Sound reproduction : the acoustics and psychoacoustics of loudspeakers and rooms / Floyd Toole.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Toole, Floyd E., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Acoustical engineering.

Loudspeakers.

Psychoacoustics.

Recreation rooms.

Sound--Recording and reproducing--Equipment and supplies.

Sound.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (490 p.) ill

Edition:

Third edition.

Place of Publication:

New York ; London : Routledge, ©2017.

Summary:

Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms, Third Editionexplains the physical and perceptual processes that are involved in sound reproduction and demonstrates how to use the processes to create high-quality listening experiences in stereo and multichannel formats. Understanding the principles of sound production is necessary to achieve the goals of sound reproduction in spaces ranging from recording control rooms and home listening rooms to large cinemas. This revision brings new science-based perspectives on the performance of loudspeakers, room acoustics, measurements and equalization, all of which need to be appropriately used to ensure the accurate delivery of music and movie sound tracks from creators to listeners. The robust website (www.routledge.com/cw/toole) is the perfect companion to this necessary resource.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1.1. Live Classical Music Performances-Sound Production

1.2. Live Popular Music Performances-Sound Production

1.3. Reproduced Sound-The Audio Industry

1.4. Preserving the Art-The Circle of Confusion

1.5. Music and Movies-The State of Affairs

1.6. Role of Loudspeakers and Rooms

1.7. Human Adaptation, a Reality That Cannot Be Ignored

1.8. Human Suggestibility

2.1. Requirements for Scientific Investigations

3.1. Is Blind Listening Necessary?

3.2. Hearing Ability and Listener Performance

3.3. Stress and Strain

3.4. How Many Channels?

3.5. Controlling the Variables in Subjective Evaluations

3.5.1. Controlling the Physical Variables

3.5.1.1. Listening Room-Making Tests Blind

3.5.1.2. Real-Time Loudspeaker Comparison Methods

3.5.1.3. Binaural Record/Replay Loudspeaker Comparisons

3.5.1.4. Listener Position and Seating

3.5.1.5. Relative Loudness

3.5.1.6. Absolute Loudness-Playback Sound Levels

3.5.1.7. Choosing Program Material

3.5.1.8. Power Amplifiers, Wire and So Forth

3.5.2. Controlling the Psychological Variables

3.5.2.1. Knowledge of the Products

3.5.2.2. Familiarity with the Program

3.5.2.3. Familiarity with the Room

3.5.2.4. Familiarity with the Task

3.5.2.5. Listening Aptitude and Training

3.5.2.6. Culture, Age and Other Biases

3.5.2.7. Hearing Ability

3.5.2.8. Listener Interaction

3.5.2.9. Recognition

3.5.3. How to Do the Test

3.5.3.1. Is It Preference or Accuracy That Is Evaluated?

4.1. Frequency Domain

4.2. Amplitude Domain

4.3. Amplitude and Frequency Together: Frequency Response

4.4. Amplitude and Frequency Together: Equal-Loudness Contours

4.4.1. Loudness Controls and Tone Controls-Do They Work, Are They Necessary?

4.5. Boundaries of What We Can Hear

4.5.1. What Is Acceptable Background Noise?

4.6. Linear Distortions: Amplitude and Phase vs. Frequency

4.6.1. Spectral Tilt

4.6.2. Resonances Viewed in Frequency and Time

4.6.3. Finding and Fixing Resonances

