Effects of degree of consonance and temporal pattern of the auditory signals on the auditory impression of warning

Abstract

Disaster alerts are usually accompanied by auditory signals at the beginning. It is to be desired that the auditory signal itself produces the sense of warning. Effects of (1) degree of consonance and (2) temporal pattern of the auditory signal on the auditory impression of warning were investigated using paired-comparison tests. In the both tests, sequences of 3 triads were used as stimuli. First, 7 types of stimuli were generated by varying the degree of consonance of the triad (frequency ratio of sinusoids was varied systematically from 2:3:4, 4:5:6, 6:7:8, 8:9:10, 10:11:12, 12:13:14 through to 14:15:16). Each subject showed changes of the auditory impression of warning depending on the degree of consonance, however, variation among subjects were observed. Second, 21 types of stimuli were generated in total by changing several temporal parameters (duration of the triad, interval between the triads, duty rate of the sequence). The results indicated that the auditory impression of warning increased as the duration of the triad increased the interval between the triads decreased.