Speaker Arrangement Research Articles

Can otoplasty impact hearing? A prospective randomized controlled study examining the effects of pinna position on speech reception and intelligibility.

ObjectivesOtoplasty is a commonly performed surgical procedure that restores the ideal position of the pinna. Although the pinna is a well-recognized component of the auditory apparatus, no studies have assessed the audiological effects of this procedure. We sought to quantify the impact of pinna repositioning on speech intelligibility and reception.MethodsEighteen adults with normal hearing and pinnae were recruited and the pinna positions were randomized in each participant. Intracanal acoustical analysis was performed to calculate the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII). Hearing In Noise Test (HINT) with two azimuth speaker arrangement was also performed. The outcome measures were compared using paired t-tests for both pinna positions.ResultsThe SII significantly improved with the pinna in forward position (49.3 vs. 45.8, p<0.001). HINT thresholds also improved with the pinna forward (-6.43dB vs. -5.08dB, p=0.0003).ConclusionsPinna position affects audiological performance, in both speech intelligibility and speech reception in noise. These are novel findings that may impact the informed consent process and decision to treat for patients undergoing otoplasty.

Acoustic Compliance Adjuster

A speaker arrangement is described, suitable for improving the sound quality of a small size first speaker. The arrangement comprises a cavity, to which the first speaker is acoustically coupled. A second speaker is also acoustically coupled to the cavity, and the first and second speakers are excited in phase with each other. The first speaker may be an earphone speaker tuned to be held to a user's ear, whereas the second speaker may be a larger ring alert speaker with lower compliance than the first speaker, both of which are incorporated in the same mobile phone. By exciting the second speaker in phase with the first speaker, the second speaker will aid the smaller first speaker's reproduction of sound, particularly in the lower frequency range.

Object detection system providing driver information through sound

A vehicle object detection system is disclosed that audibly conveys to the vehicle operator the direction of the detected object relative to the vehicle through the vehicle's audio system. The system includes a sensor array, a processor, and a speaker arrangement. The sensor array detects an object remote from the vehicle and generates a signal when an object has been detected. The processor receives and processes the sensor array signal. Then, the processor transmits the processed signal to the speaker arrangement. The speaker arrangement audibly conveys the processed signal over multiple audio channels. The method of detecting an object remote from the vehicle is also disclosed. The method involves detecting an object remote from the vehicle, determining information relating to the object, determining whether the information relating to the object meets certain criteria and, if certain criteria are met, transmitting sound over multiple audio channels to audibly convey object information through the vehicle's audio system, and modulating the sound outputted to give the driver directional cues for the position of the object.

Speaker arrangement for communication terminal

A communication terminal (11) comprising a housing (12) carrying therein a radio antenna element (27), a speaker (16), and a chamber (21) acting as an electromagnetic resonance cavity for the antenna and as an acoustic resonance cavity for the speaker. Said speaker is mounted inside said chamber and is coupled to the outside of said housing through a sound channel (22). The terminal comprises a user interface (13,14) on a front side (20) of the housing, and in that said speaker is placed behind said user interface as seen from said front side, with the sound channel extending from a channel inlet (28) at said speaker to a channel front outlet (17) at said front side.

Speaker and amplifier system

A high fidelity system is provided that employs a speaker and amplifier arrangement. The amplifier is separated into a pre-amplifier and at least one audio current amplifier sections. The connections between the pre-amplifier and the audio current amplifiers are much longer than the connections between the audio current amplifier and the loud speakers. The audio current amplifier may be mounted directly on the frame of the speaker, externally thereof.

Auditory apparent motion in the horizontal and median planes

The range of stimulus durations and interstimulus onset intervals (ISOIs) that produced the illusion of auditory apparent motion (AAM) were measured when two sound sources were separated in either the horizontal or median planes. Three speaker arrangements were tested, 350° and 10° azimuth at 0° elevation, 0° and 180° azimuth at 0° elevation, and 0° and 20° elevation at 0° azimuth. Subjects were instructed to categorize their perception of the stimulus sequence into one of five categories that were based on the number of sources heard and whether or not motion was perceived. Subjects also indicated the relative location of the leading stimulus. For each speaker arrangement, stimulus durations of 10, 25, and 50 ms and ISOIs between 2 and 70 ms were tested. The plane in which the sources were located did not affect the timing conditions that produced the illusion of motion. AAM was heard for stimulus durations of 25 and 50 ms at ISOI values that were roughly equal to stimulus duration for all of the speaker arrangements tested. However, judgments of the location of the leading source were affected by the arrangement of the speakers. Performance on this task was best when the sources were separated in the horizontal plane.

