Principles Of Auditory Scene Analysis Research Articles

Auditory Scene Analysis Principles Improve Image Reconstruction Abilities of Novice Vision-to-Audio Sensory Substitution Users.

Sensory substitution devices (SSDs) such as the 'vOICe' preserve visual information in sound by turning visual height, brightness, and laterality into auditory pitch, volume, and panning/time respectively. However, users have difficulty identifying or tracking multiple simultaneously presented tones - a skill necessary to discriminate the upper and lower edges of object shapes. We explore how these deficits can be addressed by using image-sonifications inspired by auditory scene analysis (ASA). Here, sighted subjects (N=25) of varying musical experience listened to, and then reconstructed, complex shapes consisting of simultaneously presented upper and lower lines. Complex shapes were sonified using the vOICe, with either the upper and lower lines varying only in pitch (i.e. the vOICe's 'unaltered' default settings), or with one line degraded to alter its auditory timbre or volume. Results found that overall performance increased with subjects' years of prior musical experience. ANOVAs revealed that both sonification style and musical experience significantly affected performance, but with no interaction effect between them. Compared to the vOICe's 'unaltered' pitch-height mapping, subjects had significantly better image-reconstruction abilities when the lower line was altered via timbre or volume-modulation. By contrast, altering the upper line only helped users identify the unaltered lower line. In conclusion, adding ASA principles to vision-to-audio SSDs boosts subjects' image-reconstruction abilities, even if this also reduces total task-relevant information. Future SSDs should seek to exploit these findings to enhance both novice user abilities and the use of SSDs as visual rehabilitation tools.

Auditory Streaming Complexity and Renaissance Mass Cycles

How did Renaissance listeners experience the polyphonic mass ordinary cycle in the soundscape of the church? We hypothesize that the textural differences in complexity between mass movements allowed listeners to track the progress of the service, regardless of intelligibility of the text or sophisticated musical knowledge. Building on the principles of auditory scene analysis, this article introduces the Auditory Streaming Complexity Estimate, a measure to evaluate the blending or separation of each part in polyphony, resulting in a moment-by-moment tally of how many independent streams or sound objects might be heard. When applied to symbolic scores for a corpus of 216 polyphonic mass ordinary cycles composed between c. 1450 and 1600, we show that the Streaming Complexity Estimate captures information distinct from the number of parts in the score or the distribution of voices active through the piece. While composers did not all follow the same relative complexity strategy for mass ordinary movements, there is a robust hierarchy emergent from the corpus as a whole: a shallow V shape with the Credo as the least complex and the Agnus Dei as the most. The streaming complexity of masses also significantly increased over the years represented in this corpus.

Modeling the contribution of auditory scene analysis principles to perceptual effects of orchestration

Auditory Scene Analysis (ASA) research has provided knowledge about the principles underlying auditory organization processes and has been successfully applied in computational ASA. Based on these findings, we applied these principles within a musical context. The aim is to understand and computationally model the perception of effects, such as blend and segregation, created by the combining and contrasting of properties of traditional Western instruments which result from three auditory processes: concurrent, sequential, and segmental grouping. The initial aim was to evaluate the extent to which the symbolic data provided in a musical score provide sufficient data to model the perception of these orchestral effects. Preliminary implementations have achieved an average accuracy score of 81%, suggesting that perceptual effects of orchestration can be partially retrieved by calculations based on ASA principles using symbolic data. However, many cases indicate that including properties of the acoustic signal would enhance the predictive power. This approach also provides us with the means to investigate the relative weights of the different principles involved in these grouping processes in order to understand their relative importance in musical contexts. These findings contribute to the creation of a framework for studying and understanding the perceptual characteristics of orchestration practice.

Perceptually motivated sound field synthesis for music presentation

The conceptualization and implementation of a psychoacoustic sound field synthesis system for music is presented. Critical bands, the precedence effect, and integration times of the auditory system as well as the radiation characteristics of musical instruments are implemented in the signal processing. Interaural coherence, masking and auditory scene analysis principles are considered as well. The sound field synthesis system creates a natural, spatial sound impression and precise source localization for listeners in extended listening area, even with a low number of loudspeakers. Simulations and a listening test provide a proof of concept. The method is particularly robust for signals with impulsive attacks and quasi-stationary phases as in the case of many instrumental sounds. It is compatible with many loudspeaker setups, such as 5.1, ambisonics systems and loudspeaker arrays for wave front synthesis. The psychoacoustic sound field synthesis approach is an alternative to physically centered wave field synthesis concepts and conventional stereophonic sound and can benefit from both paradigms. Additional psychoacoustic quantities that have the potential to be implemented in the presented and other audio systems are discussed.

