ObjectiveSounds in everyday environments tend to follow one another as events unfold over time. The tacit knowledge of contextual relationships among environmental sounds can influence their perception. We examined the effect of semantic context on the identification of sequences of environmental sounds by adults of varying age and hearing abilities, with an aim to develop a nonspeech test of auditory cognition.MethodThe familiar environmental sound test (FEST) consisted of 25 individual sounds arranged into ten five-sound sequences: five contextually coherent and five incoherent. After hearing each sequence, listeners identified each sound and arranged them in the presentation order. FEST was administered to young normal-hearing, middle-to-older normal-hearing, and middle-to-older hearing-impaired adults (Experiment 1), and to postlingual cochlear-implant users and young normal-hearing adults tested through vocoder-simulated implants (Experiment 2).ResultsFEST scores revealed a strong positive effect of semantic context in all listener groups, with young normal-hearing listeners outperforming other groups. FEST scores also correlated with other measures of cognitive ability, and for CI users, with the intelligibility of speech-in-noise.ConclusionsBeing sensitive to semantic context effects, FEST can serve as a nonspeech test of auditory cognition for diverse listener populations to assess and potentially improve everyday listening skills.

Curtain wall construction is an aesthetically popular choice among architects for exterior glazing. It is often employed in luxury settings where the expectation of acoustic isolation is high, but the ability to achieve it is low. This is particularly an issue with regard to room-to-room isolation at curtain wall mullions. The author will present a case study involving the use of curtain wall construction in a high rise luxury hotel and including the issues with warranty and an alternative approach to improving the performance of these elements.

Enhancement techniques are employed in two vastly divergent venues in Chicago with the purpose of removing barriers to communication. In the first case, the marine environment scaled to house Beluga whales presents its own acoustical obstacle. In the second, the presence of a microphone can be an obstacle as seen by a poet with a message to share. The Poetry Foundation implemented a voice lift system in a sonorous environment that supports the voice or light amplification, but requires assistance to extend the reach of the unamplified talker. Natural acoustic design, design of traditional public address systems, and the introduction of enhancement techniques are all outlined for these two case studies to illustrate how the roles intersect. Both environments are live in their un-enhanced state. The unusual aspect of these projects is the use of enhancement to increase intelligibility within a naturally reverberant space.

Threshold Acoustics has experimented with a number of non-traditional approaches to the evaluation of existing interior spaces in recent years. These methods have varied widely in response to the unique circumstances of each project. The challenges and advantages of each room must be approached with an open mind, in terms of both measured and qualitative evaluation, to reach a firm understanding of the acoustic character of a space. This paper will discuss studies that have utilized techniques as diverse as theatrical lighting and gels as a means of fine-tuning ceiling reflectors to working directly with musicians to determine how rooms as a whole or, in some cases individual room elements, respond to the frequency content and directionality of specific instruments. We will also discuss the method involved in a recent study of the interaction between a room and its reverberation chambers that was performed to gain a more complete understanding of the complex ways they influence one another.

The goal of this work was to apply an aurally-adequate time-frequency analysis technique to the analysis of sound scattering effects in auditoria. Time-frequency representations were developed as a motivated effort that takes into account binaural hearing, with a specific implementation of interaural cross-correlation process. A model of the human auditory system was implemented in the MATLAB platform based on two previous models [A. Härmä and K. Palomäki, HUTear, Espoo, Finland; and M. A. Akeroyd, A. Binaural Cross-correlogram Toolbox for MATLAB (2001), University of Sussex, Brighton]. These stages include proper frequency selectivity, the conversion of the mechanical motion of the basilar membrane to neural impulses, and binaural hearing effects. The model was then used in the analysis of room impulse responses with varying scattering characteristics. This paper discusses the analysis results using simulated and measured room impulse responses. [Work supported by the Frank H. and Eva B. Buck Foundation.]