Auditory Discrimination of Early Reflections in Virtual Rooms
This study investigates the perceptual sensitivity to early reflection changes across different spatial directions in a virtual
reality (VR) environment. Using an ABX discrimination paradigm, participants evaluated speech stimuli convolved with thirdorder Ambisonic room impulse responses under three position
reversal (Left–Right, Front–Back, and Floor–Ceiling) and three
reverberation conditions (RT60 = 1.0 s, 0.6 s, and 0.2 s). Binomial tests revealed that participants consistently detected early reflection differences in the Left–Right reversal, while discrimination performance in the other two directions remained at or near
chance. This result can be explained by the higher acuity and
lower localisation blur found for the human auditory system. A
two-way ANOVA confirmed a significant main effect of spatial
position (p = 0.00685, η² = 0.1605), with no significant effect of
reverberation or interaction. The analysis of the binaural room
impulse responses showed wave forms and Direct-ReverberantRatio differences in the Left–Right reversal position, aligning
with perceptual results. However, no definitive causal link between DRR variations and perceptual outcomes can yet be established.