@inproceedings{vonLauerMuenchhofenvonBergSteffens2025, author = {von Lauer-M{\"u}nchhofen, Jakob and von Berg, Markus and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Applicability of Common Room Acoustic Parameters for Music Recording Spaces in Recording Studios}, series = {Proceedings of DAS|DAGA 2025: 51st Annual Meeting on Acoustics March 17-20, 2025, Copenhagen}, booktitle = {Proceedings of DAS|DAGA 2025: 51st Annual Meeting on Acoustics March 17-20, 2025, Copenhagen}, editor = {Dau, Torsten and Epp, Bastian}, publisher = {Deutsche Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Akustik e.V.}, address = {Berlin}, isbn = {978-3-939296-23-2}, pages = {1224 -- 1227}, year = {2025}, subject = {Raumakustik}, language = {de} } @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} } @incollection{vonBergSteffensMuellensiefenetal.2020, author = {von Berg, Markus and Steffens, Jochen and M{\"u}llensiefen, Daniel and Weinzierl, Stefan}, title = {Gibt es raumakustische H{\"o}rexpertise?}, series = {Fortschritte der Akustik - DAGA 2020: 46. Deutsche Jahrestagung f{\"u}r Akustik}, booktitle = {Fortschritte der Akustik - DAGA 2020: 46. Deutsche Jahrestagung f{\"u}r Akustik}, publisher = {Deutsche Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Akustik e.V.}, address = {Berlin}, organization = {Deutsche Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Akustik e.V}, doi = {10.14279/depositonce-9998}, pages = {858 -- 861}, year = {2020}, language = {de} } @inproceedings{vonBergSchwoererPrinzetal.2023, author = {von Berg, Markus and Schw{\"o}rer, Paul and Prinz, Lukas and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Analysis of physical and perceptual properties of room impulse responses: development of an online tool}, series = {Forum Acusticuum 2023: 10th Convention of European Acoustics Association, Turin, Italy, 11th-15th September 2023}, booktitle = {Forum Acusticuum 2023: 10th Convention of European Acoustics Association, Turin, Italy, 11th-15th September 2023}, publisher = {EAA}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-41955}, pages = {8}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Over the past decades, research in room acoustics has established several derivative measures of an impulse response, some of which are incorporated in the ISO 3382 standards. These parameters intend to represent perceptual qualities, but were developed without a consistent modeling of room acoustical perception. More recent research proposed comprehensive inventories of room acoustic perception that are purely based on evaluations by human subjects, such as the Room Acoustical Quality Index (RAQI). In this work RA-QI scores acquired for 70 room impulse responses were predicted from room acoustical parameters. Except for Reverberance, the prediction of RAQI factors performed rather poor. In most cases, the sound source had a greater impact on RAQI scores. All analyses are published in an online tool, where users can upload omnidirectional and binaural impulse responses, and instantly obtain and visualize several physical descriptors, as well as predicted RAQI scores for three different sound sources. So far, acceptable prediction accuracy is achieved for Reverberance, Strength, Irregular Decay, Clarity and Intimacy. Larger data sets of evaluated impulse responses are required to improve the model performance and enable reliable predictions of room acoustical quality. Therefore, the administration of RAQI evaluations within the website is currently being developed.}, language = {en} } @misc{vonBergSchwoererPrinzetal.2023, author = {von Berg, Markus and Schw{\"o}rer, Paul and Prinz, Lukas and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {OPRA: Akustische Analyse musikalischer Auff{\"u}hrungsr{\"a}ume im Browser}, series = {Akustik Journal}, journal = {Akustik Journal}, number = {3}, issn = {2569-1600}, pages = {41 -- 52}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Der Auff{\"u}hrungsraum leistet einen substantiellen Beitrag zum Erleben von Musikdarbietungen. Zur Beschreibung der Akustik von Auff{\"u}hrungsr{\"a}umen haben sich dabei zahlreiche Messgr{\"o}ßen etabliert, welche bestimmte Wahrnehmungsqualit{\"a}ten, wie z. B. die Halligkeit, abbilden sollen. Dem stellt j{\"u}ngere Forschung rein perzeptive Messinventare gegen{\"u}ber, die den Wahrnehmungseindruck als solchen, losgel{\"o}st vom physikalischen Ursprung, beschreiben. Dieser Artikel beschreibt einen Versuch, diese beiden Forschungsrichtungen zusammenzuf{\"u}hren, indem Bewertungen von Auff{\"u}hrungsr{\"a}umen nach dem perzeptiven Room Acoustical Quality Index (RAQI) durch physikalische Messgr{\"o}ßen modelliert wurden, welche aus einfachen Impulsantwortmessungen ermittelt werden. Dazu wurde eine Auswahl raumakustischer Messgr{\"o}ßen auf f{\"u}nf Dimensionen reduziert und diese als Pr{\"a}diktoren f{\"u}r die einzelnen Wahrnehmungsgr{\"o}ßen des RAQI getestet. Die Berechnung dieser Pr{\"a}diktionsmodelle wird vorgestellt und deren Pr{\"a}zision diskutiert. Anschließend wird die OPRA-Webanwendung vorgestellt, die sowohl die Berechnung der raumakustischen Messgr{\"o}ßen als auch die Pr{\"a}diktion von RAQI-Wahrnehmungsgr{\"o}ßen f{\"u}r die drei Quellsignale Sprache, Orchester und Solotrompete im Browser erm{\"o}glicht. Auch wenn die Pr{\"a}zision der Pr{\"a}diktionsmodelle noch nicht f{\"u}r alle RAQI-Faktoren zuverl{\"a}ssige Ergebnisse liefert, erlaubt OPRA eine umfangreiche akustische Analyse und eine erste Einsch{\"a}tzung der perzeptiven Wirkung von Auff{\"u}hrungsr{\"a}umen.