Overview

• The peer-reviewed eLife study shows listeners rapidly adapt to room acoustics during 45-minute sessions using simulated real-world environments.
• Peak learning emerged near a reverberation time of roughly 400 milliseconds, common in lecture theatres, while excessive echo or none at all hindered performance.
• Brief, non-invasive magnetic stimulation targeting dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity significantly blunted participants’ ability to adapt.
• Researchers tested normal-hearing volunteers in an anechoic chamber with recordings from spaces including an underground car park, a lecture theatre and an open-plan office.
• The Australian Research Council–funded findings suggest hearing devices and public-space acoustics could preserve useful reverberation, with follow-up studies planned for neurodivergent listeners and people with hearing loss.