The source dilemma hypothesis: Perceptual uncertainty contributes to musical emotion

Music can evoke powerful emotions in listeners. Here we provide the first empirical evidence that the principles of auditory scene analysis and evolutionary theories of emotion are critical to a comprehensive theory of musical emotion. We interpret these data in light of a theoretical framework termed “the source dilemma hypothesis,” which predicts that uncertainty in the number, identity or location of sound objects elicits unpleasant emotions by presenting the auditory system with an incoherent percept, thereby motivating listeners to resolve the auditory ambiguity. We describe two experiments in which source location and timbre were manipulated to change uncertainty in the auditory scene. In both experiments, listeners rated tonal and atonal melodies with congruent auditory scene cues as more pleasant than melodies with incongruent auditory scene cues. These data suggest that music’s emotive capacity relies in part on the perceptual uncertainty it produces regarding the auditory scene.

Instrument identification and blending in vinyl records during the transition period from jazz to rock music

Arnold Schering and others have partitioned music genres into traditions where the identification of individual instruments (Spaltklang) is the goal and others where instruments are blended to a homogeneous sound (Verschmelzung). Baroque music is often cited to emphasize the identifiability of individual instruments, whereas the fusion of orchestral instruments became one of the major goals in the romantic period. Historical vinyl record releases were used to investigate the extent to which the theory of identification and blending can be applied to 20th century popular music based on the fundamental principles of Auditory Scene Analysis. The identifiability of instruments was one of the major concerns for jazz combos, for example, in the Miles Davis sextet of the late fifties. Blending became more important in many types of rock music to create a huge sound, for example, in Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound of the 1960s. Artificial reverberation, dynamic range compression, and other effects were now used to c...

Auditory Scene Analysis and the Perception of Sound Mass in Ligeti’s Continuum

Sound mass has been an influential trend in music since the 1950’s and yet many questions about its perception remain unanswered. Approaching sound mass from the perspective of auditory scene analysis, we define it as a type of auditory grouping that retains an impression of multiplicity even as it is perceived as a perceptual unit. Sound mass requires all markers of the individual identities of sounds to be deemphasized to prevent them from splitting off into separate streams. Seeking to determine how consistent listeners are in their perception of sound mass, and whether it is possible to determine sound parameters and threshold values that predict sound mass perception, we conducted two perceptual studies on Ligeti’s Continuum. This piece consists of an extremely rapid, steady stream of eighth-note dyads with no tempo changes. We addressed the claim by Ligeti and others that the fusion into a continuous texture or sound mass occurs at ca. 20 attacks/s, hypothesizing that other factors such as pitch organization, emergent rhythm, timbre, and register would affect this value. A variety of factors were found to affect sound mass perception, suggesting that the threshold value is not absolute but varies according to principles of auditory scene analysis.

Auditory scene analysis and sonified visual images. Does consonance negatively impact on object formation when using complex sonified stimuli?

A critical task for the brain is the sensory representation and identification of perceptual objects in the world. When the visual sense is impaired, hearing and touch must take primary roles and in recent times compensatory techniques have been developed that employ the tactile or auditory system as a substitute for the visual system. Visual-to-auditory sonifications provide a complex, feature-based auditory representation that must be decoded and integrated into an object-based representation by the listener. However, we don’t yet know what role the auditory system plays in the object integration stage and whether the principles of auditory scene analysis apply. Here we used coarse sonified images in a two-tone discrimination task to test whether auditory feature-based representations of visual objects would be confounded when their features conflicted with the principles of auditory consonance. We found that listeners (N = 36) performed worse in an object recognition task when the auditory feature-based representation was harmonically consonant. We also found that this conflict was not negated with the provision of congruent audio–visual information. The findings suggest that early auditory processes of harmonic grouping dominate the object formation process and that the complexity of the signal, and additional sensory information have limited effect on this.

Conference report: 9th Annual NeuroMusic Conference, Modeling the Musical Experience.

