In order to successfully fuse virtual sound sources with the real acoustic environment, the acoustic properties of the real environment must be estimated and utilized for the synthesis of virtual sound sources. Often, just noticeable differences (JNDs) of room acoustic parameters are utilized to predict a good match between virtual and real acoustics. However, several studies in this domain have shown that existing JND values of room acoustic parameters are often not able to predict the perception of the listeners. This can have various reasons: Differences in first reflection patterns are barely measurable with classical acoustic parameters; Even if acoustic differences are above the JND, a plausible reproduction might still be possible; JNDs depend on various factors (such as sound signal, etc.) and existing studies do not cover all of them. The last factor is addressed in this research paper. A three-alternative forced (3AFC) choice test was conducted at four different loudness levels (75 dB(A), 65 dB(A), 55 dB(A), and 45 dB(A)) in a reverberation time range from 0.5 s to 0.8 s. A dependency of the loudness on the detectability of reverberation differences was found for the randomly interleaved presentation of loudness levels but not for sequential presentation. Individual hearing thresholds as well as expertise level significantly influence the JND of reverberation time.
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