Energy-Weighted Reverberation Time for Perceptual Assessment of Acoustic Performance in Buildings

Acoustic performance is an important component of interior environmental quality, yet conventional single-value reverberation time metrics may provide limited perceptual information because they do not explicitly account for the spectral energy distribution of the evaluated sound. This study proposes an energy-weighted single-value reverberation time metric, Tew, which integrates frequency-dependent reverberation time with the relative contribution of received sound energy across frequency bands, providing a sound energy metric for building-acoustic assessment. Tew was evaluated using measured room-acoustic data under controlled laboratory conditions and in eight practical rooms, followed by a listening experiment involving 100 participants. Regression analyses and linear mixed-effects models showed that Tew was positively associated with perceived reverberance. Tew showed greater explanatory power and a better model fit than Tmf, whereas its performance was comparable to Tavg. The energy-weighting principle was further applied in a practical room-renovation project to identify frequency-dependent acoustic deficiencies and guide targeted acoustic treatment. The results demonstrate the potential of Tew to provide additional perceptually relevant information for assessing acoustic performance in interior spaces and to support frequency-aware acoustic treatment decisions. The practical renovation case further demonstrates the feasibility of integrating Tew and its underlying energy-weighting principle into building-acoustic assessment and treatment workflows, providing a link between sound-source characteristics, room-acoustic diagnosis, and targeted acoustic intervention.