Previous sound effects on loudness in paired comparison experiments

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the effects of a previous sound on loudness by performing paired comparison experiments. Two pure tones measuring 74 to 86 dB SPL at 500 Hz were presented monaurally at a certain interstimulus interval (ISI), which was set between 0.5 and 8 s. One of the pure tones was presented in one ear, and then the other was presented in the contralateral or ipsilateral ear. The subject compared the loudness of two pure tones and responded which sound was felt louder. The effect of presentation order in the paired comparison was calculated from the experimental results, and then the previous sound effect was obtained from the presentation order effect. As results, the sound presented second in the ipsilateral ear was perceived to be about 1 dB softer than the first sound at an ISI of 0.5 s even when both sounds had the same SPL. On the contrary, the second sound in the contralateral ear was perceived to be about 1 dB louder than the first sound significantly. This effect is referred to as ''auditory reinforcement.'' The effect level of auditory reinforcement decreased as ISI increased.

Absolute threshold of hearing decreased by perceiving a previous sound

“…Therefore, the cause of this phenomenon is considered to be related to the change in the perception of the second sound after perceiving the first sound (previous sound effect) or to the change in the memory of the first sound with time (memory effect). However, these were not clarified experimentally in the previous study [3].…”

“…The loudness of a sound is affected by other previously heard sounds. Several studies have been carried out on the effects of a previous sound [1][2][3], including auditory fatigue [4][5][6][7], loudness recalibration [8][9][10][11][12][13], and loudness enhancement [14][15][16][17][18]. Most of these phenomena involve the deterioration of the loudness of a sound after the perception of a previous sound.…”

“…Most of these phenomena involve the deterioration of the loudness of a sound after the perception of a previous sound. Yoshida et al reported that when a pair of sounds was compared in the contralateral ear, the second presented sound was felt to be louder than the first sound even when these sounds had the same sound pressure level; this phenomenon was referred to as ''auditory reinforcement'' [3]. This phenomenon occurred when two sounds were compared relatively.…”

Changes in absolute hearing threshold depending on sound pressure level of a previous sound

“…The previous and test sounds had the same duration of 3 s and these sounds were performed fade-in and fade-out processes for 0.1 s to remove click sounds. The interstimulus interval between the previous and test sounds was 0.5 s [19,20]. These sounds were recorded onto a DAT and their SPLs were arranged using the audiometer when the sounds were reproduced from the DAT player.…”

“…Perception of a sound changes depending on the context [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. When a sound is presented to one ear immediately after presenting a previous sound to the same ear (ipsilateral ear), the loudness of the sound is felt softer than the sound without the previous sound.…”