Auditory Characteristics Research Articles

The raw and the cooked in architectural acoustics

Whereas the 'raw' experience of live sound events is often quite far removed from the 'cooked' auditory imagery that is presented when live acoustical events are amplified by a sound reinforcement system, there are many audio signal processing tools that can be applied in the attempt to simulate the more natural auditory characteristics of live ('unplugged') musical performances. This paper builds a discussion of perceptual results of modern acoustical treatment and sound reinforcement technology based upon notions from Levi-Strauss regarding what modern culture does to the 'raw' to make it 'cooked'. A key concept in evaluating the quality of a sound reinforcement system is that of the standard of reference against which the perceptual results can be compared. As there is no shared opinion nor well-established optimal acoustical character for a space upon which some consensus could be built, the question presents itself again and again. This paper will address related issues of reference, preference, and adequacy in sound reinforcement.

The Essentials of Fitting Hearing Aids to Babies

Fitting hearing aids to infants requires special consideration at each stage of the process. In the assessment stage, electrophysiological hearing threshold estimates must be adjusted appropriately so that an accurate hearing aid fitting can occur. Ear canal acoustics are also important to consider during the assessment stage of the hearing aid fitting process for infants. A strategy for measuring the real-ear-to-coupler difference in infants is described in this article. Clinicians must also take into account the electroacoustic and nonelectroacoustic characteristics of the hearing aids that are chosen for the infant with hearing loss. Following the selection stage, verification that the electroacoustic performance of the chosen hearing aid is meeting the auditory characteristics of the infant is a vital part of the process. Finally, evaluation of the effectiveness of the device completes the hearing aid fitting process for infants with hearing loss. Each stage of the process is described in this article so that clinicians have information about the essentials of fitting hearing aids to infants with hearing loss.

Genetic and audiologic study in elderly with sensorineural hearing loss

This study aimed to correlate probable predisposing factors for sensorineural hearing loss in elderly by investigating the audiologic characteristics and frequency of mutations in genes considered responsible for non-syndromic hearing loss. Sixty elderly patients were separated into two groups: the Case Group, composed of 30 individuals, 21 females and nine males, all 60 years old or older and presenting diagnoses of sensorineural hearing loss, and the Control Group, composed of 30 elderly individuals matched to the experimental group by age and gender, presenting normal hearing. The patients underwent anamnesis and pure tone audiometry in frequencies of 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 and 6000 Hz. Blood samples were collected from each patient for analysis of mutations in nuclear and mitochondrial genes related to non-syndromic sensorineural hearing loss. It was observed a greater tendency to noise exposure and consumption of alcohol in the Case Group. The statistically significant symptoms between the groups were tinnitus and hearing difficulty in several situations as: silent environment, telephone, television, sound location and in church. All the individuals of Case Group presented sensorineural and bilateral hearing loss. The symmetry and progression of the hearing impairment were also statistically significant between the groups. No genetic mutations were identified. The most reported symptoms were communication difficulties and tinnitus. The predominant auditory characteristics included sensorineural, bilateral, progressive and symmetrical hearing loss. It was not evidenced a relationship between sensorineural hearing loss in elderly and genes considered responsible for non-syndromic hearing loss as no genetic mutation was found in this study.

Does bigger mean louder? Crossmodal congruency and memory judgment

Authors have shown that the relation between the perceptual components of the stimulus influences participants’ performance during perceptual categorization task (e.g., speeded classification task, Gallace and Spence, 2006; secondary occurrence judgment, Parise and Spence, 2009). For instance, participants are faster at identifying the size of the stimulus when it is accompanied by a congruent tone (e.g., a small circle presented with a low-pitched tone, see Gallace and Spence, 2006; Evans and Treisman, 2010). This mutual relationship has been formalized as cross-modal congruency and could be observed at both semantic and perceptual levels (for a review see Spence, 2011). However, the role of this cross-modal relation during memory judgment is relatively less established. Brunel and collaborators (2010) shown that during typical size judgment from memory, participants automatically simulate auditory characteristics associated with an object. In their paper, they argued that large objects are more likely to simulate sound, as large objects are often associated with loud noise (i.e., cross-modal correspondence between size and loudness). Here we aimed at demonstrating that during typical size judgment from memory, participants could be influenced by the cross-modal congruency between the typical size of a concept and loudness of an accompanying tone. In our experiment, participants had to judge concept-pictures according to their typical size (i.e., small or large objects). Orthogonally from size manipulation, each picture could be accompanied by a sound (either congruent or incongruent) or not. We found that participants were faster at judging typical object-size in congruent condition compared to the other conditions. This result brings support to Brunel and collaborators’ (2010) statement and provides a piece of evidence toward a cross-modal correspondence between size and loudness.

