Perceptual Metrics for Ideal Reverberation

Some desirable controls for an artificial reverberator include [221]

• desired reverberation time at each frequency
• signal power gain at each frequency
• ``clarity'' = ratio of impulse-response energy in early reflections to that in the late reverb
• inter-aural correlation coefficient at left and right ears

The time to decay 60 dB () is a classical objective parameter used as a measure of perceived reverberation time. Classically, was measured for the whole response. More recently [219], it has become more common to design for a given at more than one frequency, e.g., one for low frequencies, another for high frequencies, and interpolated values at intermediate frequencies. Perceptual studies indicate that reverberation time should be independently adjustable in at least three frequency bands [220].

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Subsections

• Energy Decay Curve
• Energy Decay Relief

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written by Julius Orion Smith III
Julius Smith's background is in electrical engineering (BS Rice 1975, PhD Stanford 1983). He is presently Professor of Music and Associate Professor (by courtesy) of Electrical Engineering at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), teaching courses and pursuing research related to signal processing applied to music and audio systems. See http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/ for details.