}, language = {de} } @inproceedings{KleinvonBergBirweetal.2024, author = {Klein, Paula and von Berg, Markus and Birwe, Dagmar and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Can the Perceived Spatial Impression of Classical Recordings Be Predicted by Audio Descriptors? [Vortrag]}, series = {Fortschritte der Akustik - DAGA 2024}, booktitle = {Fortschritte der Akustik - DAGA 2024}, publisher = {Deutsche Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Akustik e.V.}, address = {Berlin}, isbn = {978-3-939296-22-5}, pages = {1034 -- 1037}, year = {2024}, abstract = {The perceived spatial impression is an important factor in the aesthetic appreciation of classical music recordings. Crucial aspects of spatial perception can be described by the attributes ensemble width, depth, envelopment, and reverberation duration. In a listening experiment, a sample of 30 experts rated 24 orchestra recordings by these attributes. To compare these ratings to signalrelated measures of spatial impression, an audio descriptor for the interaural cross-correlation coefficient in music recordings was chosen as a measure of perceived ensemble width. A second algorithm estimated the reverberation time from decay segments in the recorded music. Linear mixed-effects models were then used to test whether these two descriptors, combined with other audio features related to timbre, are suitable for predicting participants' ratings of the perceptual attributes. Overall, results confirmed that the signal-related measures used can indeed predict perceptual attributes, with 41\% of rating variance explained in the case of reverberation duration. In contrast, these objective measures turned out to be less accurate predictors of the perceived ensemble width, with a variance explanation of 21\%. This study can thus be regarded as a starting point for further studies aiming to predict the perceived spatial impression in music recordings.}, subject = {Raumakustik}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{vonBergWolfSteffens2024, author = {von Berg, Markus and Wolf, Anna-Christina and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Preferences patterns in music requests on a radio show for children [Abstract]}, series = {ESCOM12 (York, La Plata \& Melbourne) - The 12th Triennial Conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music: Book of Abstracts}, booktitle = {ESCOM12 (York, La Plata \& Melbourne) - The 12th Triennial Conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music: Book of Abstracts}, editor = {Schiavio, Andrea and Daffern, Helena and Glasser, Solange and Osborne, Margaret and Martinez, Isabel C. and Marchiano, Maria and Blas P{\´e}rez, Joaquin and Kempf, Adrian and Norton, Naomi and Gibbs, Hannah J. and Owen, Caroline and Kirts, Connor G. and O'Neill, Katherine and Jackson, Rebecca}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}t Graz}, address = {Graz}, pages = {257 -- 258}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Background Previous research has observed vast changes in musical preference during childhood and adolescence due to developmental processes such as the experience of aesthetic responses to music (Nieminen et al., 2012) and the formation and expression of social identity through distinct musical preferences (Hargreaves et al., 2016). Most of this research, however, is either based on the evaluation of musical pieces that have been previously selected by adult experimenters, or self-reports on preferences for different musical styles. Aim(s) This study presents another methodological approach by collecting and analysing music that was freely requested on a children's radio show. The aim was to test to what extent findings from self-reports and ratings of pre-selected music apply to this kind of data. Methods A sample of 1412 freely and publicly expressed music requests of children between 4 and 11 years was taken from a German radio program and analysed with regard to age- and sex-specific differences. The music was categorized into genres as listed on Spotify and examined by methods of Music Information Retrieval provided by the Spotify Developer