MEETINGS

Upcoming meeting:

Concert Audience Engagement - The Perception of Closeness

Presented by Dr. David Griesinger

Wednesday April 21, 2005 7:00 PM at NPR

David Griesinger, formerly Lexicon’s Chief Scientist, has spent decades researching the correlation between how we hear and our preferences in concert hall acoustics. His work has led to the surround algorithms in Lexicon and some Harman professional and consumer surround and reverberation processors.
As part of his data gathering efforts he has made a number of in-ear recordings during concerts.

Sounds perceived as close to the listener are more emotionally involving than sounds perceived as far away, but there is no current acoustical measure for the perception of closeness. This talk proposes that audience engagement — closeness — depends on the ease of detecting pitch in speech and in music.

A neural structure will be shown that explains our acute sense of pitch, which is far better than can be expected from the frequency dependence of the basilar membrane. The structure also explains our ability to perceive the pitch and the azimuth of several instruments at the same time.

He has developed a new computerized neural model for how humans detect pitch, which ties together pitch detection, azimuth detection and distance perception — all of which depend on harmonic coherence, and degrade in the same way with an increase in reverberation.

LIke his previous work on localization and distance, it is early reflections that are primarily responsible for this degradation and the consequent loss of engagement. The degradation can be directly measured by running the model on binaural concert recordings. The results help predict how to design halls for maximum clarity.



NOTE: Prior to the presentation we will hold elections. We have a new Acting Treasurer (Brett Takacs), whose official election will likely occur at the meeting. If you are interested in serving in one of the elected positions (Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer), let me know ASAP. David J. Weinberg, Section Chair.

The meeting will be held at National Public Radio, 635 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC

Limited parking is available in NPR's garage. To take advantage of this, please RSVP to:DC_Section@AES.org.