Wall mounted speaker system

A high-fidelity speaker arrangement suitable for mounting in the wall structure of a wall is disclosed. A bass reflex speaker enclosure containing a plurality of speakers and an associated cross-over network comprises the speaker assembly to be mounted in the wall structure. A mounting assembly adapted for mounting between adjacent wall studs is secured to at least one of the wall studs and receives therein the speaker enclosure. Both the mounting assembly and the speaker assembly have a depth dimension that is substantially equal to the depth of a standard wall stud, and a width dimension substantially equal to the nominal inside spacing between adjacent wall studs. A trim frame and removable cover grille is provided to finish the mounted speaker arrangement. When mounted, the speaker arrangement gives the appearance of being substantially a continuation of the surface of the wall while enabling the speaker enclosure to provide full range high-fidelity sound reproduction into the room.

Stereophonic effect speaker arrangement

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Latency of sound localization as a function of azimuth and frequency.

Two experiments investigated by means of backward auditory masking the individual localization times of eight loudspeakers arranged equidistantly on a horizontal azimuth around 5. In the first, 5s had to localize a 20-msec. tone of 1,000 Hz., followed by a SOO-msec. mask of white noise at 1 of 10 delay intervals. Localization accuracy improved with increasing delay. The notion of differential processing time was supported by the finding that rate Of improvement depended on speaker position. To meet the argument that these results could have been caused by the tonal quality of individual speakers, the study was repeated with 5s rotated by 90°. Also, frequency of tone was varied so that binaural time differences as well as intensity differences were mediating the localization decision. Despite rotation of 5, the same effects as in the first study were obtained. In addition, localization patterns differed with mediating binaural cues. Using eight loudspeakers installed equidistantly around S's head, Tolkmitt (1970) investigated the perception of bursts of white noise under conditions of rapid sequential presentation. Some of the results suggested that bursts from speakers in the aural axis were localized faster than those generated from median or diagonal positions. It was argued that the reason for this rests with the fact that sound sources along the aural axis are free of front-back ambiguity and consequently require less localization time than sources outside the aural axis. To test this notion, Tolkmitt (1972) investigated the speed of sound localization in a forced-choice reaction time experiment. The same speaker arrangement was used and 5 had to localize white noise coming from one of eight speakers. Controlling for the movement component of reaction time, Tolkmitt (1972) found that the localization time tended to be shortest for the two speakers in the aural axis. As reaction times are rather coarse measurements of mental processes, it was decided to explore localization latencies more fully by means of backward auditory 1 The author wishes to thank A. Heron, G. V. Stanley, K. F. Taylor, and A. J. Wearing for critical reading of the manuscript.

Electrical Equipment for the Stereophonic Sound-Film System

An electrical system is described which permits the use of sound-film with its limited signal-to-noise ratio, as a recording medium for wide-range stereophonic reproduction of symphonic music. Noise reduction is accomplished both by pre-equalization, rising to 18 db above 8000 cycles, and by automatic signal compression and expansion of 30 db. — To secure maximum suppression of noise and freedom from distortion, a pilot-operated, flat-top compandor system was selected. In each channel low-level signals are recorded on a separate track with constant gain 30 db above normal, which places them above the film noise. Higher-level signals cause automatic gain reductions and are recorded at substantially full modulation. These signals vary the intensity of a pilot tone, which in turn controls the compressor gain. There is a pilot frequency for each of the three channels, and the three are combined and recorded together on the fourth film track. During reproduction they are separated by filters, and operate expandors which restore the signals to their original forms but reduce the noise to inaudible levels. — The compressor and expandor gains are made proportional to pilot level in db, and the expandor range over which this relation holds is 45 db. Therefore a 15-db variation in average pilot level during reproduction causes a corresponding average level change but no distortion. This is used to allow expansion of the original signal intensity range during recording or re-recording by simple gain controls in the pilot circuits. — The paper describes the apparatus and circuits developed to accomplish these results, and discusses the frequency, load, distortion, noise, and dynamic characteristics of both constant and variable-gain elements. Also included are considerations of microphone and loud speaker arrangement and equalization to secure high fidelity of reproduction.