@article{vonBergSteffensWeinzierletal.2021, author = {von Berg, Markus and Steffens, Jochen and Weinzierl, Stefan and M{\"u}llensiefen, Daniel}, title = {Assessing room acoustic listening expertise}, series = {Journal of the Acoustical Society of America}, volume = {150}, journal = {Journal of the Acoustical Society of America}, number = {4}, publisher = {Acoustical Society of America}, doi = {10.1121/10.0006574}, pages = {2539 -- 2548}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Musicians and music professionals are often considered to be expert listeners for listening tests on room acoustics. However, these tests often target acoustic parameters other than those typically relevant in music such as pitch, rhythm, amplitude, or timbre. To assess the expertise in perceiving and understanding room acoustical phenomena, a listening test battery was constructed to measure the perceptual sensitivity and cognitive abilities in the identification of rooms with different reverberation times and different spectral envelopes. Performance in these tests was related to data from the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index, self-reported previous experience in music recording and acoustics, and academic knowledge on acoustics. The data from 102 participants show that sensory and cognitive abilities are both correlated significantly with musical training, analytic listening skills, recording experience, and academic knowledge on acoustics, whereas general interest in and engagement with music do not show any significant correlations. The regression models, using only significantly correlated criteria of musicality and professional expertise, explain only small to moderate amounts (11\%-28\%) of the variance in the "room acoustic listening expertise" across the different tasks of the battery. Thus, the results suggest that the traditional criteria for selecting expert listeners in room acoustics are only weak predictors of their actual performances.}, language = {en} } @article{SteffensWilczekWeinzierl2021, author = {Steffens, Jochen and Wilczek, Tobias and Weinzierl, Stefan}, title = {Junk Food or Haute Cuisine to the Ear? - Investigating the Relationship Between Room Acoustics, Soundscape, Non-Acoustical Factors, and the Perceived Quality of Restaurants}, series = {Frontiers in Built Environment}, volume = {676009}, journal = {Frontiers in Built Environment}, publisher = {Frontiers}, issn = {2297-3362}, doi = {10.3389/fbuil.2021.676009}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-32115}, pages = {11}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Sound and music are well-studied aspects of the quality of experience in restaurants; the role of the room acoustical conditions, their influence on the visitors' soundscape evaluation and their impact on the overall customer satisfaction in restaurants, however, has received less scientific attention. The present field study therefore investigated whether sound pressure level, reverberation time, and soundscape pleasantness can predict factors associated with overall restaurant quality. In total, 142 persons visiting 12 restaurants in Berlin rated relevant acoustical and non-acoustical factors associated with restaurant quality. Simultaneously, the A-weighted sound pressure level (LA,eq,15) was measured, and the reverberation time in the occupied state (T20,occ) was obtained by measurements performed in the unoccupied room and a subsequent calculation of the occupied condition according to DIN 18041. Results from linear mixed-effects models revealed that both the LA,eq,15 and T20,occ had a significant influence on soundscape pleasantness and eventfulness, whereby the effect of T20,occ was meditated by the LA,eq,15. Also, the LA,eq,15 as well as soundscape pleasantness were significant predictors of overall restaurant quality. A comprehensive structural equation model including both acoustical and non-acoustical factors, however, indicates that the effect of soundscape pleasantness on overall restaurant quality is mediated by the restaurant's atmosphere. Our results support and extend previous findings which suggest that the acoustical design of restaurants involves a trade-off between comfort and liveliness, depending on the desired character of the place.}, language = {en} } @article{VersuemerBlaettermannRosenthaletal.2025, author = {Vers{\"u}mer, Siegbert and Bl{\"a}ttermann, Patrick and Rosenthal, Fabian and Weinzierl, Stefan}, title = {A comparison of methods for modeling soundscape dimensions based on different datasets}, series = {The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America}, volume = {157}, journal = {The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America}, number = {1}, publisher = {AIP Publishing}, issn = {1520-8524}, doi = {10.1121/10.0034849}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-48849}, pages = {234 -- 255}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Soundscape studies vary considerably in study design, statistical methods, and model fit metrics used. Due to this confounding of data and methods, it is difficult to assess the suitability of statistical modelling techniques used in the literature. Therefore, five different methods and two performance metrics were applied to three existing soundscape datasets to model soundscape Pleasantness and Eventfulness based on seven acoustic and three sociodemographic predictors. Datasets differed in soundscape type (urban outdoor vs indoor), experimental setting (field- vs lab-based), size, and study design (site- vs person-centered). The fixed-effects and mixed-effects methods ranged from linear to nonlinear regression based on advanced machine learning approaches. Results showed that models performed better for Eventfulness than for Pleasantness in most cases, while performance as measured by the out-of-sample R2 was dependent on the total variance of the target, especially in both field studies with imbalanced targets and groups. Nonlinear methods consistently outperformed linear regression, with random forest and extreme gradient boosting performing particularly well, while the performance levels of all nonlinear methods remained comparable. Mixed-effects models provided a more generalized, albeit slightly smaller prediction performance when tested on unknown groups. Finally, this study motivates the use of cross-validation with special splitting for analyzing small imbalanced datasets.