Basic Auditory Functions

Chapter 10
Pitch Perception
Loudness Perception
Auditory Localization
Perception of Simultaneous Sounds
 Physical Dimensions
• Amplitude
– height of a cycle
– relates to loudness
• Timbre
– Complexity of the tone
– Relates to sound quality
• Frequency
– cycles per second
– relates to pitch Sound is repetitive changes
• Most sounds mix many in air pressure over time
frequencies & amplitudes
 Perceptual Dimensions
• Pitch
– higher frequencies perceived as higher pitch
– humans hear sounds in 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz range

• Loudness
– higher amplitude results in louder sounds
– measured in decibels (db), 0 db represents hearing
threshold
 Perceptual Dimensions
• Pitch (not fundamental frequency)
• Loudness (not intensity)
• Timbre (not spectrum envelope or amplitude
envelope)
• The terms pitch, loudness, and timbre refer not to
the physical characteristics of sound, but to the
mental experiences that occur in the minds of
listeners.
 Pitch Perception

• Pitch perception theories include the following:

• Place theory: each area along the basilar
membrane responds to only one specific
frequency of sound wave
• Temporal theory: the basilar membrane
vibrates in synchrony with the sound and
causes auditory nerve axons to produce action
potentials at the same frequency
 Developments in Place Theory
• Waves move down basilar membrane
– stimulation increases, peaks, and quickly tapers
– location of peak depends on frequency of the sound, lower
frequencies being further away

Stapes (base) Helicotrema(ape

x)
 Developments in Place Theory

Stapes Helicotrema

• Envelope of the traveling wave: movement of the basilar

membrane in response to sound waves and where the
displacement peaks depends on the frequency of the stimulus
• Relates to activity of hair cells (stereocilia): stereocilia will be bent
the most at areas of greatest displacement
 Helicotrema (apex)

Stapes (base)
 Developments in Place Theory
• Stimulation Deafness: illustrates the differential
effects of frequency on the basilar membrane.
• Delicate stereocilia are damaged by loud tones
• Loud low-frequency tone damages stereocilia
near the helicotrema (apex) and the damage
extends over a wide area
• Loud high-frequency tone damages stereocilia
near the stapes (base) and the damage is
narrow.
 Developments in Place Theory
• Auditory tuning
curve: represents the
activity of an auditory
neuron when tones
of particular
frequencies are
played
• X-Axis: frequency
• Y-Axis: amplitude
 Complex Waves and Timbre
• Our everyday experience is rich with complex
waves
• Any complex wave can be broken down into
constituent pure sine waves (Fourier Analysis)
 Complex Waves and Timbre
• Harmonics: pure sine-wave components of the
complex sound
• Fundamental frequency (first harmonic): component
of a complex tone that has the lowest frequency and
typically contributes the greatest amplitude
• Overtones: other harmonics of a complex tone that
contribute to timbre, a tone’s sound quality related to
physical quality of complexity

• 200 Hz, 400 Hz, 600 Hz, 800 Hz

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYf9ij7S5Zs
 Pitch and Fundamental Frequency
All else being equal, the higher the F0, the higher the perceived pitch.

Lower F0, lower pitch Higher F0, higher pitch

Complex Waves and the Problem of
the Missing Fundamental
• Combine individual pure tones: 400 Hz, 600 Hz,
800 Hz, 1000 Hz to create a complex sound
• What pitch would you say you hear?
• The Missing Fundamental: a complex sound in
which the upper harmonics are present but the
fundamental frequency is absent
• Like illusory contours, with sufficient context the
auditory system can hear a tone that is not
physically there.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ8qZCGg4
Bk&t=25s
• You can try it yourself!
http://www.skidmore.edu/~hfoley/Perc10.htm
Developments in Temporal Theory
• Periodic stimulation of membrane matches
frequency of sound
– one electrical impulse at every peak
– maps time differences of pulses to pitch

• Firing rate of neurons far below frequencies

that a person can hear
– Volley principle: groups of neurons fire in well-
coordinated sequence
Developments in Temporal Theory
• Volley principle: auditory nerve as a whole
produces volleys of impulses (for sounds up
to about 4,000 per second)
– No individual axon solely approaches that
frequency
– Requires auditory cells to precisely time their
responses
• Hearing of higher frequencies not well
understood
 Pitch Perception

• The current pitch theory combines

modified versions of both the place theory
and frequency theory:

– Low frequency sounds best explained by the

temporal theory
– High frequency sounds best explained by place
theory
 Pitch Perception
The ear is more sensitive to F0 differences in the low frequencies
than the higher frequencies. This means that:

300 vs. 350 ¹ 3000 vs. 3050

That is, the difference in perceived pitch (not F0) between 300
and 350 Hz is NOT the same as the difference in pitch between
3000 and 3050 Hz, even though the physical differences in F0 are
the same.

