A New Approach to Optimum Reverberation Time Characteristics

Abstract Subjective effects of the whole reverberation process, including the sound fading process, are focused on in this study. The concept of “subjective reverberation length (SRL),” an impression of time length in the reverberation decay process, is introduced. Systematic hearing tests on SRL using artificial reverberation signals are introduced first. Then a hypothesis on the perception of SRL and “equal SRL contour” are derived from discussions on the auditory mechanism to determine SRL. Finally, a reverberation time ratio curve for frequencies is proposed as the optimum reverberation characteristics for music based on the equal SRL contour. The proposed curve has a relatively gentle slope in the low frequency range, and agrees well with the recommendations by Jordan (1980), Beranek (1962) and Yamamoto (1973), which have been well received recently.