Loudness constancy with varying sound source distance

Zahorik, Pavel; Wightman, Frederic L.

doi:10.1038/82931

Cited by 109 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The phenomenon by which loudness remains constant as distance from the sound source is changed is known as loudness constancy (see Zahorik and Wightman, 2001) because of its similarity to perceptual constancy (e.g., the perceived size of an object does not change when viewed at a distance; for a basic review of perceptual constancy see Goldstein, 2009). Zahorik and Wightman's (2001) experiment indicates that loudness constancy for distance is related to reverberant sound energy, which remains relatively constant with distance from a sound source in normally reverberant rooms.…”

Section: Possible Cues For Binaural Loudness Constancymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When stimulus presentation in experimental conditions approximate daily environments, such as in reverberant rooms with sighted listeners, the stimulus cues become more complex and interesting phenomena emerge. For example, a type of perceptual constancy occurs in which loudness remains relatively constant while sound source distance is varied (i.e., loudness constancy, see Zahorik and Wightman, 2001;Mohrmann, 1939). In fact, many factors influence the perception of loudness in daily environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Binaural loudness summation for speech presented via earphones and loudspeaker with and without visual cues

Epstein

Florentine

2012

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Preliminary data [M. Epstein and M. Florentine, Ear. Hear. 30, 234-237 (2009)] obtained using speech stimuli from a visually present talker heard via loudspeakers in a sound-attenuating chamber indicate little difference in loudness when listening with one or two ears (i.e., significantly reduced binaural loudness summation, BLS), which is known as "binaural loudness constancy." These data challenge current understanding drawn from laboratory measurements that indicate a tone presented binaurally is louder than the same tone presented monaurally. Twelve normal listeners were presented recorded spondees, monaurally and binaurally across a wide range of levels via earphones and a loudspeaker with and without visual cues. Statistical analyses of binaural-to-monaural ratios of magnitude estimates indicate that the amount of BLS is significantly less for speech presented via a loudspeaker with visual cues than for stimuli with any other combination of test parameters (i.e., speech presented via earphones or a loudspeaker without visual cues, and speech presented via earphones with visual cues). These results indicate that the loudness of a visually present talker in daily environments is little affected by switching between binaural and monaural listening. This supports the phenomenon of binaural loudness constancy and underscores the importance of ecological validity in loudness research.

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Section: Possible Cues For Binaural Loudness Constancymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Binaural loudness summation for speech presented via earphones and loudspeaker with and without visual cues

Epstein

Florentine

2012

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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“…However, the overall received stimulus intensity is an ambiguous distance cue (e.g., if the emitted stimulus intensity varies independently of the source distance), which can complicate studies on intensity vs. distance processing (23). Acoustically, for sources off the midline, it is impossible to fix the received stimulus intensity at both ears as distance varies, because the rate of change in intensity with distance is different at the two ears.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuronal representations of distance in human auditory cortex

Kopčo

Huang

Belliveau

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Neuronal mechanisms of auditory distance perception are poorly understood, largely because contributions of intensity and distance processing are difficult to differentiate. Typically, the received intensity increases when sound sources approach us. However, we can also distinguish between soft-but-nearby and loud-but-distant sounds, indicating that distance processing can also be based on intensity-independent cues. Here, we combined behavioral experiments, fMRI measurements, and computational analyses to identify the neural representation of distance independent of intensity. In a virtual reverberant environment, we simulated sound sources at varying distances (15-100 cm) along the right-side interaural axis. Our acoustic analysis suggested that, of the individual intensity-independent depth cues available for these stimuli, direct-to-reverberant ratio (D/R) is more reliable and robust than interaural level difference (ILD). However, on the basis of our behavioral results, subjects' discrimination performance was more consistent with complex intensity-independent distance representations, combining both available cues, than with representations on the basis of either D/R or ILD individually. fMRI activations to sounds varying in distance (containing all cues, including intensity), compared with activations to sounds varying in intensity only, were significantly increased in the planum temporale and posterior superior temporal gyrus contralateral to the direction of stimulation. This fMRI result suggests that neurons in posterior nonprimary auditory cortices, in or near the areas processing other auditory spatial features, are sensitive to intensity-independent sound properties relevant for auditory distance perception.

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“…They found out that for both frequencies and only for low-level stimuli, the higher was the ITD, the louder the sound was perceived. As high-level processes can affect loudness, like the loudness constancy occurring with the perception of distance (Zahorik and Wightman, 2001), the authors wondered if the loudness variations they observed were accounted for by the ITD itself or by the localization process. studied the loudness of tones comprising both ITD and interaural level differences (ILD) at the same time.…”

Section: B Influence Of Interaural Time Differences On Loudnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of interaural time differences on the loudness of low-frequency pure tones at varying signal and noise levels

Berthomieu

Koehl

Paquier

2017

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Influence of interaural time differences on loudness for low-frequency pure tones at varying signal and noise levels.Proceedings of meetings on acoustics, AIP/Scitation, 2017, 30 (1) Psychological and Physiological Acoustics: Paper 5aPPb1Influence of interaural time differences on loudness for low-frequency pure tones at varying signal and noise levelsGauthier BerthomieuDirectional loudness sensitivity, which is generally accounted for by at-ear pressure modifications because of the perturbation of the sound field by the head, has been reported to occur at 400 Hz where shadowing effects are usually considered small. Then, an effect of the interaural time difference (ITD) on loudness has been observed for pure tones below 500 Hz. The latter was rather small but still significant, contributing to directional loudness sensitivity. In addition, it has been shown that the effect of ITD on loudness was caused by the ITD itself and not by its related localization. As this effect appeared significant at low level only (40 phon), it was hypothesized that ITD could help separate the signal from the internal noise and enhance its loudness. The aim of the present study is to confirm this hypothesis by observing the effect of ITD on the loudness of low-frequency pure tones (100 and 200 Hz) for various signal-to-noise ratios. The signal level was varied from 30 to 90 phon and the noise could be internal only or external also. The effect of ITD appeared significant at low levels or for small signal-to-noise ratios.

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Loudness constancy with varying sound source distance

Cited by 109 publications

References 28 publications

Binaural loudness summation for speech presented via earphones and loudspeaker with and without visual cues

Binaural loudness summation for speech presented via earphones and loudspeaker with and without visual cues

Neuronal representations of distance in human auditory cortex

Influence of interaural time differences on the loudness of low-frequency pure tones at varying signal and noise levels

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