Hearing & Language Flashcards
What are the most interesting problems in auditory perception?
4 points
- perceptual basis of harmony
- recognition of voices
- separating signal sources
- influence of experience and knowledge
What is misophonia?
a strong negative reaction from hearing specific human sounds
The nature of sound
A sound source is emitting (repeated) circular pressure waves (shells of air compression) i.e. a tuning fork → waves are similar to dropping a pebble into a still pond
properties of sound waves: what is a pure tone represented by?
A pure tone is represented by a sinewave (air pressure as function of space/time)
What is frequency the measure of?
pitch
how to measure frequency?
1/period, measured in Hz = cycles per second
What is amplitude the measure of?
loudness
what do notes of a musical score?
+ 2 points
the keys on the piano:
- frequency generated
- pitch of a musical tone
how are keys arranged on a piano/keyboard?
in the order of rising frequency of the musical tone generated
what are harmonic intervals?
The distance between two pitches that are sounded together at the same time
what are harmonic intervals determined by?
the characteristic frequency ratios
what is superposition of waves?
when two or more waves travel through the same medium at the same time
what happens to the waveform when you superimpose pure tones ?
more complex sounds: chords, consonance, dissonance, vowels
what are musical tones combinations of?
pure tones: fundamental (determines pitch) + harmonic frequencies (determine timbre)
what is white noise?
the superposition of many tones with random amplitude and frequency
what is a transducer?
a device that changes energy from one form to another
is the human ear a transducer?
yes - it changes sound waves into neural signals
what is the outer ear?
a directional microphone
what is the order of hearing?
outer ear, middle ear, inner ear
what is the function of the outer ear?
directional microphone
what is the function of the middle ear?
impedance matching, overload protection
what is the function of the inner ear?
frequency analysis, neural encoding
what is extreme sensitivity?
absolute threshold at sound levels that generate eardrum vibrations - 0.1 nm (H20)
what is frequency masking?
when the perception of a sound is affected and covered by another distracting the ear
what is a systematic variation?
anomaly or inaccuracy in observations which are the result of factors which are not under statistical control