Final: Chapter 11 Flashcards
For humans, what does hearing provide?
signals such as warning sounds, distinctive high-pitched cry of a baby who is distressed, adds richness to our loves through music and facilitates communication by speech.
Pressure changes in the air
Sound stimulus
Pressure changes in the air or other medium.
Physical definition of Sound
The experience we have when we hear.
Perceptual definition of Sound
Sound/ sound stimulus
Physical stimulus
Sound perception
Experience of sound
Occurs when the movements or vibrations of an object cause pressure changes in air, water, or any other elastic medium that can transmit vibrations.
Sound stimulus
What happens when the diaphragm of the speaker moves out and it pushes the surrounding air molecules together ?
It causes a slight increase in the density of molecules near the diaphragm.
The pushing of the surrounding air molecules together
Compression
What does the increased density of molecules near the diaphragm result in?
a local increase in the air pressure above atmospheric pressure.
When the speaker diaphragm moves back in, air molecules spread out to fill in the increased space.
Rarefaction
What does the decreased density of air molecules caused by rarefaction cause?
a slight decrease in air pressure.
The pattern of air pressure changes that travel through the air at 340 meters per second.
Sound Wave
TRUE OR FALSE: although air pressure changes move outward from the speaker, the air molecules at each location move back and forth but stay in about the same place.
TRUEEEE
Occurs when changes in air pressure occur in a pattern described by a mathematical function called a sine wave.
Pure Tone
The number of cycles per second that the pressure changes repeat
Frequency
The size of the pressure change
Amplitude
What is the unit of measure for frequency?
Hertz (Hz), where 1 Hz is 1 cycle per second
What is one way to specify a sound’s amplitude?
indicate the difference in pressure between the high and low peaks of the sound wave.
Unit of sound that converts the large range of sound pressures into a more manageable scale
decibel (dB)
Equation for transforming sound pressure level into decibels
dB = 20 * log10 (p/p0)
A function or wave that repeats its value at regular intervals.
Periodic waveform
The repetition rate of a tone/ lowest frequency of a periodic waveform
fundamental frequency
Tones that are made up of a number of pure tone (sine wave) components added together.
Complex tones
component of a tone
Harmonic
A pure tone with a frequency equal to the fundamental frequency; the first harmonic
Fundamental of a tone
Pure tones with frequencies that are whole-number multiples of the fundamental frequency.
Higher harmonics
The position of each line on the horizontal axis indicates the frequency of one of the tones’ harmonics, and the height of the line indicates the harmonic amplitude.
Frequency spectra
What does the frequency spectra provide?
a way of indicating a complex tone’s fundamental frequency and harmonics that add up to the tone’s complex waveform.
Differences in the perceived magnitude of a sound
Loudness
Differences in the low to high quality of sounds
Pitch
The perceptual quality is most closely related to the level or amplitude of an auditory stimulus, which is expressed in decibels.
Loudness
What do thresholds and loudness depend on?
not only decibels but also on frequency
- Indicates threshold for hearing versus frequency.
- indicates that we can hear sounds between about 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz and that we are most sensitive at frequencies between 2000 and 4000 Hz.
Audibility curve
What is the range of frequencies that is most important for understanding speech?
2000 and 4000 Hz
the area above the audibility curve that shows tones we can hear.
Auditory response area
Tones within the upper boundary of the auditory response area; these high amplitudes are the ones we can “feel”; they can become painful and can cause damage to the auditory system.
Threshold of feeling
the decibels at which it can just barely be heard, as indicated by the auditory curve
baseline (threshold) of a frequency
TRUE OR FALSE: loudness increases as we increase the level above this baseline
TRUE
Indicate the sound levels that create the same perception of loudness at different frequencies
Equal Loudness
How is the equal loudness curve determined?
By presenting 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.
The perceptual quality we describe as “high” or “low”, can be defined as the property of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds may be ordered on a musical scale extending from low to high.
- also a property of speech
Pitch
The physical property of fundamental frequency
Pitch
The repetition rate of the sound waveform
Fundamental frequency
Low fundamental frequencies are associated with _____ pitches
Low
High fundamental frequencies are associated with _____ pitches
High
The perceptual experience of increasing pitch that accompanies increases in a tone’s fundamental frequency.
Tone Height
Notes with the same letter
Tone Chroma
Every time we pass the same letter on the keyboard, we have gone up an interval called an __________.
octave
Notes with the same chroma have fundamental frequencies that are separated by a multiple of ______.
Two
When the pitch remains the same, even when the missing fundamental or other harmonics are removed.
Effect of the missing Fundamental
The quality that distinguishes between two tones that have the same loudness, pitch, and duration but still sound different
Timbre
What does timbre depend on?
A tone’s attack and the tone’s decay
The buildup of sound at the beginning of the tone
Tone’s attack
the decrease in sound at the end tone
Tone’s decay
The pattern of pressure changes in the waveform repeats/ Pure tones and the tones produced by musical instruments
Periodic sounds
Sounds that have waveforms that do not repeat
Aperiodic sounds
TRUE OR FALSE: Only aperiodic sounds can generate a perception of pitch
FALSE, periodic sounds do this
What are the three basic tasks that the auditory system accomplishes?
First, it delivers the sound stimulus to the receptors; second, it transduces this stimulus from pressure changes into electrical signals; and third, it processes these electrical signals so they can indicate qualities of the sound source, such as pitch, loudness, timbre, and location.
What are the divisions of the ear?
outer, middle, and inner
Small hairlike parts of the hearing receptors
Stereocilia
Sound waves first pass through the _________ ______, which consists of the __________ and the ___________ ________.
The outer ear, pinnae, auditory canal
The structures that stick out from the sides of the head; the location of sounds
Pinnae
A tubelike recess about 3 cm long in adults protects the delicate structures of the middle ear from the hazards of the outside world, protects the delicate tympanic membrane (eardrum), and helps keep this membrane and the structures in the middle ear at a relatively constant temperature.
Auditory canal
Enhances the intensities of some sounds by means of the physical principle of resonance
Auditory canal