Statistical analysis with Kolmogorov-Smirnov distance for reflections’ directions of arrival and amplitudes for sound field diffuseness estimation

Many parameters are used for rating the quality of the sound field inside qualified acoustic halls describing the strength, clarity, and definition of the sound. Sound field diffuseness level and spatial impression parameters are used rarely because of the problem in their measurements and interpretation. Previous research on that topic provided some sound field diffuseness coefficients. Some of them are complicated in estimation and measurement. This paper presents a method for the sound field diffuseness level estimation basing on example measurements of the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic in Łódź, Poland. New directional parameters are proposed based on the statistical analysis of the sound reflections’ incidence angles and their amplitudes with Kolmogorov-Smirnov distance. The paper contains a discussion on the quality evaluation with the proposed method, including analysing the sound field diffuseness and non-uniform spatial distributions of sound reflections. The usability of the selected parameters and their importance for the spatial impression is discussed. The performed experiments allow setting the direction of future work in the field taken of the study, especially applying the proposed method for extended sound field diffuseness ratings with methods based on different physical principles, including directional, energetic, and time coefficients.