300-350: 3000-3050:
 Pitch Perception
• Experience alters our perception of pitch
– Musicians vs. non-musicians
– Blind vs. sighted individuals
• The same physical stimulus, frequency, can lead
to slightly different perceptions of pitch,
depending on experience.
• You can combine different overtones to
produce the same perception of pitch
• The onset/offset of overtones can influence
your perception of a complex tone
Measuring Pitch
•Tone height: A sound
quality whereby a
sound is heard to be
of higher or lower
pitch; monotonically
related to frequency
•Tone chroma: A
sound quality shared
by tones that have
the same octave
interval
Loudness Perception
 Loudness Perception

Higher intensity, higher loudness Lower intensity, lower loudness

 Loudness Perception
• All else being equal, the higher the intensity,
the greater the loudness.
• Adaptation to loudness: listening to the same
continuous tone seems to decrease in
loudness over time
• A sound will appear to be louder after a period
of “rest”
 Loudness Perception
Loudness is strongly affected by the frequency of the
signal. If intensity is held constant, a mid-frequency
signal (in the range from ~1000-4000 Hz) will be louder
than lower or higher frequency signals.

125 Hz, 3000 Hz, 8000 Hz

The 3000 Hz signal should appear louder than the 125

or the 8000 signal, despite the fact that their intensities
are equal.
Loudness Perception
 Loudness and Pitch
• More sensitive to loudness at mid frequencies
than at other frequencies
– intermediate frequencies at [500hz, 5000hz]

• Perceived loudness of a sound changes based

on the frequency of that sound
– basilar membrane reacts more to intermediate
frequencies than other frequencies
Auditory Localization
 Localizing Sounds
• When we perceive a sound, we often
simultaneously perceive the location of that
sound.
• Even newborns orient toward sound sources.
• Interestingly, a given sound contains
absolutely no physical property that
designates its location.
• So the ability to localize a sound must be
caused entirely by neural events, since we
can’t “pick-up” positional cues from the
stimulus itself.
 Localizing Sound
• 3 different coordinates
– The horizontal (azimuth) X coordinate
– The vertical (elevation) Y coordinate
– The distance Z coordinate

ch 12 30
ch 12 31
 Localizing Sound
• On average, people can localize sounds
– Directly in front of them most accurately
– To the sides and behind their heads least
accurately.
– In the horizontal plane better than the vertical
plane
• Location cues are not contained in the
receptor cells like on the retina in vision; thus,
location for sounds must be calculated.
 Cues for Localizing Sound
• Binaural cues - location cues based on the
comparison of the signals received by the left
and right ears
• Identifies sound source in the horizontal
coordinate
– Interaural time difference (ITD)
– Interaural intensity different (IID)
 Cues for Localizing Sound
• Interaural time differences
– Capture the difference in the time that a sound
reaches the left and right ears
– When distance to each ear is the same, there are
no differences in time (in front/behind)
– When the source is to the side of the observer, the
times will differ (left/right)
– Identified by phase differences
Figure 12.4 The principle behind interaural time difference (ITD). The tone directly in front of the listener, at
A, reaches the left and the right ears at the same time. However, when the tone is off to the side, at B, it
reaches the listener’s right before it reaches the left ear.
 Cues for Localizing Sound
– Interaural level difference (ILD)- difference in
sound pressure level reaching the two ears
– Interaural level differences
• Capture the difference in the level of the sound
intensity (sound pressure level) that a sound reaches
the left and right ears
• Reduction in intensity occurs for high frequency sounds
for the far ear.
– The head casts an acoustic shadow.
• This effect doesn’t occur for low frequency sounds.
Figure 12.5. Why interaural level difference (ILD) occurs for high frequencies but not for low frequencies. (a)
When water ripples are small compared to an object, such as this boat, they are stopped by the object. (b)
The spaces between high-frequency sound waves is small compared to the head. The head interferes with
the sound waves, creating an acoustic shadow on the other side of the head. (c) The same ripples are large
compared to the single cattail, so they are unaffected by it. (d) The spacing between low-frequency sound
waves is large compared to the person’s head, so the sound is unaffected by the head.
The three curves indicate interaural level difference (ILD) as a function of frequency for three different sound
source locations. Note that the difference in ILD for different locations is higher at high frequencies (Adapted
from Hartmann, 1999).
 Cues for Localizing Sounds
• Humans localize high frequency sound by
intensity differences (sound shadow) and low
frequency sound by time differences (phase
difference)
– High-frequency sounds (2000 to 3000Hz) create a
“sound shadow”
– Difference in time of arrival at the two ears most
useful for localizing sounds with sudden onset
– Phase difference between the ears provides cues
to sound localization with frequencies up to 1500
Hz
 Cues for Localizing Sounds
• Sound “bounces” around the pinna before
entering the auditory canal.
• The number and direction of the bounces
depends on the direction from which the sound
originates.
• This is equally true for vertical and horizontal
displacements of sound, so unlike ITDs and IIDs,
the pinnas play a role in vertical localization.
• Clearly, experience is necessary
 Localizing Sounds