The 9th Annual NeuroMusic Conference brought over 130 researchers and students to Hamilton, Ontario to discuss the theme the Musical Experience. The conference, which took place on November 30, 2013 at McMaster University, included three speakers, Dr. Edward Large (University of Connecticut), Dr. Stephen McAdams (McGill University), and Dr. Peter Keller (University of Western Sydney). The day also included a poster session, a tour ofthe new Large Interactive Virtual Environment (LIVE) Lab, and an integrative keynote lecture and concert. Dr. Peter Pfordresher (University at Buffalo) gave the keynote lecture accompanied by performers Leslie Fagan, Dr. Andrea Halpern, and the McMaster University Chamber Choir. Among the topics discussed were the neurodynamics of tonality perception, theory oforchestration, interpersonal synchrony, and poor-pitch singing. This report provides a brief summary of each talk and the LIVE Lab tour, as well as the evening's performances.Keywords: MIMM, conference, music, mind, brainThe 9th Annual NeuroMusic Conference, Modeling the Musical Experience, was held at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario) on 23 November 2013. The workshop was sponsored by the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind (MIMM), a multidisciplinary group comprising scientists, musicians, composers, educators, and community members. The event was organized by Dr. Laurel Trainor and Dr. Steven Brown and coordinated by Dr. Rayna Friendly and Elaine Whiskin. David Gerry organized the music for the evening's keynote concert.More than 130 attendees registered for this year's conference. The day included three lectures covering a broad range of topics in music cognition and perception. A panel discussion gave audience members the opportunity to pose their questions to the speakers as well as to the evening's keynote lecturer. The poster session offered a snapshot of 20 undergraduate and graduate students' ongoing work. Interested attendees took a tour of the new Large Interactive Virtual Environment (LIVE) Lab at McMaster University. The day concluded with an integrative keynote lecture and concert.Dr. Edward Large, University of ConnecticutNeurodynamics of Music PerceptionDr. Edward Large started the day by proposing a neurological origin for systems of musical tonality based in nonlinear oscillatory neurodynamics. Large pointed out that though tonal systems differ somewhat across cultures, many (such as conventional Western tonality and North Indian Raga tonality) overlap considerably in their pitch structures. Large suggested that universal aspects of the qualia associated with musical intervals can be captured in a dynamical systems analysis of mode locking, and that such a model is biologically plausible. Large noted that perceived musical stability is often thought to emerge as a result of experiential statistical learning, but suggested that the opposite may be true-that the inherent stability of certain intervals leads to their statistical frequency in the musical literature. His goal is to develop a theory of universal grammatical structure in music.Dr. Stephen McAdams, McGill UniversityToward a Psychological Foundation for a Theory of OrchestrationWhile there are many treatises on orchestration, Dr. Stephen McAdams noted that, as of yet, there exists no true theory of orchestration and that timbre remains largely unstudied, despite its crucial role in orchestration. Traditional music theorists often reject the possibility of rigorous academic study of timbre, but McAdams' lecture defied this perspective. He presented data from a number of experiments on timbre perception, often utilizing a multidimensional approach. He argued that an understanding of orchestration will rest on basic principles of auditory scene analysis, including event perception, sound identification, stream formation, and large unit perception. Through data presentations and audience demonstrations, McAdams showed that timbre plays a number of roles in the musical experience. …

Perception and orchestration of melody, harmony, and rhythm on instruments with “chikari” strings

The use of “chikari” strings on instruments such as the sitar and sarod manifests principles of Auditory Scene Analysis in creating a harmonic reference, melodic contrast, and rhythmic accompaniment. Unlike the principal “baj” strings on which the main melody is played, or resonant “tarb” strings that reinforce volume, the “chikari” strings are sounded at strategic points in performance to provide a drone, add texture, outline chords, mark rhythmic positions, and keep tempo. Listening and transcription experiments conducted with recordings of interleaved notes played on “chikari” and “baj” strings validate how differences in their timbre and tuning help to keep them perceptually apart while forming more coherent patterns based on timbre similarity and pitch proximity. Such grouping and segregation can affect the perception of temporal order, maintain the illusion of melodic continuity and in some cases of virtual polyphony. These observations add to the growing body of evidence supporting the role of timbre as a structural dimension of music and illustrate how a single instrument can bring about orchestral effects via the strategic use of devices such as “chikari” strings.

Multiscale modeling of attention and habituation effects in the tinnitus decompensation

