Auditory Psy midterm 1

Question 1

Model of Psychoacoustics

Answer 1

the difference between the physical world and the perceptual world

Question 2

sound production domain

Answer 2

physical object that is set into vibration by given source

Question 3

acoustical domain

Answer 3

psychophysics; frequency, decibels, waveform

Question 4

psychoacoustics (book definition)

Answer 4

pressure fluctuations in the air that are produced by vibrating objects

Question 5

Psychoacoustics (instructor definition)

Answer 5

sound is a sensation. Textbook refers to sound waves and not sounds. Sound is only as much as it is perceived

Question 6

longitudinal waves

Answer 6

movement of the medium is in the same direction as the wave (talking)

Question 7

transverse waves

Answer 7

movement of the medium is perpendicular to the wave direction (plucking guitar string)

Question 8

waveform

Answer 8

graphical representation of sound waves
changes in pressure over time

Question 9

simple harmonic motion

Answer 9

simplest form of pressure oscillation over time; represented by sine

Question 10

frequency

Answer 10

of cycles in a given period of time
related to pitch
measured in Hertz

Question 11

Normal hearing range (in Hz)

Answer 11

20 - 20,000 Hz

Question 12

Spectrum

Answer 12

breaking complex tones into pure tones

Question 13

Fourier analysis

Answer 13

frequency by amplitude representation of signal

Question 14

impulsive signals

Answer 14

amplitude is highest at the beginning of sound; guitar string, piano keye

Question 15

sustained signals

Answer 15

amplitude is steady, energy provided by person; clarinet, flute

Question 16

Timbre

Answer 16

everything that is not pitched

Question 17

harmonic

Answer 17

complex periodic waveforms, produce spectrum with whole number multiples of fundamental frequency

Question 18

fundamental frequency

Answer 18

lowest frequency in the sound

Question 19

inharmonic

Answer 19

can have period waveforms or not; the other frequencies are not integer multiples of the fundamental frequency

Question 20

temporal envelope

Answer 20

how we represent the overall pattern of rising and lowering amplitude in a waveform

Question 21

Decibels

Answer 21

acoustical measurement corresponding with loudness

Question 22

Adding sounds (dB)

Answer 22

Decibels use a logarithmic function and thus doubling a sound would increase it by just a factor of about 3.

Question 23

condensation

Answer 23

air molecules being pushed together

Question 24

rarefaction

Answer 24

air molecules being spread apart

Question 25

periodicity

Answer 25

when cycles repeat over the same duration; sound is pitched

Question 26

phase

Answer 26

where in the waveform we are

Question 27

textbook “auditory psychophysics”

Answer 27

study of relation between sounds and sensations and auditory anatomy and physiology

Question 28

natural / resonant frequency

Answer 28

everyday objects possess natural vibration

Question 29

damping

Answer 29

difference in sound between frictionless and frictional motions

Question 30

highly tuned vs less tuned

Answer 30

highly tuned - has a resonant frequency with little damping (holding wine glass by stem)
less tuned - damped object (touching rim of wine glass)

Question 31

standing wave

Answer 31

combination of sound waves at a resonant frequency moving in opposite directions as they bounce between 2 boundaries

Question 32

low pass vs high pass filter

Answer 32

low - allows low frequencies through and reduces high frequencies
high - allows high frequencies through

Question 33

bandwidth

Answer 33

size of frequency range a filter lets through

Question 34

spectogram

Answer 34

quasi 3 dimensional graph of sound;
x axis = time
y axis = frequency
color = amplitude