Detecting whether reverb is present

1. Can you hear reverb?
2. Why do I hear reverb?
3. Is reverb just echo?

Can you hear reverb?

You can actually hear the dry sound first, with the dram of the reverb coming in a few milliseconds (or many) later. Reverb delay time. This is almost self explanatory.

Why do I hear reverb?

Most of the sound picked up by a conference telephone microphone, comes directly from the speaker's mouth. But the microphone will also pick up sounds of the speaker's voice that has bounced around in the room. This bouncing is what causes the reverb.

Is reverb just echo?

Echo and reverberation are pretty much the same concepts. They are both time-based audio effects resulting from the reflection of sound on hard surfaces. The difference between reverb and echo lies in time. Echo is a long reflection of sound on a far hard surface, while reverb has a way shorter reflection time.