Pre-echo

["Eric W. Healy" <ehealy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Dear Collegues,
>
>Can anybody help me with information on the audibility of pre-echoes?
>I have surveyed the literature for any reports on this subject and I
>have found nothing.

Dear Dr. Laugesen,

My advisor, Richard Warren, reports a simple demonstration of the high
audibility of pre-echoes on pp. 56-57 of his book "Auditory Perception:  A
New Synthesis" (Pergamon Press, 1982, ISBN 0-08-025957-x).

A recording of speech having "low normal reverberation" was manipulated so
that the reverberant sound preceded the direct sound.  While the speech
having the usual (post-echo) reverb sounded normal, with barely detectable
reverberant quality, the speech having reversed reverb (pre-echo) seemed
"quite bizarre" and the pre-echo was "extremely noticeable."

I hope this information can be of some use to you.

Regards,

Eric W. Healy
Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee