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A Quantitative and Qualitative Acoustic Analysis of Two High End Restaurants in New York City
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The application of room impulse response (RIR) measurements in auralization and convolution reverberation requires algorithms to modify several objective parameters in order to allow subjective tests or to meet the creative needs of sound designers and engineers. In contrast to synthetic techniques where the impulse response is a result of setting different parameters, a 'backward' approach is proposed here using the modification of pre-recorded RIRs. In this paper we propose, implement and test a new algorithm to modify the early reflection part of the RIRs in order to change its early-to-late index linearly to an input parameter. The change of the clarity parameter is evaluated on 1500 measured room impulse responses of 13 different halls measured by the first author.
The goals of this study were to measure sensitivity to the direct-to-reverberant energy ratio (D/R) across a wide range of D/R values and to gain insight into which cues are used in the discrimination process. The main finding is that changes in D/R are discriminated primarily based on spectral cues. Temporal cues may be used but only when spectral cues are diminished or not available, while sensitivity to interaural cross-correlation is too low to be useful in any of the conditions tested. These findings are based on an acoustic analysis of these variables and the results of two psychophysical experiments. The first experiment employs wideband noise with two values for onset and offset times to determine the D/R just-noticeable difference at -10, 0, 10, and 20 dB D/R. This yielded substantially higher sensitivity to D/R at 0 and 10 dB D/R (2-3 dB) than has been reported previously, while sensitivity is much lower at -10 and 20 dB D/R. The second experiment consists of three parts where specific cues to D/R are reduced or removed, which enabled the specified rank ordering of the cues. The acoustic analysis and psychophysical experiments also provide an explanation for the "auditory horizon effect."
Algorithms that have been proposed for predicting speech intelligibility based on the articulation loss of consonants AL(cons) are revisited. The simplest algorithm, known as the architectural form of the Peutz equation, is discussed and rederived using a technique to find forms of empirical equations. it is shown that other Peutz algorithms, which use measured values of room acoustical quantities for estimating AL(cons), are based on Fletcher's articulation index concept, which is a quantitative measure of a communication system for transmitting the speech sounds. When compared for diffuse sound fields with ideal exponential decays, these algorithms provide similar predictions because they were all developed from the same experimental data. Unlike the speech transmission index STI and the useful-to-detrimental sound ratio U-50, speech intelligibility predictions based on the AL(cons) algorithms do not take into account the effects of earlier reflections, single echoes, and the frequency dependence of relevant parameters. These limitations of the AL(cons) algorithms are crucial for accurate predictions of speech intelligibility in rooms. It is shown that in smaller rooms with a diffuse sound field and ideal exponential decays, STI and US, are highly correlated with each other, whereas AL(cons) is pot uniquely correlated with either of these speech metrics. Speech intelligibility predictions based on STI and Uw are compared with AL, predictions for the Harvard phonetically balanced (PB) word test. For this test it is shown that the STI and U50 speech intelligibility predictions are in good agreement, and that these metrics have equal sensitivity to speech being degraded by reverberation and ambient noise, whereas the AL(cons) algorithms underpredicted speech intelligibility as the signal-to-noise ratio decreased.
The question of what is the optimal reverberation time for speech intelligibility in an occupied classroom has been studied recently in two different ways, with contradictory results. Experiments have been performed under various conditions of speech-signal to background-noise level difference and reverberation time, finding an optimal reverberation time of zero. Theoretical predictions of appropriate speech-intelligibility metrics, based on diffuse-field theory, found nonzero optimal reverberation times. These two contradictory results are explained by the different ways in which the two methods account for background noise, both of which are unrealistic. To obtain more realistic and accurate predictions, noise sources inside the classroom are considered. A more realistic treatment of noise is incorporated into diffuse-field theory by considering both speech and noise sources and the effects of reverberation on their steady-state levels. The model shows that the optimal reverberation time is zero when the speech source is closer to the listener than the noise source, and nonzero when the noise source is closer than the speech source. Diffuse-field theory is used to determine optimal reverberation times in unoccupied classrooms given optimal values for the occupied classroom. Resulting times can be as high as several seconds in large classrooms; in some cases, optimal values are unachievable, because the occupants contribute too much absorption.
People increase their vocal output in noisy environments. This is known as the Lombard effect. The aim of the present study was to measure the effect as a function of the absorption coefficient. The noise source was generated by using other talkers in the room. A-weighted sound levels were measured in a 108 m(3) test room. The number of talkers varied from one to four and the absorption coefficients from 0.12 to 0.64. A model was introduced based on the logarithmic sum of the level found in an anechoic room plus the increasing portion of noise levels up to 80 dB. Results show that the model fits the measurements when a maximum slope of 0.5 dB per 1.0 dB increase in background level is used. Hence Lombard slopes vary from 0.2 dBdB at 50 dB background level to 0.5 dBdB at 80 dB. In addition, both measurements and the model predict a decrease of 5.5 dB per doubling of absorbing area in a room when the number of talkers is constant. Sound pressure levels increase for a doubling of talkers from 3 dB for low densities to 6 dB for dense crowds. Finally, there was correspondence between the model estimation and previous measurements reported in the literature.
