Investigation of subjective acoustical attributes by performers through ranking data analyses

This paper focuses on the acoustic perception of professional musicians performing on a stage or in an orchestra pit. A questionnaire was used to obtain a ‘priority classification’ of acoustical attributes to describe their requirements. The Borda count was chosen as the analysis method. As it is not suggested for subjective data ascribed to ordinal scales, it has been validated through a comparison with the more rigorous and suitable Condorcet method and a modified version of this method. The uncertainty assessment was taken into account and the Normalized Error was used to compare the results related to five orchestra-concert hall configurations and one orchestra-opera house configuration. The factors that influence the ranking have been investigated and the different acoustical conditions in the auditorium do not seem to have affected the answers. The results suggest the existence of possible orchestra and stage effects or other unknown systematic effects which were not considered in the final classification. The attributes pertaining to the accuracy of ensemble playing and the playing technique were judged to be more important than those related to the stage or pit acoustics, even though the quality of the playing aspects depends on the acoustics.