Sound Perception Flashcards
To establish a basic knowledge of the principles of sound perception.
What is Psychoacoustics?
Psychoacoustics is the study of sound perception and how humans perceive various sounds. More specifically, it is the branch of science studying the psychological and physiological responses associated with sound (including noise, speech, and music).
What are the three primary methods the brain uses for localising a sound?
a) Inter-aural Time Differences
b) Iner-aural Amplitude Differences
c) Head Movement (Effect of the Pinna)
What is Comb Filtering?
Comb filtering is produced when certain frequencies are either amplified or attenuated by the superposition of a delayed version of the original audio signal onto itself.
What is the Haas Effect?
If sound A arrives at the ear, then an identical sound (Sound B) arrives at the ear within 30ms, the brain will fuse the sounds together and it will be heard as one sound.
If the sounds are identical then comb filtering will occur.
What is the Doppler Effect?
The doppler effect is a change in frequency and wavelength of a wave. It is caused by the change in distance between the thing creating the wave (sender) and whatever is measuring seeing or hearing the wave (observer).
What is Inter-aural Time Difference?
Inter-aural Time Difference is the difference in arrival time of a sound between two ears. It is important in the localization of sounds, as it provides a cue to the direction or angle of the sound source from the head.
What is Iner-aural Amplitude Differences?
The interaural level difference is the difference in loudness and frequency distribution between the two ears.
What is acoustic shadow?
The acoustic shadow is the area on the side of the head opposite from the source of a sound in which the loudness of a sound is less because of blocked sound waves.
How can moving your head help to localise sound?
Moving the head changes the amplitudes, phase and spectral components of the sound over time, allowing us to pinpoint localisation.
What is a phon?
The Phon is a unit of loudness. It correlates to a sound pressure level (dBSPL) at 1000Hz
