Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 18, 2025
06:04
Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages
Published on: March 24, 2023
474
Appraising the Sonic Environment: A Conceptual Framework for Perceptual, Computational, and Cognitive Requirements
1SoundAppraisal BV, Kerkstraat 102, 9745 CL Groningen, The Netherlands.
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
|June 26, 2025
Summary
This study introduces a framework for soundscape appraisal, explaining how we perceive and understand our acoustic environment. It details how pleasure and eventfulness create distinct soundscape experiences, impacting our sonic climate.
Area of Science:
- Acoustics
- Environmental Psychology
- Psychoacoustics
Background:
- Soundscape appraisal is crucial for understanding the perceived acoustic environment.
- Existing research highlights pleasure and eventfulness as key experiential dimensions.
- The hearing process involves complex sense-making and meaning-giving.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a conceptual framework for soundscape appraisal.
- To model the hearing process and its role in creating the soundscape.
- To establish a basis for comparing sonic climates across different locations.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual framework development.
- Analysis of auditory sense-making and meaning-giving processes.
- Integration of psychoacoustic principles and auditory scene analysis.
Main Results:
- A model of soundscape appraisal based on pleasure and eventfulness, yielding four quadrants: calm, lively/vibrant, chaotic, and boring/monotonous.
- Identification of core hearing process features: auditory channel prioritization, stream formation, and initial meaning-giving.
- Proposal of a sonic climate concept derived from long-term aggregated appraisals.
Conclusions:
- The proposed framework models soundscape appraisal as an outcome of the hearing process.
- The framework integrates experiential dimensions and auditory processing.
- Further validation is needed to align the model with human appraisal and evaluation.
Related Concept Videos
01:28Perception
598
Perception is a fundamental psychological process that enables individuals to organize, interpret, and consciously experience sensory information. This process is crucial for understanding and interacting with the world around us. It includes both bottom-up and top-down processing, each playing a distinct role in how we perceive our environment.
Bottom-up processing begins at the sensory level, where receptors detect external environmental stimuli. These could include the tactile sensation of...
Bottom-up processing begins at the sensory level, where receptors detect external environmental stimuli. These could include the tactile sensation of...
598
01:25Factors Affecting Perception
1.9K
Perception is influenced by perceptual set, context, motivation, and emotion. Perceptual set, or perceptual expectancy, refers to the tendency to perceive things in a particular way, influenced by previous experiences and expectations. This phenomenon affects the interpretation of stimuli, creating a set of mental tendencies and assumptions that impact sensory perceptions of sound, taste, touch, and sight.
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...
1.9K
01:01Perception of Sound Waves
4.7K
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...
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same...
4.7K
01:17Auditory Perception
597
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...
597
01:21Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location
440
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...
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...
440
01:31Hearing
53.1K
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.
53.1K