auditory Flashcards
sound stimulus
occurs when the movements or vibrations of an object cause pressure changes in the air, water or any elastic medium that can transmit vibrations
condensation
- diaphragm of the speaker moves out,
- pushes the surrounding air molecules together
- slight increase in the density of molecules near the diaphragm.
- local increase in the air pressure above atmospheric pressure.
Rarefaction
- When the speaker diaphragm moves back in, air molecules spread out to fill in the increased space
- The decreased density of air
- a slight decrease in air pressure.
Sound wave:
pattern of air pressure changes, which travels through air at 340 meters per second (and through water at 1,500 meters per second), is called a sound wave
A pure tone
single frequency tone with no harmonic content (no overtones). This corresponds to a sine wave eg. (whistle)
periodic tone
a tone that operates on waveform repeats
Complex tone
complex tones are made up of pure tones can be made up over one or more simple tones known as overtones
Higher harmonics:
pure tones with frequencies that are whole numbers, multiples of the fundamental
frequency
- the number of cycles per second that the pressure changes repeat (Hz) 1 Hz is one cycle per second
- humans can perceive frequencies ranging from about 20 Hz to about 20,000 Hz
pitch
- aspect of auditory sensation whose variation is associated with musical melodies
- property of speech (low-pitched or high- pitched voice) and other natural sounds.
- most closely fundamental frequency (the repetition rate of the sound wave- form).
- Low fundamental frequencies are associated with low pitches (like the sound of a tuba),
- high fundamental frequencies are associated with high pitches (like the sound of a piccolo).
Tone height
the perceptual experience of increasing pitch that accompanies increases in a tone’s fundamental frequency
same tone chroma
notes with the same letter sound similar because they have the same tone chroma.
- Notes with the same chroma have fundamental frequencies that are separated by a multiple of two. Thus, A1 has a fundamental frequency of 27.5 Hz, A2’s is 55
- doubling of frequency for each octave results in similar perceptual experiences.
octave
Every time we pass the same letter on the keyboard, we have gone up an interval called an octave.
Loudness and Level Loudness:
perceptual quality most closely related to the level or amplitude of an auditory stimulus, which is expressed in decibels.
humans are most sensitive at
at frequencies between 2,000 and 4,000 Hz, which happens to be the range of frequencies that is most important for understanding speech.
Auditory response area:
threshold of hearing
The light green area above the audibility curve is called threshold of hearing
we can hear tones that fall within this area
threshold of feeling
The upper boundary of the auditory response area is the curve marked “threshold of feeling.” Tones with these high amplitudes are the ones we can “feel”; they can become painful and can cause damage to the auditory system.
what happens between the audibility curve and the threshold of feeling?
each frequency has a threshold or “baseline”—the decibels at which it can just barely be heard, as indicated by the audibility curve—and loudness increases as we increase the level above this baseline.
red equal loudness curves
indicate the sound levels that create the same perception of loudness at different frequencies.
- Present a standard pure tone of one frequency and level and having a listener adjust the level of pure tones with frequencies across the range of hearing to match the loudness of the standard.
timbre
- The quality that distinguishes between two tones that have the same loudness, pitch and duration but sounds different.
- depends on both the tone’s steady state harmonic structure and on the time course of the attack and decay of a tone’s harmonics
pinnae
Sound waves first past through –> pinnae: structures that stick out from the outsides of the head (part of the ear we don’t need)
Auditory canal:
a tubelike recess (3cm in adults) and protects the delicate structures of the middle ear
- enhances the intensities of some sounds –> resonance: in auditory canal, when soundwaves that are reflected back from the closed end of the auditory canal interact with sound waves that are entering the canal = reinforces some of the sound frequencies
resonant frequency
the frequency that is reinforced the most is called the resonant frequency of the canal
wax
- protects the tympanic membrane, or eardrum (end of the canal)
- keeps this membrane and structures in the middle ear at a relatively stable temperature
middle air
- small cavity (2 cubic centimetres in volume that separates the outer and inner ears
- this cavity contains ossicles, the 3 smallest bones in the body
malleus
is set into vibration by the tympanic membrane to which is is attached
transmits vibrations to incus
incus
anvil, transmits vibrations to stapes (stirrup)
stapes
the stapes then transmits vibrations to the inner ear by pushing on the membrane covering the oval window
muscles of the middle ear
- attached to the ossicles, and at very high sound levels they contract to dampen the ossicles vibration
- reduces the transmission of low-frequency sounds and helps to prevent intense low-frequency components from interfering with our perception of high frequencies.
- prevent our own vocalizations, and sounds from chewing, from interfering with our perception of speech from other people