4.6.4. Persistent Problem: Differentiating between Evidence of Resonances and Acoustical Interference

4.6.5. Critical Bands, ERBNs and the "Resolution" of the Hearing System

4.7. Amplitude, Frequency and Time Together: Waterfall Diagrams

4.8. Phase and Polarity-Do We Hear Waveforms?

4.8.1. Audibility of Phase Shift and Group Delay

4.8.2. Phase Shift at Low Frequencies: A Special Case

4.8.3. Audibility of Absolute Polarity-Which Way Is "Up"?

4.9. Non-linear Distortion

4.10. Wavelength, the Key to Understanding Much in Audio

4.10.1. Loudspeaker Directivity

4.10.2. Room Resonance Basics

4.10.3. Resistive/Porous Absorbers and Membrane/ Diaphragmatic Absorbers

4.10.4. Diffusers and Other Sound-Scattering Devices

5.1. Wisdom of the Ancients

5.2. Identifying the Important Variables-What Do We Measure?

5.3. Anechoic Measurements-The Spinorama Evolves

5.4. Total Sound Power as a Measured Parameter

5.5. Why Do We Measure What We Do? Are There Better Ways?

5.6. Predicting Room Curves from Anechoic Data-An Exercise in Curve Matching

5.6.1. Message about Sound Absorption and Scattering

5.6.2. Why Do We Care about Room Curves?

5.7. Closing the Loop: Predicting Listener Preferences from Measurements

5.7.1. Olive Experiments-Part One

5.7.2. Olive Experiments-Part Two

5.7.3. Olive Experiments-Part Three

5.8. Loudspeaker Resonances-Detection and Remedies

5.9. Summary and Discussion

6.1. One Room, Two Sound Fields-The Transition Frequency

6.2. Brief History of Loudspeaker/Room Interactions

6.3. Timbral and Spatial Effects Attributable to Rooms

7.1. Physical Variables: Early Reflections

7.1.1. Problems with the Stereo Phantom Center Image

7.2. Physical Variables: Loudspeaker Directivity

7.3. Physical Variables: Acoustical Surface Treatments

7.3.1. Absorbers

7.3.2. Engineered Surfaces and Other Sound Scattering/Diffusing Devices

7.4. Subjective Evaluations in Real-World Situations

7.4.1. Side Wall Treatment: Reflecting or Absorbing-Kishinaga et al. (1979)

7.4.2. Effect of Loudspeaker Directivity-Toole (1985)

7.4.3. Loudspeaker Directivity and Wall Treatment Together-Choisel (2005)

7.4.4. Nature of the Sound Field-Klippel (1990)

7.4.5. Observations of an Audio Enthusiast-Linkwitz (2007)

7.4.6. Observations of an Audio Enthusiast-Toole (2016)

7.4.7. Floor Reflections: A Special Case?

7.5. Professional Listening vs. Recreational Listening

7.5.1. Hearing Loss Is a Major Concern

7.5.2. Discussion

7.6. Perceptual Effects of Room Reflections

7.6.1. Adaptation and Perceptual Streaming

7.6.2. Effects of Rooms on Loudspeaker Sound Quality

7.6.3. Effect of Rooms on Speech Intelligibility

7.6.4. Sound Localization in Reflective Spaces-The Precedence (Haas) Effect

7.6.5. Bringing the Precedence Effect into the Real Acoustical World

7.6.5.1. Ceiling vs. Wall Reflections

7.6.5.2. Real vs. Phantom Images

7.6.5.3. Speech vs. Various Musical Sounds

7.7. Meaningful Measurements of Reflection Amplitudes

8.1. Basics of Room Resonances and Standing Waves

8.1.1. Optimizing Room Dimensions-Does an "Ideal" Room Exist?

8.1.2. Are Non-rectangular Rooms the Answer?

8.2. Solutions for the Real World

8.2.1. Deliver Energy to the Modes and Dissipate Some of That Energy with Absorbers

8.2.2. Deliver Energy to the Modes and Reduce the Coupling of That Energy to the Listener by Optimizing the Listening Location-"Positional" Equalization