API. Additionally, the music was genre-independently classified as children's music. Results Results showed that, at younger ages, the requests were generally more evenly distributed across different genres. Regarding single genres, logistic regression models revealed small positive relationships between age and the likelihood of requesting the genres Pop and Electro and small negative relationships between age and the likelihood of requesting Acapella, German songwriter, Indie, theme songs, and children's music. Furthermore, contingency table analyses showed that boys requested significantly more Rock and Hip Hop, whereas girls had a higher tendency to ask for Pop. Finally, age was negatively correlated with the Spotify features valence and liveness of the requested music, which was related to the higher preference for children's music at younger ages. Discussion and Conclusion The results suggest that previous findings regarding musically expressed gender roles and increasing formation of distinct genre preferences during infancy also apply to single song requests made on a radio show. References Hargreaves, D. J., North, A. C., \& Tarrant, M. (2016). How and why do musical preferences change in childhood adolescence. In G. McPherson (Ed.), The child as musician: A handbook of musical development (Second edition). Oxford University Press. Nieminen, S., Ist{\´o}k, E., Brattico, E., \& Tervaniemi, M. (2012). The development of the aesthetic experience of music: Preference, emotions, and beauty. Musicae Scientiae, 16(3), 372-391. https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864912450454}, subject = {Musikwahrnehmung}, language = {de} } @inproceedings{ErdmannvonBergSteffens2024, author = {Erdmann, Matthias and von Berg, Markus and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Untersuchung des Einflusses einer Musikvisualisierung auf die {\"a}sthetische Erfahrung des Publikums bei einer Live-Musikdarbietung in Mixed Reality [Abstract]}, series = {40. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Musikpsychologie Digitalisierung in der Musikpsychologie 6.-8. September 2024: Programm und Abstracts}, booktitle = {40. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Musikpsychologie Digitalisierung in der Musikpsychologie 6.-8. September 2024: Programm und Abstracts}, address = {Freiburg}, organization = {Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Musikpsychologie e.V.}, pages = {26 -- 27}, year = {2024}, subject = {{\"A}sthetische Wahrnehmung}, language = {de} } @inproceedings{DraegerSteffensvonBerg2024, author = {Dr{\"a}ger, Paul and Steffens, Jochen and von Berg, Markus}, title = {How Does Lombard Speech Behave When The Background Noise Level Decreases? [Vortrag]}, series = {Fortschritte der Akustik - DAGA 2024, 18. - 21. M{\"a}rz 2024, Hannover}, booktitle = {Fortschritte der Akustik - DAGA 2024, 18. - 21. M{\"a}rz 2024, Hannover}, publisher = {Deutsche Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Akustik e.V.}, address = {Berlin}, isbn = {978-3-939296-22-5}, pages = {1259 -- 1262}, year = {2024}, abstract = {The Lombard Effect and its impact on human speech production, also known as 'Lombard Speech', have been investigated in numerous scientific studies. It is known that the intensity, but also the type of background noise can affect Lombard Speech. By contrast, the potential effect of a gradual reduction of the amplitude of the background noise has received little attention in previous research. To test for such an effect, we split 34 participants into couples and had them orally compare images. In the experimental condition, there was background noise (masker) whose amplitude was reduced from 70 to 50 dB(A) over a period of 100 seconds. Measures of speech production after this decay were compared to those of a reference condition in which the masker was constantly at 50 dB(A). We hypothesized that speech production due to prior exposure to a louder masker would show a stronger expression of Lombard Speech in the experimental compared to the reference condition. The results showed a significant difference regarding the level of the first formant F1 across conditions, but not regarding the overall dB(A) level. However, tendencies could be identified, which can serve as a basis for further investigations.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{vonBergHimmelinSteffens2024, author = {von Berg, Markus and Himmelin, Hendrik and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Does Noise Sensitivity Decrease Auditory Task Performance and Person-Reliability? [Vortrag]}, series = {Fortschritte der Akustik - DAGA 2024, 18. - 21. M{\"a}rz 2024, Hannover}, booktitle = {Fortschritte der Akustik - DAGA 2024, 18. - 21. M{\"a}rz 2024, Hannover}, publisher = {Deutsche Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Akustik e.V.