Localization of auditory events in scenarios with lateral, projected sound sources and frontal, attenuated direct sound

Loudspeaker arrays enable sound reproduction from different directions by taking advantage of wall reflections. Ideally, a listener only perceives sound coming from the reflective surface. Since sound arriving at the listener directly from the device is usually not attenuated completely it interferes with the reflected sound. Previous research has investigated perceptual influences of level differences between direct sound and reflected sound as well as the influence of type of stimulus in such scenarios. The current paper expands on this topic by including the influence of the relative delay between reflected sound and direct sound. Results suggest that the direct-to-reflection delay does not influence the localization of a projected sound, while endorsing the importance of the direct sound attenuation, as well as the strong influence of the signal type.