Psychoacoustic perception of transient effects of resonance modes at low frequencies in a listening environment

Verifying the results of previous listening tests performed on headphones, regarding the perception of the effect of resonance modes at low frequencies on musical transient sounds. A complete acoustical analysis of the University of Bologna new listening room was carried out before its optimization and problematic frequencies were identified under 100 Hz. Test sounds were developed specifically, thirty-eight expert listeners were asked to answer simple question regarding the perceived volume and resonant quality of real tones. Test musical sounds (pure tones, kick drums and bass notes) were played on loudspeakers in the listening room and listeners seated in the sweet spot. Results are generally in accordance to the ones obtained in the previous headphone tests. In a direct comparison, listeners seem to be more sensitive to a difference in resonance rather than volume on complex tones and the opposite on pure tones. Fundamental frequency, note duration, and number of repetitions of the sound impact on human perception, confirming the influence of the room's transient energetic phenomena on the beginning of the sound in the perception of the volume, and also the correlation between the presence of a resonance and the perceived quality of the sound. The study confirms the importance of accurate frequency analysis rather than band analysis at low frequency.