8.2.3. Reduce the Energy Delivered to a Bothersome Mode by Optimizing the Loudspeaker/Subwoofer Location

8.2.4. Reduce the Energy Delivered to a Bothersome Mode by Using Parametric Equalization

8.2.5. Reduce the Energy Delivered to a Bothersome Mode by Using Simple Mode-Manipulation Techniques

8.2.6. Selective Mode Activation in Rectangular Rooms Using Passive Multiple-Subwoofer Mode Manipulation

8.2.7. Mode Manipulation for Rectangular Rooms Using Multiple Subwoofers and Signal Processing

8.2.8. Mode Manipulation for Any Room Using Multiple Subwoofers and Signal Processing: Sound Field Management (SFM)

8.2.9. Revisiting Room Resonances in Time and Space

8.3. Do We Hear the Spectral Bump, the Temporal Ringing or Both?

8.4. Stereo Bass: Little Ado about Even Less

8.5. Bass Management Makes It All Possible

8.6. Summary and Discussion

9.1. Effects of Solid Angles on the Radiation of Sound by Omnidirectional Sources

9.2. Classic Adjacent-Boundary Effects

9.2.1. Alleviating Adjacent-Boundary Effects

9.3. Loudspeaker Mounting Options and Effects

9.3.1. Example of Adjacent-Boundary Interference

9.4. "Boundary-Friendly" Loudspeaker Designs

9.5. Array Loudspeakers-Other Ways to Manipulate Boundary Interactions

9.6. Listeners Also Have Boundaries

10.1. Reverberation

10.1.1. Measuring Reverberation Time

10.1.2. Calculating Reverberation Time

10.1.3. Is There a More Useful Metric for Our Purposes?

10.2. Diffusion

10.3. Direct Sound and Early Reflections

10.4. Near and Far Fields of Rooms-Sound Level vs.

Distance

10.5. Near and Far Fields of Sound Sources

10.5.1. Point Sources and Real Loudspeakers

10.5.2. Line Sources

10.6. Air Absorption at High Frequencies

10.7. Screen Loss in Home Theaters and Cinemas

10.8. Directivities of Common Sound Sources

11.1. Closed Loop of Cinema Sound

11.2. Sound Fields in Cinemas

11.2.1. Loudspeaker in a Cinema

11.2.2. Adding a Screen and Applying the X-curve

11.3. Origins of the X-curve

11.4. Recent Study Adds Confirmation and Clarity

11.5. Flat, Direct Sound Is an Enduring Favorite

11.6. Alternative Targets-Is It Time to Move On?

11.6.1. Compatibility with the Rest of the Audio World

11.6.2. Compatibility within the Cinema World

11.7. Effects of Room Size and Seats

11.8. Cinema Sound-Where to Next?

12.1. Good Sound Starts with Good Loudspeakers

12.1.1. Typical Loudspeaker Specifications-Part of the Problem

12.2. Loudspeakers in Small Rooms: The Meaning of Room Curves

12.2.1. Effect of Loudspeaker Directional Configuration

12.2.2. Looking Back 42 Years: the Moller/Bruel and Kjaer Experiments

12.2.3. Room Curves and Equalization

12.3. Subjective Preferences for Sound Spectra in Listening Rooms

12.4. Dialog Intelligibility in Home Theaters

12.5. Recording Control Rooms

12.5.1. Old-School Monitoring

12.5.2. Modern Monitoring

13.1. Low Frequencies-The Universal Problem

13.2. Sound above the Transition Frequency

13.2.1. Thirty Years-Some Things Change, Some Don't

13.2.2. Wrong Room Curve Target?

13.2.3. "Room Correction" and "Room Equalization" Are Misnomers

13.2.4. Automotive Audio

13.2.5. Headphones

13.2.6. Cinemas

13.3. Is There a Common Factor-A Generalizable Target?

14.1. Alternative Views of Frequency Response

14.1.1. Prediction of the Direct Sound and Room Curves from Anechoic Data

14.1.2. In-Situ Measurement of the Direct Sound

14.1.3. Steady-State Room Curve

14.2. Measures of Loudness and System-Level Calibrations

14.2.1. Evaluating Relative Program Loudness Levels

14.2.2. Multichannel Sound System-Level Calibration

14.2.3. Effect of Propagation Distance- A Side-Channel Challenge

14.3. Measurement Microphones

15.1. Few Definitions.

Note continued: 15.2. Birth of Multichannel Audio

15.3. Stereo-An Important Beginning

15.3.1. Loudspeakers as Stereo Image Stabilizers

15.4. Quadraphonics-Stereo Times Two

15.5. Multichannel Audio-Cinema to the Rescue

15.6. Multichannel Audio Comes Home

15.6.1. THX Embellishments

15.7. How Many Loudspeakers and Where?

15.7.1. Optimizing the Delivery of "Envelopment"

15.7.2. Summary

15.8. Surround System Layouts

15.8.1. Loudspeaker Directivity Requirements

15.8.2. Mission-Oriented Acoustical Treatments

15.8.3. Surround Loudspeaker Options

15.9. Ambisonics Alternative

15.10. Upmixer Manipulations: Creativity at Work

15.11. Multichannel Audio Goes Digital, Discrete and Compressed

15.12. Three-Dimensional Sound-lmmersive Audio

15.12.1. Perception of Elevation

16.1. Consequences of Loudspeaker Impedance Variations

16.2. Damping Factor Deception

16.3. Loudspeaker Sensitivity Ratings and Power Amplifiers

16.4. Audibility of Clipping

17.1. Occupational Noise Exposure Limits

17.2. Non-occupational Noise Exposure

17.3. Binaural Hearing Is Also Affected

17.4. Some Obsession Can Be a Good Thing

18.1. My Introduction to the Real World

18.2. Two Decades of Domestic Loudspeakers

18.3. Some Early Professional Monitor Loudspeakers

18.3.1. "Toole" Monitor Loudspeaker

18.4. Looking Around and Looking Ahead

18.5. End.

Notes:

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

1-317-41509-4

OCLC:

1048766340