Verbal definitions of familiar objects in blind children reflect their peculiar perceptual experience

The aim of the present study was to examine to what extent the verbal definitions of familiar objects produced by blind children reflect their peculiar perceptual experience and, in consequence, differ from those produced by sighted children. Ninety-six visually impaired children, aged between 6 and 14 years, and 32 age-matched sighted children had to define 10 words denoting concrete animate or inanimate familiar objects. The blind children evoked the tactile and auditory characteristics of objects and expressed personal perceptual experiences in their definitions. The sighted children relied on visual perception, and produced more visually oriented verbalism. In contrast, no differences were observed between children in their propensity to include functional attributes in their verbal definitions. The results are discussed in line with embodied views of cognition that postulate mandatory perceptuomotor processing of words during access to their meaning.

Quantity of Parental Language in the Home Environments of Hard-of-Hearing 2-Year-Olds

Automated analyses of full-day recordings were used to determine whether young children who are hard-of-hearing (HH) received similar levels of exposure to adult words and conversational interactions as age-matched peers with normal-hearing (NH). Differences in adult input between children in this study and in a normative database were considered. Finally, factors were examined that may have contributed to individual differences in the input characteristics of families. Results indicated that the NH and HH groups were exposed to similar numbers of adult words and conversational turns. However, both the NH and HH groups were exposed to more adult words and engaged in more conversational turns than the NH children in the normative sample. Considering only the HH group, both quantity of adult words and conversational exchanges were correlated with children's auditory characteristics. Children's receptive language ability was correlated with conversational exchanges but not with adult word counts.

Auditory characteristics and therapeutic effects of enzyme replacement in mouse model of the mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) II

Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) II is an X-linked metabolic disorder caused by dysfunction of iduronate-2-sulfatase (I2S). This abnormality causes the progressive accumulation of incompletely degraded glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in the lysosomes. The auditory characteristics of MPS II in mouse models have not been reported. In this study, we evaluated the auditory characteristics of the MPS II in IDS knock-out (IDS-KO) mice. In addition, the effect of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) on hearing was studied. The IDS-KO mice had normal histology of the cochlea and retained good hearing at 7 weeks of age. However, at 17 weeks of age, the hearing thresholds of the IDS-KO mice were elevated and exudates were found in the middle ear. The hearing thresholds of the enzyme-treated IDS-KO (IDS-ERT) mice were similar to the wild-type (WT) mice at 17 weeks. Moreover, the microstructure of the inner ear was similar to the IDS-KO by transmission electron microscopy. The histology findings indicated that the microstructure of the inner ear was similar in comparisons between IDS-KO and IDS-ERT mice, even after 10 weeks of treatment. However, the hearing deficits in the MPS II mouse model can be prevented if ERT is started before the onset of hearing impairment.

