Influence of Size and Composition of the Orchestra on the Perception of Room Acoustical Quality

Analysing the results of subjective listening tests in real halls, the sound power levels of the different orchestral ensembles as sound sources for the listening tests are shown to be an important factor. Correspondence between objective measurements and subjective evaluation, especially for the question of loudness of the hall, turns out to be very good when the effective sound pressure level at the listeners' positions is taken as the objective parameter. This means that in order to explain subjective judgments on the loudness of a hall not only the objective measure of the amplification of the hall, but also the sound power of the orchestra has to be taken into account. On the contrary, judgments of subjective loudness turn out to be independent of orchestral ensemble for halls of auditorium type, indicating that for the evaluation of chamber music a change in response strategy of the listeners occurs. The regression constants for the subjective changes due to either a change in the amplification of the hall or a change in the sound power of the orchestral source are estimated and found to be reasonably close.