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Attention And Perception > Unit 10 > Flashcards

Unit 10 Flashcards

1
Q

Why is hearing an important part of perception?

A

relies on auditory perception, not light
-> provides information about objects that may be invisible

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2
Q

What are the benefits of hearing?

A

sound my indicate presence of predator before he can be seen
-> evolutional advantage
adds richness to our lives
-> enjoying music, communication

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3
Q

What does the distal stimulus produce in auditory perception?

A

pressure changes in the air

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4
Q

How is a sound stimulus produced?

A

movement or vibrations of an object cause pressure changes in the air

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5
Q

sound wave

A

doesn’t consist of air molecules moving
-> air molecules move backwards and forwards
-> push changes toward observer

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6
Q

How can sound waves be described?

A

sine wave

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7
Q

How can sound waves be measured?

A

frequency
amplitude

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7
Q

Frequency

A

number of cycles completed in a second
measured in hertz (Hz)
1 Hz = one cycle

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8
Q

Amplitude

A

difference between high and low peaks
measured in decibels (Db)

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9
Q

High frequencies and amplitudes

A

High frequencies ->generally result in higher pitch
High amplitudes -> generally result in greater loudness

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10
Q

What does loudness depend on?

A

frequency and amplitude
high amplitude is usually louder, but it also depends on the frequency
0 db -> barely noticeable
120 db -> possible hearing damage

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11
Q

How is the correlation between frequencies and amplitudes demonstated?

A

audibility curve

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12
Q

Which range of frequency do humans perceive?

A

–20 - –20.000 HZ

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13
Q

What does the audibility curve describe?

A

relationship between amplitude and frequency
-> baseline of loudness

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14
Q

Which frequency do we hear the easiest?

A

2.000 - 4.000 Hz
-> range of speech

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15
Q

Auditory response area

A

range we can hear
-> anything below threshold of hearing: not perceivable
-> above threshold of feeling (upper boundary): discomfort and maybe damage

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16
Q

Equal loudness curve

A

indicates sound levels that create same perception of loudness at different frequencies
demonstrates that amplitude alone doesnt necessarily result in greater loudness

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17
Q

How can we conceptualise pitch in terms of music?

A

Sounds of different pitch occupy different positions of music scale

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18
Q

Fundamental frequency

A

Base frequency of a key on a keyboard
(E.g. A0= 27.5Hz)
Increasing fundamental frequency
-> higher pitch

19
Q

Tone chroma

A

Notes of same letter sound similar

20
Q

When do we go up an octave?

A

Each time we pass the same letter

21
Q

What is the frequency of notes with the same tone chroma?

A

Frequency of previous letter (an octave lower) multiplied by two

22
Q

Pure tone

A

A sound wave that can be described by a sine wave
Rarely occurs in nature

23
Q

Complex tones

A

More than one pure tone added up together
-> more complex waveform

24
What are the component pure tones that make up complex tones called?
Harmonics
25
When do we have a different timbre?
Same pitch, loudness and duration but different sound (e.g. same note on piano or guitar)
26
Why do differences in timbre occur?
Complex waveform by each sound consists of different combination of harmonics
27
What is the timbre of a sound also determined by?
Attack: build up of sound until it reaches steady intensity Delay: decrease in intensity at end of sound
28
What is the issue of auditory localisation?
Sounds from different locations stimulate same hearing receptors -> use of different cues created by interaction of sound waves with head and ears
29
Binaural cues
Information from both ears helping determine left-right position -> based on interaural level difference (Difference in sound pressure intensity on each ear)
30
Why does the interaural level difference occur?
Head produces acoustic shadow -> sounds from one side of the head will reach the other side with lower intensity -> only works for high frequency sounds (because head is larger than distance between high-frequency sound wave cycles)
31
Interaural time differences
Time difference between a sound reaching each ear -> sounds directly in front of the observer have no time difference -> sounds from a specific side of the head will reach the closer ear faster
32
Monaural cues
Information about elevation location -> mainly use spectral cues
33
Spectral cues
Sounds originating from different elevations stimulate hearing receptors with different intensity depending on frequency
34
How are spectral cues possible?
Shape of our pinnae -> before sound enters auditory canal bounces off of folds of pinnae -> different way of bouncing depending on elevation
35
How was the role of our pinnae proven?
Placing a mold in pinnae to change shape disrupts ability to detect elevation
36
Direct sound
Sound travels directly from source to ears Mainly outdoors
37
Auditory perception indoors
Direct sound + indirect sound Indirect sound: sound bounces off of objects as well before reaching ears
38
Which problem does auditory perception indoors cause
Sound reaches ears from different locations at different times -> decision as to where original sound comes from
39
How does the auditory system solve the problem of direct and indirect sounds?
Relatively long delay: >100ms -> sound perceived Short delay: 5-20 ms -> only first sound perceived => precedence effect
40
Precedence effect
Only first sound perceived
41
Echo
Very long delay of indirect sounds reaching ears In very large buildings Make detection of source hard
42
Architectural acoustics
Study of how sounds are reflected in rooms Used to optimise concert halls
43
How is the amount of indirect sound measured?
Reverberation time -> time it takes for sound to reach 1/1000th of original pressure
44
What is the ideal reverberation time for acoustic engineers?
~2s Still doesn’t guarantee good sound
45
How does the auditory system organise the elements of a scene?
Location cues: interaural level and time difference Onset time: two sounds start at slightly different times Timbre and pitch: sounds with same timbre and pitch often have same source Auditory continuity: constant or smoothly changing sounds come from same source Experience
46
Scale illusion task
Deutsch Sounds for each ear alternating with low and high notes without creating scale Scale only perceivable by combining both inputs -> subjects heard scale -> auditory system appears to group sounds of same pitch

Attention And Perception (4 decks)

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