An approach for capturing the Voice of the Customer based on Virtual Prototyping

The need for companies to improve their competitiveness may lead to innovation and the reconceptualization of traditional products and processes, with companies making an effort to enhance product elements related to functionality, attractiveness, technology and sustainability, and implementing mass-customisation concepts. Mass-customised products are developed to satisfy specific customer needs, in line with increasing demand for product variety and customisation. The analysis of what customers really want, capturing the Voice of the Customer (VOC), is one of the strategies used to establish effective product development processes. Using a VOC survey, it is possible to transform customer needs into the functional and psychological requirements of the product. This paper presents a methodology based on Virtual Reality (VR) technologies to support the capturing of the VOC in regard to the visual, haptic and auditory characteristics of products. This method can be applied to the beginning of the product development process, to allow companies to deduce from the data the requirements of new industrial customised products. A flexible and interactive Virtual Prototype (VP) of a product category is then developed as a product platform in a draft version by designers and configured according to customer needs, using an immersive VR environment. This method, based on the use of VP, reduces the number of physical prototypes that need to be manufactured during the product development process, thus reducing overall costs. In addition, the VP based method supports the mass-customisation process of products through the real-time integration and collection of data for product configuration preferences, involving as many users as possible representative of the target users of the new products. To demonstrate this process a case study concerning the development of the VP for a washing machine, a summary of test sessions with users and results are presented. Specifically, the results presented in this paper are related to improvements in capturing the VOC and reductions in Virtual Prototyping cost and time.

Acoustic and Auditory Characteristics of the Latvian Monophthong System

Acoustic and Auditory Characteristics of the Latvian Monophthong System

Evaluating reverse speech as a control task with language-related gamma activity on electrocorticography

Reverse speech has often been used as a control task in brain-mapping studies of language utilizing various non-invasive modalities. The rationale is that reverse speech is comparable to forward speech in terms of auditory characteristics, while omitting the linguistic components. Thus, it may control for non-language auditory functions. This finds some support in fMRI studies indicating that reverse speech resulted in less blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal intensity in perisylvian regions than forward speech. We attempted to externally validate a reverse speech control task using intracranial electrocorticography (ECoG) in eight patients with intractable focal epilepsy. We studied adolescent and adult patients who underwent extraoperative ECoG prior to resective epilepsy surgery. All patients received an auditory language task during ECoG recording. Patients were presented 115 audible question stimuli, including 30 reverse speech trials. Reverse speech trials more strongly engaged bilateral superior temporal sites than did the corresponding forward speech trials. Forward speech trials elicited larger gamma-augmentation at frontal lobe sites not attributable to sensorimotor function. Other temporal and frontal sites of significant augmentation showed no significant difference between reverse and forward speech. Thus, we failed to validate reported evidence of weaker activation of temporal neocortices during reverse compared to forward speech. Superior temporal lobe engagement may indicate increased attention to reverse speech. Reverse speech does not appear to be a suitable task for the control of non-language auditory functions on ECoG.

‘I know that aside from my arms I’m normal’: negotiating the incoherencies of a ‘VACTERL identity’

VACTERL Association is a medical diagnosis that represents a broad range of characteristics affecting the following body systems: vertebrae; anal; cardiovascular; trachea; esophageal; renal and radial; and limb. Auditory, growth, sex, and reproductive characteristics are often present as well. Thus far, VACTERL has only been examined within the medical system, and, within that framework, it has become identified as an anomaly and ‘disability,’ leaving the embodied experiential realities of individuals who live with it unexplored. This paper reports on a qualitative study with eight self-identified women with VACTERL Association. This paper provides an introduction to the experiences of these women and provides an exploration of the elements and processes of identity negotiation, with particular focus on the intersection between gender and ability. As well, the impact of a medical label as it affects identity formation is examined.

