Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Sound Intensity Level00:53

Sound Intensity Level

Humans perceive sound by hearing. The human ear helps sound waves reach the brain, which then interprets the waves and creates the perception of hearing. The loudness of the environment in which a person is located determines whether they can distinguish between different sound sources.
The human ear can perceive an extensive range of sound intensity, necessitating the use of the logarithmic scale to define a physical quantity—the intensity level. It is a ratio of two intensities and hence a...
Auditory Perception01:17

Auditory Perception

The auditory system is essential for sound perception, utilizing various critical structures. When sound waves enter the outer ear, they travel through the ear canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are then transmitted to the middle ear, where three tiny bones – the malleus, incus, and stapes – amplify the sound. This amplification is crucial, as it ensures that the sound vibrations are strong enough to be conveyed to the inner ear. These vibrations then reach the cochlea, a...
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location01:21

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

The human brain perceives pitch through two primary mechanisms reflected in place theory and frequency theory. Each mechanism describes how sound waves are interpreted as specific pitches by the brain, offering insights into the intricate processes of auditory perception.
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by identifying...
Sound Intensity00:58

Sound Intensity

The loudness of a sound source is related to how energetically the source is vibrating, consequently making the molecules of the propagation medium vibrate. To measure the loudness of a source, the physical quantity of interest is the intensity. This is defined as the energy emitted per unit of time per unit of area perpendicular to the sound wave's propagation direction. Since the total energy is greater if the source vibrates for a longer duration and over a larger area, dividing the emitted...
Intensity and Pressure of Sound Waves01:05

Intensity and Pressure of Sound Waves

The intensity of sound waves can be related to displacement and pressure amplitudes by using their wave expressions and the definition of intensity. The critical step to achieve this is to write the power delivered by the particles on the wave as the product of force and velocity and simplify the force per unit area as the pressure. The velocity of the medium's particles can be derived from the displacement.
Unlike the time average of a sinusoidal term, which is zero since it is positive and...
Perception of Sound Waves01:01

Perception of Sound Waves

The human ear is not equally sensitive to all frequencies in the audible range. It may perceive sound waves with the same pressure but different frequencies as having different loudness. Moreover, the perception of sound waves depends on the health of an individual's ears, which decays with age. The health of one's ears may also be affected by regular exposure to loud noises.
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same frequency...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Non-magnitude sources of bias on duration judgements for blank intervals: conceptual relatedness of interval markers reduces subjective interval duration.

Psychological research·2021
Same author

Richardson's ground squirrel (Urocitellus richardsonii) alarm call receivers experience an auditory continuity illusion.

Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale·2020
Same author

Multistable perception of ambiguous melodies and the role of musical expertise.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·2016
Same author

Dual-task interference effects on cross-modal numerical order and sound intensity judgments: the more the louder?

Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006)·2016
Same author

Numerical Context and Time Perception: Contrast Effects and the Perceived Duration of Numbers.

Perception·2015
Same author

Is 9 louder than 1? Audiovisual cross-modal interactions between number magnitude and judged sound loudness.

Acta psychologica·2015
Same journal

Poorer event-based compared to time-based prospective memory in a computerized household chores task.

Psychological research·2026
Same journal

Self-other discrimination in face recognition depending on personal familiarity: investigating a sample consisting of Japanese and Han Chinese women.

Psychological research·2026
Same journal

Sounds of creativity: musical, creative, and language factors associated with singing and creative singing.

Psychological research·2026
Same journal

Does sport expertise bridge the sex gap in mental rotation? Bayesian evidence for the critical role of visuospatial demands.

Psychological research·2026
Same journal

The development of an optimal learning strategy for high-similarity categories: the effect of example sequence on children's category learning.

Psychological research·2026
Same journal

Musical training increases anticipatory responding and predictive control in sequence learning.

Psychological research·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 22, 2026

A Two-interval Forced-choice Task for Multisensory Comparisons
07:13

A Two-interval Forced-choice Task for Multisensory Comparisons

Published on: November 9, 2018

Examining auditory kappa effects through manipulating intensity differences between sequential tones.

Doug Alards-Tomalin1, Launa C Leboe-McGowan, Todd A Mondor

  • 1Duff Roblin Building, Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada. umalards@cc.umanitoba.ca

Psychological Research
|April 28, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The auditory kappa effect, which links perceived sound duration to pitch, also applies to sound intensity. Context sequences, however, weakened this effect, contrary to predictions.

More Related Videos

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses
14:05

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses

Published on: January 23, 2017

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition
07:14

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

Published on: October 29, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 22, 2026

A Two-interval Forced-choice Task for Multisensory Comparisons
07:13

A Two-interval Forced-choice Task for Multisensory Comparisons

Published on: November 9, 2018

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses
14:05

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses

Published on: January 23, 2017

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition
07:14

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

Published on: October 29, 2018

Area of Science:

  • Auditory perception
  • Psychophysics
  • Sensory processing

Background:

  • The auditory kappa effect links perceived duration of sound intervals to pitch differences.
  • Prior studies show frequency discrepancies extend subjective inter-onset interval (IOI) duration.
  • The auditory motion hypothesis suggests context influences motion perception and kappa effects.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the auditory kappa effect with sound intensity.
  • To test the auditory motion hypothesis in the context of intensity perception.
  • To determine the influence of context sequences on the auditory intensity kappa effect.

Main Methods:

  • Experiment 1 used a three-tone AXB paradigm to assess auditory kappa effects for sound intensity.
  • Experiments 2 and 3 employed null and coherent intensity context sequences preceding AXB patterns.
  • Participants judged perceived temporal proximity based on intensity and pitch variations.

Main Results:

  • An auditory intensity kappa effect was observed: tones closer in intensity were perceived as closer in time.
  • Context sequences, regardless of their properties, reduced the strength of the kappa effect.
  • Contrary to the auditory motion hypothesis, coherent context did not enhance the kappa effect.

Conclusions:

  • The auditory kappa effect extends to sound intensity, influencing temporal perception.
  • Contextual auditory sequences can modulate, and in this case, attenuate, the kappa effect.
  • The auditory motion hypothesis was not supported in this intensity-based paradigm.