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Description
Humans appear to possess internal expectations of reproduced sound pressure levels of auditory scenes, but they might not be very accurate. Previous studies have shown a systematic underestimation of reproduction levels for speech and traffic soundscapes. This study investigates the factors underlying such underestimation by examining level expectations across six real-world soundscapes reproduced using a multichannel loudspeaker array. Participants adjusted playback levels to match their expectations of the soundscapes' real-world counterparts, both with and without added recording noise. In addition, they rated perceptual attributes in accordance with ISO/TS 12913-3. Results confirm a strong dependence of level mismatch on the true sound pressure level of a soundscape: levels of louder scenes were consistently underestimated, while quieter scenes were slightly overestimated, indicating a compression effect in level expectations. The true level of the soundscape was a better predictor of estimation error than perceived pleasantness. Added recording noise had only a minor influence, primarily affecting quieter scenes, while familiarity with the soundscape showed no credible effect on accuracy. These findings suggest that level expectations are anchored to specific sound sources and biased toward perceptually comfortable levels.