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Sound Reproduction, 3rd Edition

Name: Sound Reproduction, 3rd Edition
Author: Floyd E. Toole
ISBN: 9781317415091

by Floyd E. Toole

July 2017

Intermediate to advanced

514 pages

18h 50m

English

Routledge

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Cover
Title
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Sound Production vs. Sound Reproduction
1.1 Live Classical Music Performances—Sound Production1.2 Live Popular Music Performances—Sound Production1.3 Reproduced Sound—The Audio Industry1.4 Preserving the Art—The Circle of Confusion1.5 Music and Movies—The State of Affairs1.6 The Role of Loudspeakers and Rooms1.7 Human Adaptation, a Reality That Cannot Be Ignored1.8 Human Suggestibility
2 A Scientific Perspective on Audio
2.1 Requirements for Scientific Investigations
3 Subjective Measurements—Turning Opinion into Fact
3.1 Is Blind Listening Necessary?3.2 Hearing Ability and Listener Performance3.3 Stress and Strain3.4 How Many Channels?3.5 Controlling the Variables in Subjective Evaluations3.5.1 Controlling the Physical Variables3.5.1.1 The Listening Room—Making Tests Blind3.5.1.2 Real-Time Loudspeaker Comparison Methods3.5.1.3 Binaural Record/Replay Loudspeaker Comparisons3.5.1.4 Listener Position and Seating3.5.1.5 Relative Loudness3.5.1.6 Absolute Loudness—Playback Sound Levels3.5.1.7 Choosing Program Material3.5.1.8 Power Amplifiers, Wire and So Forth3.5.2 Controlling the Psychological Variables3.5.2.1 Knowledge of the Products3.5.2.2 Familiarity with the Program3.5.2.3 Familiarity with the Room3.5.2.4 Familiarity with the Task3.5.2.5 Listening Aptitude and Training3.5.2.6 Culture, Age and Other Biases3.5.2.7 Hearing Ability3.5.2.8 Listener Interaction3.5.2.9 Recognition3.5.3 How to Do the Test3.5.3.1 Is It Preference or Accuracy That Is Evaluated?
4 The Perceptual and Physical Dimensions of Sound
4.1 The Frequency Domain4.2 The Amplitude Domain4.3 Amplitude and Frequency Together: Frequency Response4.4 Amplitude and Frequency Together: Equal-Loudness Contours4.4.1 Loudness Controls and Tone Controls—Do They Work, Are They Necessary?4.5 The Boundaries of What We Can Hear4.5.1 What Is Acceptable Background Noise?4.6 Linear Distortions: Amplitude and Phase vs. Frequency4.6.1 Spectral Tilt4.6.2 Resonances Viewed in Frequency and Time4.6.3 Finding and Fixing Resonances4.6.4 A Persistent Problem: Differentiating between Evidence of Resonances and Acoustical Interference4.6.5 Critical Bands, ERBNs and the “Resolution” of the Hearing System4.7 Amplitude, Frequency and Time Together: Waterfall Diagrams4.8 Phase and Polarity—Do We Hear Waveforms?4.8.1 The Audibility of Phase Shift and Group Delay4.8.2 Phase Shift at Low Frequencies: A Special Case4.8.3 The Audibility of Absolute Polarity—Which Way Is “Up”?4.9 Non-linear Distortion4.10 Wavelength, the Key to Understanding Much in Audio4.10.1 Loudspeaker Directivity4.10.2 Room Resonance Basics4.10.3 Resistive/Porous Absorbers and Membrane/Diaphragmatic Absorbers4.10.4 Diffusers and Other Sound-Scattering Devices

