Temporal loudness weights: Primacy effects, loudness dominance and their interaction.

Alexander Fischenich,Daniel Oberfeld,Jesko Verhey,Jan Hots,Julia Guldan

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0261001

Alexander Fischenich, Daniel Oberfeld + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261001

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Abstract

Loudness judgments of sounds varying in level across time show a non-uniform temporal weighting, with increased weights assigned to the beginning of the sound (primacy effect). In addition, higher weights are observed for temporal components that are higher in level than the remaining components (loudness dominance). In three experiments, sounds consisting of 100- or 475-ms Gaussian wideband noise segments with random level variations were presented and either none, the first, or a central temporal segment was amplified or attenuated. In Experiment 1, the sounds consisted of four 100-ms segments that were separated by 500-ms gaps. Previous experiments did not show a primacy effect in such a condition. In Experiment 2, four- or ten-100-ms-segment sounds without gaps between the segments were presented to examine the interaction between the primacy effect and level dominance. As expected, for the sounds with segments separated by gaps, no primacy effect was observed, but weights on amplified segments were increased and weights on attenuated segments were decreased. For the sounds with contiguous segments, a primacy effect as well as effects of relative level (similar to those in Experiment 1) were found. For attenuation, the data indicated no substantial interaction between the primacy effect and loudness dominance, whereas for amplification an interaction was present. In Experiment 3, sounds consisting of either four contiguous 100-ms or 475-ms segments, or four 100-ms segments separated by 500-ms gaps were presented. Effects of relative level were more pronounced for the contiguous sounds. Across all three experiments, the effects of relative level were more pronounced for attenuation. In addition, the effects of relative level showed a dependence on the position of the change in level, with opposite direction for attenuation compared to amplification. Some of the results are in accordance with explanations based on masking effects on auditory intensity resolution.

Highlights

Loudness is one of the fundamental qualities of auditory perception
In comparison to Experiment 1, in which we presented segments separated by 500 ms silent gaps, the effects of relative level were more pronounced in Experiment 2, as indicated by the weight factors shown in Tables 2 and 4
In Experiment 2, contiguous sounds were presented to investigate the effects of different positions of level change in conditions in which a primacy effect occurred in the baseline condition

Summary

Introduction

Loudness is one of the fundamental qualities of auditory perception. Recent research on loudness focuses on time-varying sounds. Powerful models for the prediction of loudness for stationary sounds have been proposed [1,2]. Current models for the loudness of time-. Temporal loudness weights dfg.de) to Daniel Oberfeld (OB 346/6-1) and Jesko Verhey (VE 373/2-1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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