Event Abstract Back to Event Multiscale modeling of attention and habituation effects in the tinnitus decompensation C. Trenado1, Yin Fen Low1*, L. Haab1, W. Delb1, 2 and D.J. Strauss1, 3 1 Saarland University Hospital and Saarland University of Applied Sciences , Germany 2 Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Saarland University Hospital, Germany 3 Leibniz-Institute for New Materials, Germany Tinnitus has become one of the most common symptoms affecting people all over the world. Extensive research has been carried out to study the neurophysiological mechanisms that are engaged in the tinnitus decompensation. In particular, many effcorts have been related to selective attention and habituation, which correspondingly play a major part in many of the existing tinnitus therapies. Regardless of an apparently clear interaction between selective attention and the tinnitus decompensation, it is still little knowledge on what are the neurophysiological mechanisms involved in such relation and whether it is possible to provide a neurophysiological framework linking them with respect to large-scale neural correlates of (auditory) selective attention. In relation to the later, we propose a bidirectional bottom-up top-down Multiscale model for large-scale neural correlates of selective attention in the tinnitus decompensation. The results of our simulations are compared with experimental auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) so that hypothesis is validated. Such framework is accordingly linked to tinnitus decompensation neural correlates under the light of a recently proposed synchronization stability measure. In our model, exogenous attention, which acts under mainly the in?uence of external stimuli, takes place on the bottom-up direction. A hybrid dynamic attention exerts its in?uence in the top-down direction. An essential notion in our model is that processing of auditory stimuli is carried out by following the principles of auditory scene analysis (ASA). To be exact, in the bottom-up direction a partition of the sensory input is followed by a top-down schema-driven segregation of the input based on store representations which depend on factors such as experience, knowledge, and possibly emotions. As part of such top–down processing, our selective attention model endows the segregated streams with a ?exible background stochastic weights, which intrinsically re?ect the human biasing of stimuli within the process of selective attention. Focusing on the architectureofour model, the auditory streams corresponding to auditory stimuli are determined and modulated directly by the corticofugal gains and indirectly by the intrathalamic gain. By realizing the proposed methodology, auditory selective attention nerual correlates for single sweeps in an auditory attention paradigm were reproduced. Habituation effects were also intergrated within the framework which shown by the decrease of the mean phase stability measure. We conclude that our model represents a novel unified approach that could give insight into the neurodynamics of auditory selective attention, habituation, and the tinnitus decompensation. Conference: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Türkiye, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Attention Citation: Trenado C, Low Y, Haab L, Delb W and Strauss D (2008). Multiscale modeling of attention and habituation effects in the tinnitus decompensation. Conference Abstract: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.110 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 03 Dec 2008; Published Online: 03 Dec 2008. * Correspondence: Yin Fen Low, Saarland University Hospital and Saarland University of Applied Sciences, Homburg/Saarbruecken, Germany, yinfen@cdb-unit.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers C. Trenado Yin Fen Low L. Haab W. Delb D.J. Strauss Google C. Trenado Yin Fen Low L. Haab W. Delb D.J. Strauss Google Scholar C. Trenado Yin Fen Low L. Haab W. Delb D.J. Strauss PubMed C. Trenado Yin Fen Low L. Haab W. Delb D.J. Strauss Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Why do children attend to global structure in speech signals?

Adults can use global structure such as that found in sine wave and vocoded signals for speech perception. Children appear to weight global spectral structure (represented at the syllabic level by formant transitions) even more than adults, prompting the suggestion that children first attend to the relatively slow vocal-tract movements that create global spectral structure rather than to the rapid and discrete gestures more closely associated with individual phonetic segments. But this interpretation hinges on an articulatory account of speech perception, which lacks general support. An alternative explanation is that children attend to formant transitions because they are found in voiced signal portions and so adhere to principles of auditory scene analysis, such as having a common fundamental. This work tested that hypothesis by using stimuli with no fundamental. Adults and children (3, 5, and 7 years) were asked to label fricative-vowel syllables with three kinds of vocalic portions: natural, sine wave, and whispered. Results showed that all listeners attended to formant transitions as much in the sine wave and whispered stimuli as in the natural, leading to rejection of the hypothesis that children prefer formant transitions because they are signal components that adhere to principles of auditory scene analysis. [Work supported by NIDCD Grant No. DC-00633.]

Monaural Speech Segregation Based on Pitch Tracking and Amplitude Modulation

Segregating speech from one monaural recording has proven to be very challenging. Monaural segregation of voiced speech has been studied in previous systems that incorporate auditory scene analysis principles. A major problem for these systems is their inability to deal with the high-frequency part of speech. Psychoacoustic evidence suggests that different perceptual mechanisms are involved in handling resolved and unresolved harmonics. We propose a novel system for voiced speech segregation that segregates resolved and unresolved harmonics differently. For resolved harmonics, the system generates segments based on temporal continuity and cross-channel correlation, and groups them according to their periodicities. For unresolved harmonics, it generates segments based on common amplitude modulation (AM) in addition to temporal continuity and groups them according to AM rates. Underlying the segregation process is a pitch contour that is first estimated from speech segregated according to dominant pitch and then adjusted according to psychoacoustic constraints. Our system is systematically evaluated and compared with pervious systems, and it yields substantially better performance, especially for the high-frequency part of speech.