Auditory spatial resolution studies in the Helsinki Music Centre Philip W. Robinson a) Tapio Lokki Antti Kuusinen Jukka Pätynen Sakari Tervo Lauri Savioja Aalto University, School of Science, Department of Media Technology, P.O. Box 15400, FI- 00076 Aalto, Finland One factor in the appreciation of symphonic music is the listener's ability to spatially segregate the various orchestral sections and even individual instruments. This ability depends on the acoustic conditions in the concert hall, and is investigated here with measurements from the recently opened main concert hall of the Helsinki Music Centre. Binaural room impulse response measurements using loudspeakers distributed at close spacing across the stage were taken, and assessment of spatial resolution at various listening positions was conducted using psychoacoustic experiments with male and female speech signals. Furthermore, listening experiments were conducted with impulse responses windowed or truncated at various time steps. Auralizations made with partial impulse responses allowed insight in to the most perceptually relevant portions of the room response, and hence determination of the most critical properties of the room. Spatial resolution is gauged using an adaptive up-down threshold procedure in which the listener is asked to distinguish which of two sources is to the left of the other. These tests were conducted for three listening positions and compared to previous experiments in a theater and simulated concert hall. It is found that this hall allows for very accurate spatial judgments of only 1.5° even at some of the furthest seats. 1 INTRODUCTION This paper investigates auditory spatial discrimination in the Helsinki Music Centre. The influence of the relative strength of the direct sound is investigated by measuring listeners’ spatial discrimination at seats located various distances from the stage. Furthermore, the role of late reverberation in spatial discrimination is investigated by conducting tests with auralizations generated from truncated impulse responses. The relationship between the relative strength of the a) email: philrob22@gmail.com