}, address = {Berlin}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Noise sensitivity is a widely used, yet inconsistently defined, concept of being disturbed by environmental noise, independent of loudness levels. The origins of noise sensitivity are mostly unclear, but it has a higher prevalence among people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, and could be caused by increased neural excitation due to sound, resulting in increased cognitive load. In this case, noise sensitivity can be expected to decrease people's mental performance in both auditory and non-auditory tasks. The former was tested in an experiment using a dual-task paradigm where participants had to solve a visual task in the presence of environmental sounds and afterwards had to recall which sounds they perceived and to evaluate the overall soundscape pleasantness and loudness. Preliminary results indicate that participants' noise sensitivity is positively correlated with the experienced cognitive load as well as with loudness and unpleasantness judgments. Also, noise sensitivity was negatively associated with the performance in the recall task and the test-retest-reliability of their judgments. These findings support the idea that noise sensitivity is a consequence of difficulties in filtering irrelevant auditory information.}, language = {en} } @article{ErdmannvonBergSteffens2025, author = {Erdmann, Matthias and von Berg, Markus and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Development and evaluation of a mixed reality music visualization for a live performance based on music information retrieval}, series = {Frontiers in Virtual Reality}, volume = {6}, journal = {Frontiers in Virtual Reality}, publisher = {Frontiers}, issn = {2673-4192}, doi = {10.3389/frvir.2025.1552321}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-51110}, pages = {18}, year = {2025}, abstract = {The present study explores the development and evaluation of a mixed reality music visualization for a live music performance. Real-time audio analysis and crossmodal correspondences were used as design guidelines for creating the visualization, which was presented through a head-mounted-display. To assess the impact of the music visualization on the audience's aesthetic experience, a baseline visualization was designed, featuring the same visual elements but with random changes of color and movement. The audience's aesthetic experience of the two conditions (i.e., listening to the same song with different visualizations) was assessed using the Aesthetic Emotions Scale (AESTHEMOS) questionnaire. Additionally, participants answered questions regarding the perceived audiovisual congruence of the stimuli and questionnaires about individual musicality and aesthetic receptivity. The results show that the visualization controlled by real-time audio analysis was associated with a slightly enhanced aesthetic experience of the audiovisual composition compared to the randomized visualization, thereby supporting similar findings reported in the literature. Furthermore, the tested personal characteristics of the participants did not significantly affect aesthetic experience. Significant correlations between these characteristics and the aesthetic experience were observed only when the ratings were averaged across conditions. An open interview provided deeper insights into the participants' overall experiences of the live music performance. The results of the study offer insights into the development of real-time music visualization in mixed reality, examines how the specific audiovisual stimuli employed influence the aesthetic experience, and provides potential technical guidelines for creating new concert formats.}, subject = {Virtuelle Realit{\"a}t}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{VonBergSchwoererPrinzetal.2023, author = {Von Berg, Markus and Schw{\"o}rer, Paul and Prinz, Lukas and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Analysis of physical and perceptual properties of room impulse responses: development of an online tool}, 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.2023.0480}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-47929}, pages = {1647 -- 1654}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Over the past decades, research in room acoustics has established several derivative measures of an impulse response, some of which are incorporated in the ISO 3382 standards. These parameters intend to represent perceptual qualities, but were developed without a consistent modeling of room acoustical perception. More recent research proposed comprehensive inventories of room acoustic perception that are purely based on evaluations by human subjects, such as the Room Acoustical Quality Index (RAQI). In this work RAQI scores acquired for 70 room impulse responses