MobiLab – A Mobile Laboratory for On-Site Listening Experiments in Virtual Acoustic Environments

Virtual acoustic environments have demonstrated their versatility for conducting studies in various research areas as they allow easy manipulations of experimental test conditions or simulated acoustic scenes, while providing expansion possibilities to related interdisciplinary and multimodal fields. Although the evolution of auditory and cognitive models is consistently pursued, listening experiments are still considered the gold standard, usually necessitating a large amount of resources, including travel expenses of study participants. In order to facilitate practical and efficient study execution, we therefore implemented a mobile hearing laboratory by acoustically optimising the interior of a caravan. All necessary technical facilities were integrated to perform listening experiments in virtual acoustic environments under controlled conditions directly on site, for example, in front of schools or senior residential centers. The design and construction of this laboratory are presented and evaluated based on insulation properties, selected room acoustic parameters, and interior ambient noise levels that are to be expected during operation at representative test sites. Limitations, particularly in low-frequency insulation performance, should provide incentives for further optimisations in similar future projects.