The practice of engineering noise control demands a solid understanding of the fundamentals of acoustics, the practical application of current noise control technology and the underlying theoretical concepts. This fully revised and updated fourth edition provides a comprehensive explanation of these key areas clearly, yet without oversimplification. Written by experts in their field, the practical focus echoes advances in the discipline, reflected in the fourth edition’s new material, including: • completely updated coverage of sound transmission loss, mufflers and exhaust stack directivity • a new chapter on practical numerical acoustics • thorough explanation of the latest instruments for measurements and analysis. Essential reading for advanced students or those already well versed in the art and science of noise control, this distinctive text can be used to solve real world problems encountered by noise and vibration consultants as well as engineers and occupational hygienists.
A measurement system has been developed for determining typical long‐term speech and background noise levels in university classrooms during lectures. A particular objective was to determine typical levels of student activity noise. A total of 18 lectures were recorded at up to four positions in 14 classrooms. These recordings were digitized and filtered using digital octave‐band and A‐weighting filters. Software processed the resulting pressure time histories as follows: The signals were squared; short‐term mean‐square pressures were calculated; sound‐pressure levels were calculated; sound‐pressure‐level frequency distributions were determined and plotted; and the resulting distributions were fitted by one, two, or three normal‐distribution curves to identify peaks. Three curves generally gave the best fit. The levels of the peaks so identified were associated with speech, student activity, and background noise levels. The corresponding values were determined for each test case; the results are summarized and conclusions are drawn.
In a diffuse sound field, speech intelligibility increases with increasing ratio of direct to reverberant sound energy (D/R) and/or ratio of direct sound to noise energy (D/N). This paper describes how D/R and/or D/N can be increased using a microphone array to improve speech intelligibility in a reverberant and/or noisy space. The theoretical increase in D/R or D/N obtained by a spherical microphone array is confirmed by measuring the Rapid Speech Transmission Index (RASTI) under reverberant and/or noisy conditions. Speech intelligibility tests are also performed in a reverberant and/or noisy room to confirm the increase in speech intelligibility scores.
A general scheme is presented for predicting speech intelligibility in rooms. This scheme is based on the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF), a physical characteristic which reflects the effect of the room (reverberation, interfering noise) on the modulation index of a (hypothetical) test signal with a variable modulation frequency. The MTF can be converted into a single index, the Speech Transmission Index (STI), which bears a direct relation to speech intelligibility. Following the lines of statistical room acoustics, the STI can be derived mathematically from the following set of (design) specifications: (1) the room's volume, (2) the room's reverberation time, (3) the ambient noise level, (4) the talker's vocal output, and (5) the talker-to-listener distance. The validity of this approach is illustrated by considering several of its predictions in the light of experimental data and empirical rules in auditorium acoustics.
Extending research by North and Hargreaves (1998), this study investigated the effect of music on perceived atmosphere and purchase intentions in a restaurant. Four musical styles (jazz, popular, easy listening and classical) and no music were played in a restaurant over two consecutive weeks. Results indicated that different types of music had different effects on perceived atmosphere and the amount patrons were prepared to spend. Classical, jazz and popular music were associated with patrons being prepared to spend the most on their main meal. This value was found to be significantly lower in the absence of music and when easy listening was played. There was some evidence that the type of music also had an effect on the amount of money patrons actually spent in the restaurant. Overall, the study contributes to the development of a model that seeks to account for the relationship between music and consumer behaviour. Copyright
Parties are classified as loud or quiet, and the distinction is shown to depend often upon a critical acoustic relationship rather than upon the guests themselves. An explicit formula is found for the maximum number N of well‐mannered guests compatible with the quiet party. When this number is exceeded, the party will become a loud one within a calculable time T.
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In many cases when sound absorptive treatment has been applied to rooms, the effective noise reduction has been found larger than that predicted by the conventional formula. It is shown that this discrepancy appears in cases where conversational noise is predominant, and that it is the result of a phenomenon which may be termed “psychological feedback,” which increases the conversational noise reduction (expressed in decibels) by a factor of about 1.6.