were predicted from room acoustical parameters. Except for Reverberance, the prediction of RAQI factors performed rather poor. In most cases, the sound source had a greater impact on RAQI scores. All analyses are published in an online tool, where users can upload omnidirectional and binaural impulse responses, and instantly obtain and visualize several physical descriptors, as well as predicted RAQI scores for three different sound sources. So far, acceptable prediction accuracy is achieved for Reverberance, Strength, Irregular Decay, Clarity and Intimacy. Larger data sets of evaluated impulse responses are required to improve the model performance and enable reliable predictions of room acoustical quality. Therefore, the administration of RAQI evaluations within the website is currently being developed.}, subject = {Raumakustik}, language = {en} } @article{vonBergHimmeleinSteffens2024, author = {von Berg, Markus and Himmelein, Hendrik and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Effects of noise sensitivity and listening effort on perceptual ratings of background noise}, series = {JASA Express Letters}, volume = {8}, journal = {JASA Express Letters}, number = {4}, publisher = {AIP Publishing}, issn = {2691-1191}, doi = {10.1121/10.0028201}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-45747}, pages = {7}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Previous research suggests that noise sensitivity is related to inefficient auditory processing that might increase the mental load of noise and affect noise evaluation. This assumption was tested in an experiment using a dual-task paradigm with a visual primary task and an auditory secondary task. Results showed that participants' noise sensitivity was positively correlated with mental effort. Furthermore, mental effort mediated the effect of noise sensitivity on loudness and unpleasantness ratings. The results thus support the idea that noise sensitivity is related to increased mental effort and difficulties in filtering auditory information and that situational factors should be considered.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{vonBergBittaVersuemeretal.2025, author = {von Berg, Markus and Bitta, Joshua and Vers{\"u}mer, Siegbert and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Investigation of auditory memory through loudness reproduction in the laboratory [Abstract]}, series = {DAS|DAGA 2025: 51st Annual Meeting on Acoustics, March 17-20, 2025, Copenhagen}, booktitle = {DAS|DAGA 2025: 51st Annual Meeting on Acoustics, March 17-20, 2025, Copenhagen}, publisher = {Deutsche Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Akustik e.V.}, address = {Berlin}, year = {2025}, subject = {Ged{\"a}chtnis}, language = {de} } @inproceedings{HuesenvonBergSteffens2025, author = {H{\"u}sen, Jonas and von Berg, Markus and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Evaluating the Effectiveness of Virtual Listening Tests for Balanced Armature Headphone Drivers [Abstract]}, series = {DAS|DAGA 2025: 51st Annual Meeting on Acoustics, March 17-20, 2025, Copenhagen}, booktitle = {DAS|DAGA 2025: 51st Annual Meeting on Acoustics, March 17-20, 2025, Copenhagen}, publisher = {Deutsche Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Akustik e.V.}, address = {Berlin}, year = {2025}, subject = {Kopfh{\"o}rer}, language = {en} } @article{vonBergVersuemerBittaetal.2025, author = {von Berg, Markus and Vers{\"u}mer, Siegbert and Bitta, Joshua and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Reduced reproduction levels of outdoor soundscapes are deemed appropriate - even after real-world exposure}, series = {Acta Acustica}, journal = {Acta Acustica}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, issn = {2681-4617}, doi = {10.1051/aacus/2025062}, pages = {16}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Laboratory experiments in psychoacoustical and soundscape research indicate that participants perceive a reproduction sound level lowered by 8-10 dB as more plausible than the original level. This bias supposedly roots in an adaptation of perceptual loudness scaling to the laboratory environment, that is overall quieter than urban outdoor soundscapes. To gain further insights into the nature of such loudness bias, we conducted a listening experiment in both field and laboratory using a within-subjects design. Thirty-one participants visited a street and listened to the environmental sounds for one minute, while these sounds were also recorded using a dummy head. Thereafter, they listened to the recording in a quiet laboratory nearby and adjusted its level as they remembered it. About half of the sample did this immediately, the other half about 20 minutes after the recording. Results confirm a bias towards lower levels with a mean of about 8.9 dB, regardless of the time between the recording and the reproduction in the laboratory. Also, participants with higher musical abilities tended to select higher, more accurate levels, whereas noise-sensitive participants deemed lower levels appropriate. Results suggest that the hypothesized adaptation of perceptual scaling to the laboratory happens immediately and is affected by individual factors.