}, subject = {Akustische Eigenschaft}, language = {en} } @unpublished{BeckmannDenfeldKoehnetal.2024, author = {Beckmann, Felix and Denfeld, Alexander and Koehn, Konrad and Medebach, Ina and Steffens, Jochen and Weinzierl, Stefan}, title = {Untersuchung der akustischen Qualit{\"a}t von Restaurants in Berlin und D{\"u}sseldorf}, isbn = {978-3-939296-22-5}, pages = {271 -- 274}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Widrige akustische Bedingungen stellen einen der Hauptgr{\"u}nde f{\"u}r Beschwerden in Restaurants dar; insbesondere bei h{\"o}rbeeintr{\"a}chtigten G{\"a}sten kann eine schlechte Akustik den Besuch im Restaurant negativ beeinflussen oder gar fr{\"u}hzeitig enden lassen. Um Empfehlungen hinsichtlich optimaler Nachhallzeiten sowie beobachtete Zusammenh{\"a}nge zwischen akustischen und nichtakustischen Faktoren bei Restaurantbesuchen zu {\"u}berpr{\"u}fen und im Hinblick auf verschiedene Restaurantkategorien zu erweitern, wurden in der vorliegenden Studie 20 Restaurants in Berlin und NRW mit insgesamt mehr als 600 G{\"a}sten untersucht. Hierbei wurden sowohl die Nachhallzeit als auch der Lautst{\"a}rkepegel sowie die Anzahl der G{\"a}ste im Raum {\"u}ber die Zeit erfasst. Mittels elektronischem Fragebogen wurden Soundscape-Parameter, Besuchsmotive sowie die empfundene Sprachverst{\"a}ndlichkeit und Restaurantqualit{\"a}t erhoben. Erste Ergebnisse zeigen einen großen Zusammenhang zwischen objektiven akustischen Gr{\"o}ßen und wahrgenommener akustischer Angenehmheit und Sprachverst{\"a}ndlichkeit, welcher je nach Restaurantkategorie variiert. Die Daten zeigen weiterhin, dass sich die akustische Angenehmheit nicht vollst{\"a}ndig durch die Sprachverst{\"a}ndlichkeit im Restaurant aufkl{\"a}ren l{\"a}sst. Implikationen f{\"u}r das akustische Design von Restaurants im Spannungsfeld zwischen Ruhe und Lebendigkeit werden diskutiert.}, language = {de} } @article{VersuemerSteffensWeinzierl2023, author = {Vers{\"u}mer, Siegbert and Steffens, Jochen and Weinzierl, Stefan}, title = {Day-to-day loudness assessments of indoor soundscapes: Exploring the impact of loudness indicators, person, and situation}, series = {The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America}, volume = {153}, journal = {The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America}, number = {5}, publisher = {Acoustical Society of America (ASA)}, issn = {0001-4966}, doi = {10.1121/10.0019413}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-46127}, pages = {2956 -- 2972}, year = {2023}, abstract = {This study investigates loudness perception in real-world contexts using predictors related to the sound, situation, or person. In the study, 105 participants recorded 6594 sound environments in their homes, which were then evaluated based on the Experience Sampling Method. Hierarchical linear regressions using a loudness level based on ISO 532-1 allowed for obtaining the best model fits for predicting perceived loudness and explaining the highest variance. LAeq and LAF5 provided comparable results and may require less computational effort. However, the analysis shows that only one-third of the variance explained by fixed effects was attributable to the loudness level. Sixteen percent stemmed from perceived properties of the soundscape; 1\% were attributable to relatively temporally stable, person-related predictors like participants' age; non-auditory situational predictors made no additional contribution. The results thus did not confirm previous findings on loudness perception under laboratory conditions, emphasizing the importance of the situational context. Along with the current paper, a comprehensive dataset, including the assessed person-related, situational, and sound-related measures as well as LAeq time-series and third-octave spectrograms, is provided to enable further research on sound perception, indoor soundscapes, and emotion.}, subject = {Lautwahrnehmung}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SteffensWeinzierl2023, author = {Steffens, Jochen and Weinzierl, Stefan}, title = {Noise for dinner - Towards a comprehensive statistical model of the acoustical and overall quality of restaurants}, series = {Proceedings of the 10th Convention of the European Acoustics Association Forum Acusticum 2023, September 11 - 15, 2023,Torino, Italy}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 10th Convention of the European Acoustics Association Forum Acusticum 2023, September 11 - 15, 2023,Torino, Italy}, editor = {Astolfi, Arianna and Asdrubali, Francesco and Shtrepi, Louena}, publisher = {European Acoustics Association}, address = {Turin, Italy}, isbn = {978-88-88942-67-4}, issn = {2221-3767}, doi = {10.61782/fa.2023.0483}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-47908}, pages = {3325 -- 3327}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Studies on noise in restaurants have shown a multitude of potential negative effects, for example related to mood, overall satisfaction, intended revisit, the ability to communicate and the actual behaviour in the room. In this paper, we investigated the complex interplay between room acoustics, soundscape evaluation, non-acoustical aspects of a restaurant visit and overall restaurant quality. Based on acoustical measurements and reports from 142 persons visiting 12 restaurants in Berlin, we propose a structural equation model including both acoustical and non- acoustical factors and yielding a good overall fit. The model, for instance, suggests that the A-weighted sound level negatively impacts the assessment of overall restaurant quality, while the effect of soundscape pleasantness on overall restaurant quality is mediated by the restaurant's perceived atmosphere. Moreover, the reverberation time was found to be effective predominantly through its effect on sound strength, which leads patrons to increasingly raise their speech level to ensure intelligibility. These results thus emphasize the need to design actively the restaurant's acoustical atmosphere beyond pure loudness reduction which involves a specific trade-off between comfort and liveliness, depending on the desired character of the place.}, subject = {European Acoustics Association}, language = {en} }