realistic acoustic environments is still not fully understood.As a simplified approach to assess the perceptual relevance of directivity of musical instruments in different acoustic environments, the sound field of five musical instruments and their two electroacoustic sound source counterparts with significantly different directivity patterns (studio monitor and omnidirectional speaker) are captured in three distinct acoustic environments. The signals from a clip-on microphone attached to the instruments were used as the input signal for the two virtual sound sources. A listening test with experienced listeners is carried out to evaluate the perceptual difference due to the directivity between real and virtual sources using cues such as timbre, spatial modulation and engulfment. Initial evaluation indicates that the perceptual difference is significantly influenced by the characteristics of the acoustic environment. Exemplary, an electroacoustic source with simplified radiation pattern in larger distance within a reverberant acoustic environment was similar to the impression of a real instrument whereas the similarity in a closer distance could be obtained with a directive simulated source only.