}, subject = {Psychoakustik}, language = {en} } @misc{vonBergVersuemerSteffensetal.2025, author = {von Berg, Markus and Vers{\"u}mer, Siegbert and Steffens, Jochen and Bitta, Joshua}, title = {Reproduction levels of outdoor soundscapes in the lab after in-situ exposure: participant responses and recording level envelopes}, publisher = {Zenodo}, doi = {10.5281/zenodo.17663267}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Supplemental material for https://doi.org/10.1051/aacus/2025062 To investigate loudness biases in the lab, where outdoor sounds are perceived as being too loud if reproduced with physically accurate levels in the lab, a listening experiment was conducted, where thirty-one participants visited a street and listened to the environmental sounds for one minute. These sounds were also recorded using a dummy head. Afterwards, participants listened to the recording in a quiet laboratory and adjusted its level as they remembered it. About half of the sample did this immediately, the other half about 20 min after the recording, during which the performed another listening tests. Afterwards, previous experience with acoustics, musical sophistication and noise sensitivity were assessed. The results revealed a mean gain adjustment of 8.9 dB below the original. The data uploaded here comprises participants gain adjustment, the recording levels averaged other A) the entire recording and B) the first and last 7.5s or 15s, respecitvely and all questionnaire responses as well as aggregate scores for musical sophistication and noise sensitivity, as well as a binary categorization of the respondent into laymen and experienced, based on their previous experience with acoustics. For sociodemographic information, participants age, sex and educational degree are reported as well. Content - 00_Description: - Description of the data files - Includes a list of explanation of the columns names in "data_questionnaires_aggregateLevels.csv - data_questionnaires_aggregateLevels.csv - Participants' adjusted recordings levels - Several level and loudness aggregates of each participant's recording that were analyzed in the paper - Participants' responses to the administered questionnaires - level_envelopes.zip - Archive with 31 CSV files containing level envelopes of each participant's recording. - A-weighted and unweighted level envelope for the dummy head's left and right ear - One-minute recordings with a temporal resolution of 125ms}, subject = {Psychoakustik}, language = {en} } @article{HimmeleinvonBergPoerschmannetal.2025, author = {Himmelein, Hendrik and von Berg, Markus and P{\"o}rschmann, Christoph and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Influence of mental effort on sound evaluations in virtual and real experimental environments}, series = {Frontiers in Virtual Reality}, volume = {6}, journal = {Frontiers in Virtual Reality}, publisher = {Frontiers Media SA}, issn = {2673-4192}, doi = {10.3389/frvir.2025.1672595}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-57985}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Psychoacoustic research increasingly relies on virtual reality (VR) to account for the complexity of acoustic scenarios and enhance the ecological validity of laboratory findings. However, recent studies suggest that virtual environments can alter mental effort compared to real-world settings, for example, through increased perceptual complexity which in turn may affect auditory perception.This could bias experimental outcomes and compromise the ecological validity of studies conducted in VR. To investigate this, a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment was conducted to assess whether VR environments increase mental effort and thereby influence auditory perception. A real office environment was visually reconstructed in Unity and presented to the participants via a head-mounted display (HMD) and compared to its real counterpart. Participants in both environments were asked to retrospectively rate the loudness and unpleasantness of dynamically rendered binaural office noise scenarios presented via headphones and to report perceived sound sources. Moreover, participants were divided into two groups to induce different levels of mental effort. One group was asked to listen only to the sounds, while the other performed the Stroop Color-Word interference test in parallel. The results show no significant difference in the overall induced mental effort between environment conditions. Furthermore, performing the Stroop test had an effect on loudness and unpleasantness that was mediated by subjective effort. The results also suggest that auditory jugment depend primarily on individual sound properties, regardless of the visual environment.