The Hartmann Effect in rooms

In 1983, Bill Hartmann published an article in JASA reporting on a study of azimuthal sound localization that he had conducted in a variable acoustics concert hall [JASA, 74(5), 1380–1391]. The findings of that study enhanced our understanding of the precedence effect, and of a number of other factors that affect our ability to localize sounds indoors. Those findings also motivated a series of subsequent studies of sound localization in rooms that we conducted at Michigan State University over the years, and that bear the unmistakable hallmarks of Bill’s creativity and boundless scholarly energy. This presentation will take a retrospective look at the MSU projects, with particular emphasis on instances of The Hartmann Effect as it operates in rooms.