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Hearing

Hearing

When we hear a sound, our nervous system is detecting sound waves—pressure waves of mechanical energy traveling through a medium. The frequency of the wave is perceived as pitch, while the amplitude is perceived as loudness.

Perception of Sound Waves

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...

Sound Intensity Level

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...

Echo

Echo

The human ear cannot distinguish between two sources of sound if they happen to reach within a specific time interval, typically 0.1 seconds apart. More than this, and they are perceived as separate sources.
Imagine the sound is reflected back to the ears. Assuming that the source is very close to the human, the difference between hearing the two sounds—the emitted sound and the reflected sound—may be more than the minimum time for perceiving distinct sounds. If this is the case, then the...

Sound Waves: Interference

Sound Waves: Interference

Sound waves can be modeled either as longitudinal waves, wherein the molecules of the medium oscillate around an equilibrium position, or as pressure waves. When two identical waves from the same source superimpose on each other, the combination of two crests or two troughs results in amplitude reinforcement known as constructive interference. If two identical waves, that are initially in phase, become out of phase because of different path lengths, the combination of crests with troughs...

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

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...

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An Automated System for Sound Localization Testing in Hearing-Impaired Listeners

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Amplitude modulation detection by human listeners in sound fields.

Pavel Zahorik, Duck O Kim, Shigeyuki Kuwada

Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics. Acoustical Society of America

|July 24, 2012

Summary

Human auditory system responses to amplitude modulation (AM) were studied using temporal modulation transfer functions (TMTFs). Results show TMTFs in reverberant conditions differ from predictions, suggesting enhanced modulation processing.

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Area of Science:

Auditory Neuroscience
Psychoacoustics
Signal Processing

Background:

The temporal modulation transfer function (TMTF) approach applies linear systems analysis to predict auditory responses to amplitude modulation (AM).
This forms the basis for predicting speech intelligibility using acoustical modulation transfer functions (MTFs).
Human sensitivity to AM via TMTF is understudied in realistic conditions like reverberation.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate human TMTFs under simulated diotic, anechoic, and reverberant listening conditions.
To compare TMTF results with acoustical MTF predictions in these environments.
To assess the validity of linear systems models in reverberant sound fields.

Main Methods:

Obtained TMTFs across octave bands (2-512 Hz) using virtual auditory space techniques.
Simulated three listening conditions: diotic, anechoic, and reverberant.
Estimated acoustical MTFs using two methods for each condition and related them to TMTFs.

Main Results:

TMTFs in diotic and anechoic conditions aligned with classic findings.
Amplitude modulation (AM) thresholds in reverberant conditions were lower than predicted by acoustical MTFs.
Discrepancies suggest linear systems models may not accurately predict TMTFs in reverberation.

Conclusions:

Simple linear systems analysis may be insufficient for predicting TMTFs from acoustical MTFs in reverberant environments.
Lower AM thresholds in reverberation suggest potential mechanisms for enhanced modulation processing.
Further research is needed to understand auditory processing in complex acoustic scenes.