}, subject = {Psychoakustik}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{vonBergPrinzSteffens2022, author = {von Berg, Markus and Prinz, Lukas and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Comparing individual perception of timbre and reverberance}, publisher = {International Commission for Acoustics}, address = {Gyeoungju, S{\"u}dkorea}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-38706}, pages = {5}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Room reverberation alters the spatial impression and timbre of a sound by modulating its spectral and temporal characteristics. Thus, we argue that, on a perceptual level, reverberation basically breaks down into interaural differences and spectro-temporal cues and that the separation of a perceived timbre into a sound source and a surrounding room is a purely cognitive process. To investigate the connection between the perception of reverberation cues and timbre analysis, the sensitivity for changes in reverberation was compared to timbre perception abilities. The Timbre Perception Test was used to measure the perception of the temporal envelope, spectral centroid, and spectral flux of artificial sounds. Sensitivity for changes in reverberation time was tested with a discrimination task using speech and noise with speech-alike spectral and temporal envelopes as source signals. Musical and acoustical expertise was assessed through the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index and self-reports on experience with and knowledge of acoustics. There was a considerable correlation between timbre and reverberance perception ability, but timbre perception and academic experience predicted only 41\% of the variance in reverberance perception. Still, perception abilities related to similar acoustical phenomena seem to be better indicators of listening skills than self-reports on acoustical or musical expertise.}, language = {en} } @article{vonBergWolfSteffens2024, author = {von Berg, Markus and Wolf, Anna-Christina and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Age- and Sex-Related Differences in Music Requests on a Radio Show for Children}, series = {Music \& Science}, volume = {7}, journal = {Music \& Science}, publisher = {Sage Publications}, issn = {2059-2043}, doi = {10.1177/20592043241288335}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-46588}, pages = {1 -- 16}, year = {2024}, abstract = {In research on the development of musical preferences, children are often asked either to evaluate musical pieces that have been previously selected by adult experimenters, or to give self-reports on preferences for different musical styles. This study involved analyzing a sample of 1,412 freely and publicly expressed music requests from children aged between 4 and 11 years taken from a German radio program, with regard to age- and sex-specific differences. The music was categorized into genres, as listed on Spotify, and examined using methods of music information retrieval provided by the Spotify Developer application programming interface. Results showed that, at younger ages, the requests were generally more evenly distributed across different genres. Regarding single genres, we observed small positive relationships between age and the likelihood of requesting the genres pop or electro and small negative relationships between age and the likelihood of requesting A capella, German songwriter, indie, theme songs, or children's music. Furthermore, we found that boys requested significantly more rock or hip-hop, whereas girls had a higher tendency to ask for pop. Finally, age- (but no sex-) related differences regarding the Spotify features of valence and liveness of the requested music were found, which were related to the preference for children's music at younger ages. The results thus suggest that previous findings regarding differences between boys and girls and an increasing formation of distinct genre preferences during infancy also apply to single song requests made on a radio show.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{HuesenvonBergSteffens2025, author = {H{\"u}sen, Jonsa and von Berg, Markus and Steffens, Jochen}, title = {Evaluating the Effectiveness of Virtual Listening Tests for Balanced Armature Headphone Drivers}, series = {AES International Conference on Headphone Technology 2025 August 27-29, Espoo, Finland}, booktitle = {AES International Conference on Headphone Technology 2025 August 27-29, Espoo, Finland}, number = {3}, publisher = {Audio Engineering Society}, year = {2025}, language = {en} }