Introduction Flashcards
The physical principles of how sound works. This allows us what two things
- to predict how sound will behave in different environments (effects of reverberation)
- to understand how to manipulate sound to achieve a specific end (hearing aids, implants)
Big Idea 1
we hear things that aren’t there
Big Idea 2
we can’t hear things that are there
Big Idea 3
we can hear things that have very little information
in them
Big Idea 4
some sounds have the same pitch but are really
different in their components
Big Idea 5
we can get fooled into thinking we hear one thing
when it is really something else
Big Idea 6
we can hear a lot of things and we are not
solely relying on our ears
what 3 things do we need to understand to understand acoustics?
- mapping between sound and perception
- the differences between the acoustic message and the perceived message
- the role of things like attention and memory on what we hear and understand
what is acoustics?
the study of sound
what 4 quantitative characteristics do our ears respond to?
- frequency (pitch)
- intensity (loudness)
- duration (length)
- timbre (quality)
our brain perceive characteristics that can be measured ____________
behaviorally
what does measuring behaviorally mean?
the same sound can yield different perceptions across listeners
what 4 terms are used to describe sounds?
- pitch
- loudness
- length
- quality
what is listening?
complex process that relies on the physical properties of the sound
what do physical or acoustic properties of sound carry?
meaning
(4 things) sounds can be present and
- not heard
- heard
- heard but not acknowledged
- intended to carry meaning but are meaningless for some listeners
what do our ears hear
sounds
what does our brain listen to
sounds
we CAN’T ______ if we can’t ______ but we CAN ______ and not _________
listen, hear
hear, listen
if two people with the same hearing hear the same thing, what do they report in terms of listening
listened to different things
when we listen, what are we listening to?
soundscape
what is a soundscape
auditory landscape
we hear lots of sounds but what do we do to most of them
ignore (switch to another acoustic stream)
what 3 domains can sound be described in (and what are their functions)
- frequency (function of time)
- time (function of time)
- spectral (function of frequency)