The influence of music and cognitive appraisal on mood was examined by instructing 72 subjects to tell a story about a painting with or without background music. The three types of instructions were to tell a happy or sad story or whatever came to mind (neutral), and the music categories were pleasant, depressing and none. With neutral story instructions, the music determined mood change, but the happy and sad story instructions super- ceded any effect of the music. The sad story instructions were most effective, leading to increased depression and decreased positive affect in all three music conditions. The results indicate that mood responses to music are indeterminate and depend on cognitive processes.
This paper will critically review the limited literature available on the topic and present an empirical study that examines the effect of background music on the behavior of restaurant customers. It was found that music tempo variations can significantly affect purchases, length of stay, and other variables examined.
Octave-band reverberation time characteristics of fifty living-rooms and fifty kitchens are presented. The measurements were carried out using a portable cassette tape-recorder system which was shown to compare well with more sophisticated apparatus, although the portable system lacked dynamic response, especially in the high-frequency regions.It was found that the average living-room had a volume of 44 m3 and a reverberation time that decreased fairly uniformly with increasing frequency. Over the frequency range 125 Hz to 8 kHz the reverberation time decreased from 0·69 sec at 125 Hz to 0·51 sec at 1 kHz, decreasing still further to 0·40 sec at 8 kHz. The average kitchen had a corresponding reverberation time characteristic which fell from a value of 0·76 sec at 125 Hz to 0·68 sec at 1 kHz and to 0·61 sec at 8 kHz with a volume of 23 m3, approximately half that of the average living-room.
Discusses many of the empirical studies relating to the effects of
background music on a wide range of consumer behaviours and outlines the
relevant features and limitations of these studies. Suggests that, while
research has identified relationships between specific behaviours and
specific musical characteristics (e.g. tempo, volume, mode), retailers
should practice caution when attempting to manipulate specific aspects
of their background music. A safer and potentially more effective
strategy would be to select background music that reflects the musical
preferences of targeted consumer segments. Presents useful information
regarding selection of appropriate background music.
This research built a conceptual model to show how customers’ perceptions of dining environments influence behavioral intentions through emotions in the upscale restaurant setting. An environmental psychology model was proposed to explore the linkages between customers’ perceptions and emotions (pleasure and arousal) and between customers’ emotional states and behavioral intentions. A structural equation modeling analysis revealed that facility aesthetics, ambience, and employees had significant effects on the level of customer pleasure while ambience and employees significantly influenced the level of arousal. In addition, pleasure and arousal had significant impacts on behavioral intentions, and pleasure appeared to be the more influential emotion of the two. Implications for restaurateurs and academic researchers are also discussed.
Investigated whether liking for music is related to responses to the environment in which the music is experienced and the role of musical complexity. A loudspeaker by an advice stall in a university cafeteria played new-age music of low, moderate, or high complexity; organ music of moderate complexity; or silence. 285 uni versity students completed questionnaires about liking for the atmosphere, how happy they would be to return to the cafeteria, likelihood of visiting the stall, a nd liking for the music. Liking for the music correlated with liking for the atmosphere, desire to return to the cafeteria, and reported likelihood of visiting the advice stall. More Ss visited the stall when moderate-complexity new-age rather than high-complexity, newage, or no music was playing. The music's style and complexity influenced responses to the listening situation. Variations in musical style may mediate the effect of musical complexity on responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
While acoustic architecture focuses primarily on the acoustic physics of objects and geometries, aural architecture emphasizes the experience of space in terms of behavior and emotions. Because auditory spatial awareness, which is the basis for aural architecture, depends on a social value system, the role of acoustics varies among individuals and cultures. When evaluating the aural experience of space, two independent phenomena must be simultaneously considered: Space changes our experience of sound and sound changes our experience of space. Sound sources and spatial acoustics are inseparable. This bilateralism creates an interdisciplinary complexity that fuses physical and social sciences. Hearing is a means by which people acquire a sense of where they are, connecting them to dynamic events and spatial geometry. Auditory spatial awareness allows people to sense the elegance of a plush office, the emptiness of an uninhabited house, the depth of a dark cave, the quiet of a city covered in snow, the vastness of a railroad station, and the openness of a beach front. Each of these situations can be described in the language of aural architecture, which includes at least five types of experiential spatiality: navigational, social, aesthetic, symbolic, and musical.
The Lombard effect is the tendency to increase one's vocal intensity in noise. The present study reports three experiments that test the robustness of the Lombard effect when speakers are given instructions and training with visual feedback to help suppress it. The Lombard effect was found to be extremely stable and robust. Instructions alone had little influence on the response to the noise among untrained speakers. When visual feedback correlated with vocal intensity was presented, however, subjects could inhibit the Lombard response. Furthermore, the inhibition remained after the visual feedback was removed. The data are interpreted as indicating that the Lombard response is largely automatic and not ordinarily under volitional control. When subjects do learn to suppress the effect, they seem to do so by changing overall vocal level rather than their specific response to the noise.
