Methods for estimating the reverberation time in room acoustics have always been considered an important problem. A common approach uses Schröder’s backward integration method because it reduces variability, which is interpreted as meaning that it produces a more accurate estimate. This article analyzes this assumption in contexts applicable to both blind and nonblind estimation. Expressions for the estimation bias and variance of the reverberation decay rate are derived and verified using Monte Carlo simulations. The results confirm that backward integration does indeed significantly reduce the variance of decay rate estimates but at a cost of an increased and possibly large bias, which reduces the accuracy of the result. Prudence is therefore required when using backward integration for automated decay rate estimation tasks.

Authors: Schüldt, Christian; Händel, Peter
Affiliations: Department of Signal Processing, ACCESS Linnaeus Centre Royal Institute of Technology KTH, Stockholm, Sweden; Limes Audio AB, Stockholm, Sweden(See document for exact affiliation information.)
JAES Volume 63 Issue 3 pp. 161-173; March 2015
Publication Date: March 16, 2015

Click to purchase paper as a non-member or you can login as an AES member to see more options.

No AES members have commented on this paper yet.

Subscribe to this discussion

To be notified of new comments on this paper you can subscribe to this RSS feed. Forum users should login to see additional options.

Start a discussion!

If you would like to start a discussion about this paper and are an AES member then you can login here:
Username:
Password:

If you are not yet an AES member and have something important to say about this paper then we urge you to join the AES today and make your voice heard. You can join online today by clicking here.