C4DM Seminar: Marise van Zyl: From the Window to the Wall: A Multidisciplinary Investigation into Acoustic Space Perception
QMUL, School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science
Centre for Digital Music Seminar Series
Seminar by: Marise van Zyl
Date/time: Wednesday, 25th March 2026, 3 pm
Location: G2, Enginering Building, Mile End
Title: From the Window to the Wall: A Multidisciplinary Investigation into Acoustic Space Perception
Abstract:
Virtual Acoustics gives us the power to create or recreate any acoustic environment with astonishing precision. But while the technology has advanced rapidly, one crucial aspect is often overlooked - human perception.
How do listeners make sense of room acoustics? Do we have an internal sense of how a space should sound, or can a simple artificial reverb convincingly simulate a centuries-old abbey? How does the brain process reverberation? Does it rely on the same mechanisms used to locate sounds in space, or on something different? And beyond perception, how do acoustic environments influence behavior? Musicians, for example, regularly perform in spaces with very different acoustic properties. Do they unconsciously adjust their playing in response?
In this talk, I present my dissertation research, drawing on psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and virtual reality to explore the audiovisual, neural, and behavioral aspects of acoustic space perception.
Bio:
Marise is a musician-researcher-educator who earned her PhD at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University. Her work focuses on spatial perception, with broader interests in spatial audio, neuroscience, virtual reality, tool building, music education, and wellbeing. She is currently working as an architectural acoustician at Foster + Partners in the Specialist Modelling Group.