In building acoustics, modeling and auralizing sound transmission through walls is a relevant area of research related to residential well-being and workplace productivity. While most existing studies use auralization methods that focus on accurately reproducing spectrum and amplitude of the sound transmission in accordance with ISO standards, almost no studies have explicitly tried to evaluate the perceptual quality of wall transmission auralization. To address this, the present study applies the plausibility paradigm to evaluate a measurement-based auralization approach to validate it for further psychoacoustic experiments on residential well-being. Binaural Room Impulse Responses (BRIRs) were measured for three loudspeakers placed in adjacent rooms to a central listening room. In a subsequent listening test, participants were asked to evaluate the overall plausibility of the auralization. Results demonstrate that due to the absence of visual cues, the lower sound pressure level, the reduced signal-to-noise ratio, and the diffuse radiation characteristic of the source, high plausibility scores close to the guessing rate were achieved for all adjacent rooms. These findings suggest that due to the lack of a visual cue, lower sound pressure level, reduced signal to noise ratio and the diffuse radiation characteristics of the source, auralization of wall transmission using BRIRs can be used as a plausible method for psychoacoustic research on residential well-being, without the need for complex physical simulations.
