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Loudness change in response to dynamic acoustic intensity
Kirk N Olsen1, Catherine J Stevens, Julien Tardieu
1MARCS Auditory Laboratories, University of Western Sydney, South Penrith, NSW, Australia. k.olsen@uws.edu.au
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance
|September 9, 2010
Summary
Loudness change is overestimated for sounds increasing in intensity (up-ramps) compared to decreasing ones (down-ramps). This perceptual overestimation is influenced by factors like stimulus duration and intensity, even when methodological issues are controlled.
Area of Science:
- Psychoacoustics
- Auditory Perception
- Psychophysics
Background:
- Loudness perception is crucial for auditory processing.
- Understanding dynamic sound perception is key to auditory scene analysis.
- Previous research has not fully elucidated the factors influencing loudness change perception.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the perception of loudness change in sounds with increasing (up-ramps) versus decreasing (down-ramps) intensity.
- To examine the influence of stimulus characteristics (timbre, layer, duration) on loudness change perception.
- To identify methodological and domain-specific factors affecting loudness change judgments.
Main Methods:
- Three experiments were conducted using spectrally identical up-ramp and down-ramp stimuli.
- Experiment 1 manipulated timbre, layer, and duration, with participants judging loudness change between paired stimuli.
- Experiments 2 and 3 controlled for recency, end-level biases, and paired-stimulus artifacts using steady-state controls and single stimulus presentations.
Main Results:
- Participants consistently overestimated loudness change for up-ramps compared to down-ramps.
- The proportion of up-ramp overestimation increased with stimulus duration.
- Perceptual overestimation was influenced by intensity region, end-level differences, presentation order, and duration.
Conclusions:
- Overestimation of loudness change for up-ramps persists even after controlling for methodological artifacts.
- Both cognitive and sensory mechanisms likely contribute to the observed overestimation.
- Findings provide insights into the complex nature of dynamic auditory perception.
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