The Effect of a Vertical Reflection on the Relationship between Preference and Perceived Change in Timbre and Spatial Attributes

This study aims to investigate a vertical reflection’s beneficial or detrimental contribution to subjective preference compared with perceived change in timbral and spatial attributes. A vertical reflection was electro-acoustically simulated and evaluated through subjective tests using musical stimuli in the context of listening for entertainment. Results indicate that the majority of subjects preferred audio reproduction with the addition of a reflection. Furthermore, there is a potential relationship between positive preference and the perceived level of both timbral and spatial differences, although this relationship is dependent on the stimuli presented. Subjects also described perceived differences where the reflection was present. These descriptors provide evidence suggesting a link between timbral descriptions and preference. However, this link was not observed between preference and spatial descriptions.