THE EFFECT OF SEATS ON THE CALIBRATION OF CINEMA SOUND SYSTEMS

The standardisation of loudspeaker responses in cinema reproduction is necessary for maintaining consistent perception of the soundtracks from one theatre to another. For this reason, individual, in situ corrections are usually made to loudspeaker-system outputs in each room, but research has shown that the recommended calibration practices may be affected by the proximity of the microphones to the seats in ways that are objectively and subjectively different.1 This paper aims to assess the impact of seats in both objective and subjective terms, and to determine whether changing the microphone height when calibrating the systems can lead to a more consistent perception of the sound quality.  A measurement microphone and dummy head were used to assess the sound field and obtain listener preferences, respectively, in three different venues. The acoustic disturbances due to the seats are noted for all three cases, and in each show a decreasing significance with height above the seats.