10 Tips For Testing Hearing in Children With Autism

10 Tips For Testing Hearing in Children With Autism

지각 특성 및 라우드니스를 이용한 입체음향의 성능 개선

인간의 청각기관은 소리의 방향과 거리인지에 있어서 양 귀에 들어오는 소리세기의 차이, 위상의 차이, 그리고 주파수 스펙트럼의 차이 등의 정보들을 복합적으로 이용한다. 이런 정보를 종합적으로 포함하고 있는 것을 머리전달함수라 하며, 이를 이용하여 실질적으로 존재하지 않는 음원을 근사적으로 생성할 수 있는 입체음향 시스템을 구현할 수 있다. 그러나 비개인화 된 머리전달함수는 음상정위 성능을 떨어뜨리는 주된 원인이 된다. 이에 본 논문에서는 이 머리전달함수를 이용한 3차원 음상정위를 위해 사람의 청각 특성을 이용한 알고리즘을 제안한다. 청자가 정확한 방향을 인지하기 위해 1차로 측정된 머리전달함수의 청각 자극 에너지를, 2차로 전역 마스킹 임계치와 라우드니스를 이용하여 방향감을 강조하였다. 제안된 알고리즘의 성능 평가를 위해 청감 테스트를 수행하였으며 실험결과 기존의 알고리즘에 비해 입체음향의 전체적인 인지도가 50% 이상 증가하였음을 확인할 수 있었다. The binaural auditory system of human has ability to differentiate the direction and the distance of the sound sources by using the information which are inter-aural intensity difference(IID), inter-aural time difference(ITD) and/or the spectral shape difference(SSD). These information is generated from the acoustical transfer of a sound source to pinna, the outer ears. We can create a virtual sound system using the information which is called Head related transfer function(HRTF). However the performance of 3D sound is not always satisfactory because of non-individual characteristics of the HRTF. In this paper, we propose the algorithm that uses human's auditory characteristics for accurate perception. To achieve this, excitation energy of HRTF, global masking threshold and loudness are applied to the proposed algorithm. Informal listening test shows that the proposed method improves the sound localization characteristics much better than conventional methods.

제주 연안에서 어획된 두툽상어의 청각 특성

In order to obtain the fundamental data about the behavior of sharks by underwater audible sound, this experiment was carried out to investigate the auditory characteristics of tiger shark Scyliorhinus torazame which was caught in the coast of Jeju Island by heart rate conditioning method using pure tones coupled with a delayed electric shock. The audible range of tiger shark extended from 80Hz to 300Hz with a peak sensitivity at 80Hz including less sensitivity at 300Hz. The mean auditory thresholds of tiger shark at the frequencies of 80Hz, 100Hz, 200Hz and 300Hz were 90dB, 103dB, 94dB and 115dB, respectively. The positive response of tiger shark was not evident after the sound projection of over 300Hz. At the results, the sensitive frequency range of tiger shark is narrower than that of fish that has swim bladder. In addition, it is assumed that the most sensitive frequency in auditory thresholds of Chondrichthyes is lower than that of Osteichthyes. Critical ratios of tiger shark measured in the presence of masking noise in the spectrum level range of about 60-70dB (0dB re <TEX>$1{\mu}Pa/\sqrt{Hz}$</TEX>) increased from minimum 27dB to maximum 39dB at test frequencies of 80-200Hz. The noise spectrum level at the start of masking was distributed at the range of about 65dB within 80-200Hz.

The structure of musical preferences: A five-factor model.

Music is a cross-cultural universal, a ubiquitous activity found in every known human culture. Individuals demonstrate manifestly different preferences in music, and yet relatively little is known about the underlying structure of those preferences. Here, we introduce a model of musical preferences based on listeners' affective reactions to excerpts of music from a wide variety of musical genres. The findings from 3 independent studies converged to suggest that there exists a latent 5-factor structure underlying music preferences that is genre free and reflects primarily emotional/affective responses to music. We have interpreted and labeled these factors as (a) a Mellow factor comprising smooth and relaxing styles; (b) an Unpretentious factor comprising a variety of different styles of sincere and rootsy music such as is often found in country and singer-songwriter genres; (c) a Sophisticated factor that includes classical, operatic, world, and jazz; (d) an Intense factor defined by loud, forceful, and energetic music; and (e) a Contemporary factor defined largely by rhythmic and percussive music, such as is found in rap, funk, and acid jazz. The findings from a fourth study suggest that preferences for the MUSIC factors are affected by both the social and the auditory characteristics of the music.

Seeing with Sound? Exploring Different Characteristics of a Visual-to-Auditory Sensory Substitution Device

Sensory substitution devices convert live visual images into auditory signals, for example with a web camera (to record the images), a computer (to perform the conversion) and headphones (to listen to the sounds). In a series of three experiments, the performance of one such device ('The vOICe') was assessed under various conditions on blindfolded sighted participants. The main task that we used involved identifying and locating objects placed on a table by holding a webcam (like a flashlight) or wearing it on the head (like a miner's light). Identifying objects on a table was easier with a hand-held device, but locating the objects was easier with a head-mounted device. Brightness converted into loudness was less effective than the reverse contrast (dark being loud), suggesting that performance under these conditions (natural indoor lighting, novice users) is related more to the properties of the auditory signal (ie the amount of noise in it) than the cross-modal association between loudness and brightness. Individual differences in musical memory (detecting pitch changes in two sequences of notes) was related to the time taken to identify or recognise objects, but individual differences in self-reported vividness of visual imagery did not reliably predict performance across the experiments. In general, the results suggest that the auditory characteristics of the device may be more important for initial learning than visual associations.

