Lateral reflections are favorable in concert halls due to binaural loudness

A recent study on perceptual difference in simulated concert halls showed that a concert hall renders stronger sound with more bass when the temporal envelope of a signal is preserved in the reflections [Lokki et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 129, EL223-EL228 (2011)]. In the same study the lateral reflections were shown to contribute to the perceived envelopment and openness. Moreover, the listening test results suggest that lateral reflections contribute to perception of sound source distance. Here, it is shown that lateral reflections are beneficial due to their increasing effect on binaural loudness-the phenomenon known well in psychoacoustics, but not in architectural acoustics. The reflections from the side are amplified more than median plane reflections, in particular at high frequencies, due to the shape of the human head.