Three different types of acoustical measures were compared as predictors of speech intelligibility in rooms of varied size and acoustical conditions. These included signal-to-noise measures, the speech transmission index derived from modulation transfer functions, and useful/detrimental sound ratios obtained from early/late sound ratios, speech, and background levels. The most successful forms of each type of measure were of similar prediction accuracy, but the useful/detrimental ratios based on a 0.08-s early time interval were most accurate. Several physical measures, although based on very different calculation procedures, were quite strongly related to each other.
Speech intelligibility in rooms is influenced by room acoustics effects and by the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the speech and ambient noise. Several measures such as useful-to-detrimental sound ratios and the speech transmission index predict the combined effects of both types of factors. These measures were evaluated relative to speech intelligibility test results obtained in simulated sound fields. The use of simulated sound fields made it possible to create the full range of combinations of room acoustics and S/N effects likely to be found in rooms for speech. The S/N aspect is shown to be much more important than room acoustics effects and new broadband useful-to-detrimental ratios were validated. Useful-to-detrimental ratios, speech transmission index measures, and values of the articulation loss for consonants were all reasonably accurate predictors of speech intelligibility. Further improvements to these combined measures are suggested.
Eating takes place in a context of environmental stimuli known as ambience. Various external factors such as social and physical surroundings, including the presence of other people and sound, temperature, smell, color, time, and distraction affect food intake and food choice. Food variables such as the temperature, smell, and color of the food also influence food intake and choice differently. However, the influence of ambience on nutritional health is not fully understood. This review summarizes the research on ambient influences on food intake and food choice. The literature suggests that there are major influences of ambience on eating behavior and that the magnitude of the effect of ambience may be underestimated. Changes in intake can be detected with different levels of the number of people present, food accessibility, eating locations, food color, ambient temperatures and lighting, and temperature of foods, smell of food, time of consumption, and ambient sounds. It is suggested that the manipulation of these ambient factors as a whole or individually may be used therapeutically to alter food intake and that more attention needs to be paid to ambience in nutrition-related research.
This paper describes the preliminary results of research work in acoustics, conducted in a set of 12 Mudejar-Gothic churches in the city of Seville in the south of Spain. Despite common architectural style, the churches feature individual characteristics and have volumes ranging from 3947 to 10 708 m3. Acoustic parameters were measured in unoccupied churches according to the ISO-3382 standard. An extensive experimental study was carried out using impulse response analysis through a maximum length sequence measurement system in each church. It covered aspects such as reverberation (reverberation times, early decay times), distribution of sound levels (sound strength); early to late sound energy parameters derived from the impulse responses (center time, clarity for speech, clarity, definition, lateral energy fraction), and speech intelligibility (rapid speech transmission index), which all take both spectral and spatial distribution into account. Background noise was also measured to obtain the NR indices. The study describes the acoustic field inside each temple and establishes a discussion for each one of the acoustic descriptors mentioned by using the theoretical models available and the principles of architectural acoustics. Analysis of the quality of the spaces for music and speech is carried out according to the most widespread criteria for auditoria.
Measurements made of the acoustical characteristics of, and occupied noise levels in, ten eating establishments are described. Levels to which diners and employees were exposed varied from 45 to 82 dB(A). From these levels and diner questionnaire responses, the number of customers present and average noise levels to which individual diners were exposed during their visits were estimated. These data, assumptions about the number of talkers per customer, and classical room-acoustical theory were used to deduce talker voice output levels. These varied from slightly above "casual" to "loud." An iterative model for predicting speech and noise levels in eating establishments, including the Lombard effect as described by a new, proposed model, was developed. With the measured noise levels as the target for prediction, optimization techniques were used to find best estimates of unknown prediction parameters--such as those defining the Lombard effect, the number of talkers per customer, and the average absorption per customer--with highly credible results. The prediction algorithm and optimal parameters constitute a novel model for predicting speech and noise levels--and thus speech intelligibility--in eating establishments, as a function of the number of customers, including a proven, realistic model of the Lombard effect.
0,05 m to 60 m (0.2 ft to 197 ft) Measuring accuracy (2 ó) typically: ± 1.5 mm (0.06 inch)* Smallest unit displayed: 1 mm Laser class: II Laser type: 635 nm, < 1 mW Bibliography Areni C. S. Examining managers' theories of how atmospheric music affects perception, behaviour and financial performance
- Range
Range (for extended distances, use a target plate): 0,05 m to 60 m (0.2 ft to 197 ft)
Measuring accuracy (2 ó) typically: ± 1.5 mm (0.06 inch)*
Smallest unit displayed: 1 mm
Laser class: II
Laser type: 635 nm, < 1 mW
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