Auditory Morphology and Hearing Sensitivity in Fossil New World Monkeys

In recent years it has become possible to investigate the hearing capabilities in fossils by analogy with studies in living taxa that correlate the bony morphology of the auditory system with hearing sensitivity. In this analysis, we used a jack-knife procedure to test the accuracy of one such study that examined the functional morphology of the primate auditory system and we found that low-frequency hearing (sound pressure level at 250 Hz) can be predicted with relatively high confidence (±3-8 dB depending on the structure). Based on these functional relationships, we then used high-resolution computed tomography to examine the auditory region of three fossil New World monkeys (Homunculus, Dolicocebus, and Tremacebus) and compared their morphology and predicted low-frequency sensitivity with a phylogenetically diverse sample of extant primates. These comparisons reveal that these extinct taxa shared many auditory characteristics with living platyrrhines. However, the fossil with the best preserved auditory region (Homunculus) also displayed a few unique features such as the relative size of the tympanic membrane and stapedial footplate and the degree of trabeculation of the anterior accessory cavity. Still, the majority of evidence suggests that these fossil species likely had similar low-frequency sensitivity to extant South American monkeys. This research adds to the small but growing body of evidence on the evolution of hearing abilities in extinct taxa and lays the groundwork for predicting hearing sensitivity in additional fossil primate specimens.

You heard it here first: Readers mentally simulate described sounds

The present experiments examined whether readers spontaneously simulate implied auditory elements of sentences. Participants read sentences that implicitly conveyed details that could provoke auditory imagery (e.g., The engine clattered as the truck driver warmed up his rig.), and then performed an unrelated sound categorization task during which they classified sounds as real (occurring in the world) or fake (computer generated). In Experiment 1 these two tasks were performed in sequence; in Experiment 2 they were separated into three experimental blocks to rule out the possibility that readers strategically formed auditory imagery as a result of task demands. In both studies, readers were faster to correctly categorize sounds as ‘real’ when the sounds had been implied by a preceding sentence. These results suggest that readers mentally simulate the implied auditory characteristics of sentences, even in the absence of tasks that promote mental simulation. Mentally simulating described events is not limited to visual and action-based modalities, further demonstrating the multimodal nature of the perceptual symbols spontaneously activated during reading.

Genhør med dogme 95 [Dogme 95 reheard

Assuming that the 10 Danish Dogma films can be considered genre films, the article analyses the use of sound and music in these films. The “Vow of Chastity” proposed by the Dogma directors specifies that sound and image must never be produced separately, and the article presents elements of productions practice as well as aesthetic considerations. Using examples from the finished films, it demonstrates how the artistic intention formulated in the set of rules was handled during production and how it influenced the finished films. The individual Dogma films were quite different from an auditory point of view, but among the auditory characteristics of the films were the auditory jump cut and the abolition of the traditional dichotomy between diegetic and non-diegetic music.

Auditory Augmentation

With auditory augmentation, the authors describe building blocks supporting the design of data representation tools, which unobtrusively alter the auditory characteristics of structure-borne sounds. The system enriches the structure-borne sound of objects with a sonification of (near) real time data streams. The object’s auditory gestalt is shaped by data-driven parameters, creating a subtle display for ambient data streams. Auditory augmentation can be easily overlaid to existing sounds, and does not change prominent auditory features of the augmented objects like the sound’s timing or its level. In a peripheral monitoring situation, the data stay out of the users’ attention, which thereby remains free to focus on a primary task. However, any characteristic sound change will catch the users’ attention. This article describes the principles of auditory augmentation, gives an introduction to the Reim Software Toolbox, and presents the first observations made in a preliminary long-term user study.