5 Characterizing Loudspeakers—Can We Describe What Is Good?
5.1 The Wisdom of the Ancients5.2 Identifying the Important Variables—What Do We Measure?5.3 Anechoic Measurements—The Spinorama Evolves5.4 Total Sound Power as a Measured Parameter5.5 Why Do We Measure What We Do? Are There Better Ways?5.6 Predicting Room Curves from Anechoic Data—An Exercise in Curve Matching5.6.1 A Message about Sound Absorption and Scattering5.6.2 Why Do We Care about Room Curves?5.7 Closing the Loop: Predicting Listener Preferences from Measurements5.7.1 The Olive Experiments—Part One5.7.2 The Olive Experiments—Part Two5.7.3 The Olive Experiments—Part Three5.8 Loudspeaker Resonances—Detection and Remedies5.9 Summary and Discussion
6 Loudspeaker/Room Systems—An Introduction
6.1 One Room, Two Sound Fields—The Transition Frequency6.2 A Brief History of Loudspeaker/Room Interactions6.3 Timbral and Spatial Effects Attributable to Rooms
7 Above the Transition Frequency: Acoustical Events and Perceptions
7.1 The Physical Variables: Early Reflections7.1.1 Problems with the Stereo Phantom Center Image7.2 The Physical Variables: Loudspeaker Directivity7.3 The Physical Variables: Acoustical Surface Treatments7.3.1 Absorbers7.3.2 Engineered Surfaces and Other Sound Scattering/Diffusing Devices7.4 Subjective Evaluations in Real-World Situations7.4.1 Side Wall Treatment: Reflecting or Absorbing—Kishinaga et al. (1979)7.4.2 The Effect of Loudspeaker Directivity—Toole (1985)7.4.3 Loudspeaker Directivity and Wall Treatment Together—Choisel (2005)7.4.4 The 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 Listening7.5.1 Hearing Loss Is a Major Concern7.5.2 Discussion7.6 Perceptual Effects of Room Reflections7.6.1 Adaptation and Perceptual Streaming7.6.2 The Effects of Rooms on Loudspeaker Sound Quality7.6.3 The Effect of Rooms on Speech Intelligibility7.6.4 Sound Localization in Reflective Spaces— The Precedence (Haas) Effect7.6.5 Bringing the Precedence Effect into the Real Acoustical World7.6.5.1 Ceiling vs. Wall Reflections7.6.5.2 Real vs. Phantom Images7.6.5.3 Speech vs. Various Musical Sounds7.7 Meaningful Measurements of Reflection Amplitudes
8 Below the Transition Frequency: Acoustical Events and Perceptions
8.1 The Basics of Room Resonances and Standing Waves8.1.1 Optimizing Room Dimensions—Does an “Ideal” Room Exist?8.1.2 Are Non-rectangular Rooms the Answer?8.2 Solutions for the Real World8.2.1 Deliver Energy to the Modes and Dissipate Some of That Energy with Absorbers8.2.2 Deliver Energy to the Modes and Reduce the Coupling of That Energy to the Listener by Optimizing the Listening Location—“Positional” Equalization8.2.3 Reduce the Energy Delivered to a Bothersome Mode by Optimizing the Loudspeaker/Subwoofer Location8.2.4 Reduce the Energy Delivered to a Bothersome Mode by Using Parametric Equalization8.2.5 Reduce the Energy Delivered to a Bothersome Mode by Using Simple Mode-Manipulation Techniques8.2.6 Selective Mode Activation in Rectangular Rooms Using Passive Multiple-Subwoofer Mode Manipulation8.2.7 Mode Manipulation for Rectangular Rooms Using Multiple Subwoofers and Signal Processing8.2.8 Mode Manipulation for Any Room Using Multiple Subwoofers and Signal Processing: Sound Field Management (SFM)8.2.9 Revisiting Room Resonances in Time and Space8.3 Do We Hear the Spectral Bump, the Temporal Ringing or Both?8.4 Stereo Bass: Little Ado about Even Less8.5 Bass Management Makes It All Possible8.6 Summary and Discussion
9 Adjacent-Boundary and Loudspeaker Mounting Effects
9.1 The Effects of Solid Angles on the Radiation of Sound by Omnidirectional Sources9.2 Classic Adjacent-Boundary Effects9.2.1 Alleviating Adjacent-Boundary Effects9.3 Loudspeaker Mounting Options and Effects9.3.1 An Example of Adjacent-Boundary Interference9.4 “Boundary-Friendly” Loudspeaker Designs9.5 Array Loudspeakers—Other Ways to Manipulate Boundary Interactions9.6 Listeners Also Have Boundaries
10 The Sound Fields in Sound Reproduction Spaces
