Augmented stage support in ensemble performance using virtual acoustics technology

Abstract

Perceptual evaluation of electronically varied acoustic conditions has been perfomed with 15 musicians in a chamber orchestra rehearsal. Using Virtual Acoustics Technology (VAT), a room impulse response based active acoustic enhancement system, four different acoustic conditions were presented to the musicians. Condition 1 was the natural room itself without the VAT system. Condition 2 had a moderate level of VAT enhancement with approximately 10% increased EDT value from the condition 1. Condition 3 duplicated the condition 2 except for another 10% rise of EDT, and condition 4 offered enhancement utilizing multiple early reflections IRs without extending the reverb time of the space. The conditions were presented to the ensemble in random order and the loudness of all four conditions was carefully matched within 1 dB variance. Evaluation results indicated that 65% of participating musicians prefered condition 4 and their preference was highly correlated with perceptual attributes such as “feeling of stage support,” “feeling of intimacy,” and “quality of reverberation.” The objective measurements also confirmed the improvements in stage acoustics support parameters (ST1 and ST2) in condition 4.

Virtual Notre-Dame: Preliminary results of real-time auralization with choir members

“…The same questionnaire was administered to the subjects when they participated as listeners. The questionnaires were based on previous work assessing musicians' evaluations of acoustics [13], [39]- [42]. In addition to the formal questionnaires, the singers' comments were recorded throughout the duration of the experiment.…”