Explore the vast range of titles available.

Psychoacoustics - Facts and Models represents a comprehensive collection of data describing the processing of sound by the human hearing system. It includes quantitative relations between sound stimuli and auditory perception in terms of hearing sensations. In addition, quantitative psychoacoustic models of hearing sensations are given. The monograph contains a unique collection of data on the human hearing system as a receiver of acoustic information as well as many examples of the practical application of the results of basic research in fields such as audiology, noise evaluation, and sound engineering. Many helpful hints for the solution of practical problems will be of particular benefit to engineers, and the book as a whole should serve as an important benchmark in the field of psychoacoustics. The treatment given in this second edition has been thoroughly updated with recent results.

Background sounds, such as narration, music with prominent staccato passages, and office noise impair verbal short-term memory even when these sounds are irrelevant. This irrelevant sound effect (ISE) is evoked by so-called changing-state sounds that are characterized by a distinct temporal structure with varying successive auditory–perceptive tokens. However, because of the absence of an appropriate psychoacoustically based instrumental measure, the disturbing impact of a given speech or nonspeech sound could not be predicted until now, but necessitated behavioral testing. Our database for parametric modeling of the ISE included approximately 40 background sounds (e.g., speech, music, tone sequences, office noise, traffic noise) and corresponding performance data that was collected from 70 behavioral measurements of verbal short-term memory. The hearing sensation fluctuation strength was chosen to model the ISE and describes the percept of fluctuations when listening to slowly modulated sounds (f mod < 20 Hz). On the basis of the fluctuation strength of background sounds, the algorithm estimated behavioral performance data in 63 of 70 cases within the interquartile ranges. In particular, all real-world sounds were modeled adequately, whereas the algorithm overestimated the (non-)disturbance impact of synthetic steady-state sounds that were constituted by a repeated vowel or tone. Implications of the algorithm’s strengths and prediction errors are discussed.

Psychoacoustics - Facts and Models represents a comprehensive collection of data describing the processing of sound by the human hearing system.It includes quantitative relations between sound stimuli and auditory perception in terms of hearing sensations.In addition, quantitative psychoacoustic models of hearing sensations are given.

Two different kinds of sound changes are discussed in this chapter. One is the variation that may be compared to variation in water level: there is always some water but the level varies as a function of time. In acoustics, modulations are typical changes of the sort we call variations. The other kind of change is that of differences. One apple may be different from another apple. In this case, we compare one piece with another piece. In acoustics, this means that we compare one sound with another sound presented after a pause. Because these two kinds of changes may activate different processing features in our hearing system, the first by direct and quick comparison and the second by activating and introducing memory, it is necessary to differentiate strictly between the two kinds of changes. Just-noticeable variations are useful in producing scales of sensations related to position, for example pitch through the frequency-location transformation as discussed in Chap. 5. However, both just-noticeable variations and just-noticeable differences are important as the “stones” on which the “house of sensations” is built.

This chapter addresses the hearing area and the threshold in quiet.