A comparison of the evaluation of different room acoustical situations when the sound sources are either loudspeakers or an orchestra

Loudspeaker reproductions of low reverberation recordings are frequently used as sound sources in experiments to study the hearing impression in concert halls. The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether a loudspeaker excitation leads to hearing impressions which could be rated as similar by the listener to impressions of an orchestra playing. It becomes evident that the simplified sound source causes essential differences in the individual evaluations of hearing impressions, and results of such experiments cannot therefore be taken as representative. It was part of this study to compare the evaluations of hearing impressions in an empty concert hall with those in the same hall when full. In the case of the hall in question the differences are irrelevant