Here are two pinnas from two different people.

 Localizing Sounds

Each unique pinna produced unique waveforms

in the auditory canal
 Localizing Sounds
• Apparently, our brains adapt to the sounds
that come from our own pinnae.
• Finally, it seems that monaural cues are
sufficient for vertical localization (via the
pinna), since people can perform vertical
localization equally well in monaural and
binaural conditions.
• We are much better at localizing sounds in the
horizontal plane than the vertical plane.
 Localizing Sounds
• Localization errors can be reduced by moving
one’s head.
• However, head movements usually require a
fairly long time (by neural standards), ~500
msec.
• So, head movements are only helpful in
localizing sounds of relatively long durations.
 Estimating Distance from Sound
• Different sound levels
• Frequency
– atmospheric perspective (vision)
– The quality of sound (frequency) is modified by the
atmosphere.
• Movement parallax
– The nearby sound moves quickly than the far away
sound.
• Direct sound vs. reflected sound
– Nearby sound tend to be direct, distant sound tends to
be indirect
• In actuality, we tend to underestimate distances
based on sound information
(a) When you hear a sound outside, you hear mainly direct sound (path a). (b) When you hear a sound
inside a room, you hear both direct (a) and indirect sound (b, c, and d) that is reflected from the walls, floor,
and ceiling of the room.
 Nonhuman Localizing Abilities

• Echolocation: sending out an auditory signal

and gathering information about the
environment from the returning echoes.
• See with sound?
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLziFMF4
DHA
Integrating Visual and Auditory Localization

• We rely heavily on visual information to

determine an object’s location in space
• Eg. Hear a voice coming from an actor’s lips
even though the sound is coming from the
speakers
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jiKcvLAY
u0
Integrating Visual and Auditory Localization

• Visual capture: misperceive a sound as coming

from a likely visual origin
• Evolved to emphasize the input and provide
better information
• http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/mot_bounce/
• McGurk Effect: hearing lips and seeing Voices
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k8fHR9j
KVM
Figure 12.24 Two conditions in the Sekuler et al. (1999) experiment showing successive positions of two
balls that were presented so they appeared to be moving. (a) No sound condition: the two balls were
perceived to pass each other and continue moving in a straight-line motion. (b) Click added condition:
Observers were likely to see the balls as colliding.
 Noise
• Noise is unwanted sounds that have an
adverse effect.
• People differ in their judgments about noise
• Noise impacts health
– Hearing impairment (intensity levels and duration)
– Chronic noise produces stress, leads to
cardiovascular problems, impairs your ability to
sleep soundly, and impacts your ability to
complete complex cognitive tasks
 Perceptual Dimensions
• Timbre
– complex patterns added to the lowest, or
fundamental, frequency of a sound, referred
to as spectrum envelope
– spectrum envelopes enable us to distinguish
musical instruments

• Multiples of fundamental frequency give

music

• Multiples of unrelated frequencies give

noise
 Decibel Scale
• Describes intensity relative to threshold of hearing based on
multiples of 10
• 0 dB = threshold of hearing (TOH)
• 10 dB = 10 times more intense than TOH
• 20 dB = 100 times more intense than TOH
• 30 dB = 1000 times more intense than TOH

• An increase in 10 dB means that the intensity of the sound

increases by a factor of 10

• If a sound is 10x times more intense than another, then it

has a sound level that is 10*x more decibels than the less
intense sound
Decibels of Everyday Sounds
Sound Decibels
Rustling leaves 10
Whisper 20
Ambient office noise 45
Conversation 60
Auto traffic 100
Concert 120
Jet motor 140
Spacecraft launch 180