Task 7: Auditory system Flashcards
Sound stimulus (physical)
movements of vibrations of object cause pressure changes in air, water or any other elastic medium that surrounds objects
Sound perception
experience when we hear
Sound wave
pattern of alternating high pressure (condensation) and low-pressure (refraction) regions in the air
A sine wave’s or a pure tone’s vibration can be described by its
frequency and amplitude
Frequency
- number of cycles per second that pressure changes repeat
- associated to pitch (higher frequency = higher pitch)
- Hz
Amplitude
- difference in pressure between high and low-peak of sound wave
- associated with the quality of sound = loudness
- dB
Complex tones
sounds produced by instruments or people speaking that have a more complex sine wave’s pattern
A complex tone is made up of
a number oh harmonics and fundamental frequencies added together = Fourier analysis
Fundamental
first harmonic
Fundamental frequency
- lowest frequency component
- repetition rate
Perceptual aspects of sound
- threshold
- loudness
- pitch
- timbre
High threshold
large sound pressure changed required
Low threshold
little sound pressure change required
Loudness
- intensity of a sound
- depends on amplitude and frequency
Audibility curve
threshold of hearing
- we cannot perceive sounds lower the audibility curve
Threshold for feeling
- upper curve
- sound that are higher than the upper curve provoke pain
Equal loudness curve
same perception of loudness at different frequencies
Pitch
- linked to fundamental frequency
- high or low label
Tone height
perceptual experience of increasing pitch that accompanies increases in tone’s fundamental frequency
Notes with the same tone have
the same tone chroma
Effect of missing fundamental
pitch remains the same even if fundamental or other harmonics are removed, therefore pitch depends on the repetition rate and not on the fundamental frequency
Timbre
tones that have the same loudness, pitch and duration but still sound different