Simple reaction time for broadband sounds compared to pure tones

Josef Schlittenlacher,Wolfgang Ellermeier,Gül Avci

doi:10.3758/s13414-016-1237-x

Josef Schlittenlacher, Wolfgang Ellermeier + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-016-1237-x

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Abstract

Although many studies have explored the relation between reaction time (RT) and loudness, including effects of intensity, frequency, and binaural summation, comparable work on spectral summation is rare. However, most real-world sounds are not pure tones and typically have bandwidths covering several critical bands. Since comparing to a 1-kHz pure tone, the reference tone, is important for loudness measurement and standardization, the present work focuses on comparing RTs for broadband noise to those for 1-kHz pure tones in three experiments using different spectral and binaural configurations. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 yield good quantitative agreement with spectral loudness summation models for moderate and high sound pressure levels, measured using both pink noise covering almost the entire hearing range and bandpass-filtered pink noise with different center frequencies. However, at lower levels, the RT measurements yield an interaction of level and bandwidth, which is not in line with loudness scaling data. In Experiment 3, which investigated the binaural summation of broadband sounds, the binaural gain for white noise was determined to be 9 dB, which is somewhat larger than what had been found in previous RT measurements using 1-kHz pure tones.

Highlights

Spectral loudness summation is well understood, and despite the fact that it is important to consider when determining the loudness of real-world sounds, its quantification is still subject to discussion
When looking at the data points at 60 dB sound pressure level (SPL) only, reaction time (RT) are ordered as expected by the predictions of current loudness models
A 3 x 2 x 2 (SPL x bandwidth x frequency) withinsubjects analysis of variance confirms these interactions with sound pressure level

Summary

Introduction

Spectral loudness summation is well understood, and despite the fact that it is important to consider when determining the loudness of real-world sounds, its quantification is still subject to discussion. Numerous experiments (e.g., Miller 1947; Pollack 1952; Zwicker 1958; Scharf 1959; Hellman 1985; Hellman and Zwicker 1987; Meunier et al 2000; Schlittenlacher et al 2011; 2015) studied several aspects of spectral loudness summation and yielded a wide range of results, which may explain that two different national standards, DIN 45631 (1991) and ANSI S3.4-2007 (2007), presently coexist These two models differ by as much as 5 dB when predicting the loudness of broadband sounds (Fastl et al, 2009). It requires the participant to perform the mentally demanding task of direct scaling — another potential source of error when we are interested in perceptual rather than judgmental or context effects

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Conclusion