10.1 Reverberation10.1.1 Measuring Reverberation Time10.1.2 Calculating Reverberation Time10.1.3 Is There a More Useful Metric for Our Purposes?10.2 Diffusion10.3 Direct Sound and Early Reflections10.4 Near and Far Fields of Rooms—Sound Level vs. Distance10.5 Near and Far Fields of Sound Sources10.5.1 Point Sources and Real Loudspeakers10.5.2 Line Sources10.6 Air Absorption at High Frequencies10.7 Screen Loss in Home Theaters and Cinemas10.8 The Directivities of Common Sound Sources
11 Sound in Cinemas
11.1 The Closed Loop of Cinema Sound11.2 Sound Fields in Cinemas11.2.1 A Loudspeaker in a Cinema11.2.2 Adding a Screen and Applying the X-curve11.3 The Origins of the X-curve11.4 A Recent Study Adds Confirmation and Clarity11.5 Flat, Direct Sound Is an Enduring Favorite11.6 Alternative Targets—Is It Time to Move On?11.6.1 Compatibility with the Rest of the Audio World11.6.2 Compatibility within the Cinema World11.7 The Effects of Room Size and Seats11.8 Cinema Sound—Where to Next?
12 Sound in Home Listening Rooms, Home Theaters and Recording Control Rooms
12.1 Good Sound Starts with Good Loudspeakers12.1.1 Typical Loudspeaker Specifications—Part of the Problem12.2 Loudspeakers in Small Rooms: The Meaning of Room Curves12.2.1 The Effect of Loudspeaker Directional Configuration12.2.2 Looking Back 42 Years: the Møller/Brüel and Kjaer Experiments12.2.3 Room Curves and Equalization12.3 Subjective Preferences for Sound Spectra in Listening Rooms12.4 Dialog Intelligibility in Home Theaters12.5 Recording Control Rooms12.5.1 Old-School Monitoring12.5.2 Modern Monitoring
13 A Rational Approach to Designing, Measuring and Calibrating Sound Reproducing Systems
13.1 Low Frequencies—The Universal Problem13.2 Sound above the Transition Frequency13.2.1 Thirty Years—Some Things Change, Some Don’t13.2.2 The Wrong Room Curve Target?13.2.3 “Room Correction” and “Room Equalization” Are Misnomers13.2.4 Automotive Audio13.2.5 Headphones13.2.6 Cinemas13.3 Is There a Common Factor—A Generalizable Target?
14 Measurement Methods
14.1 Alternative Views of Frequency Response14.1.1 Prediction of the Direct Sound and Room Curves from Anechoic Data14.1.2 In-Situ Measurement of the Direct Sound14.1.3 The Steady-State Room Curve14.2 Measures of Loudness and System-Level Calibrations14.2.1 Evaluating Relative Program Loudness Levels14.2.2 Multichannel Sound System-Level Calibration14.2.3 The Effect of Propagation Distance— A Side-Channel Challenge14.3 Measurement Microphones
15 Multichannel Audio
15.1 A Few Definitions15.2 The Birth of Multichannel Audio15.3 Stereo—An Important Beginning15.3.1 Loudspeakers as Stereo Image Stabilizers15.4 Quadraphonics—Stereo Times Two15.5 Multichannel Audio—Cinema to the Rescue15.6 Multichannel Audio Comes Home15.6.1 THX Embellishments15.7 How Many Loudspeakers and Where?15.7.1 Optimizing the Delivery of “Envelopment”15.7.2 Summary15.8 Surround System Layouts15.8.1 Loudspeaker Directivity Requirements15.8.2 Mission-Oriented Acoustical Treatments15.8.3 Surround Loudspeaker Options15.9 The Ambisonics Alternative15.10 Upmixer Manipulations: Creativity at Work15.11 Multichannel Audio Goes Digital, Discrete and Compressed15.12 Three-Dimensional Sound—Immersive Audio15.12.1 The Perception of Elevation
16 Loudspeakers and Power Amplifiers
16.1 Consequences of Loudspeaker Impedance Variations16.2 The Damping Factor Deception16.3 Loudspeaker Sensitivity Ratings and Power Amplifiers16.4 The Audibility of Clipping
17 Hearing Loss and Hearing Conservation
17.1 Occupational Noise Exposure Limits17.2 Non-occupational Noise Exposure17.3 Binaural Hearing Is Also Affected17.4 Some Obsession Can Be a Good Thing
18 Fifty Years of Progress in Loudspeaker Design
18.1 My Introduction to the Real World18.2 Two Decades of Domestic Loudspeakers18.3 Some Early Professional Monitor Loudspeakers18.3.1 A “Toole” Monitor Loudspeaker18.4 Looking Around and Looking Ahead18.5 The End
References
Index

Overview

Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms, Third Edition explains 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 home listening rooms to large cinemas. This revision brings new science-based perspectives on the performance of loudspeakers, room acoustics, measurements, and equalization.

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