The Doppler effect is not what you think it is: Dramatic pitch change due to dynamic intensity change

McBeath, Michael K.; Neuhoff, John G.

doi:10.3758/bf03196286

Cited by 42 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…This finding is parallel to those in humans, who are similarly susceptible to perceiving rising frequency as indicating an approaching source even though physical measurements of approaching sound sources moving at a constant velocity reveal that they actually fall in frequency (McBeath & Neuhoff, 2002). Indeed, human subjects will rate rising frequency sounds as louder than falling frequency sounds even when the absolute intensity is constant (Neuhoff et al, 1999), a context exactly parallel to our Experiment 1.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

“…A quadratic change corresponds to the time course of amplitude change of an approaching sound source at constant velocity. Two semitones correspond approximately to an intensity change of 20 dB (McBeath & Neuhoff, 2002), the amount of intensity change used previously in an identical experimental setup (Ghazanfar et al, 2002). The intensity or amplitude envelope was identical and constant between the two sounds.…”

Section: Experiments 1: One-shot Playbacksmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) hear rising frequency sounds as looming.

Ghazanfar¹,

Maier²

2009

Behavioral Neuroscience

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Rising sound intensity provides an important cue for the detection of looming objects. Studies with humans indirectly suggest that rising pitch can also signal a looming object. This link between rising intensity and rising frequency is puzzling because no physical rise in frequency occurs when a sound source approaches. Putative explanations include (a) the idea that the loudness of sound depends on its frequency, (b) the frequent co-occurrence of rising intensity with rising frequency in vocalizations generates an association between the 2 features, and (c) auditory neurons process amplitude-and frequency-modulated sounds similarly. If these hypotheses are valid, then rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)-which share some homologies in the vocal production apparatus and auditory system-should also associate rising frequency with rising intensity, and thus should perceive rising frequency as a looming sound source. A head-turning assay and a preferential-looking paradigm revealed that monkeys show an attentional bias toward rising versus falling frequency sounds and link the former to visual looming signals. This suggests that monkeys hear a rising frequency sound as a looming sound source even though, in the real world, no such link exists.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Section: Experiments 1: One-shot Playbacksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) hear rising frequency sounds as looming.

Ghazanfar¹,

Maier²

2009

Behavioral Neuroscience

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“…Note that digitally increasing the amplitude of the signal does not modify the phonetic information in the signal, in contrast to naturally producing tokens at various amplitudes (e.g., whisper, normal conversation level, and scream). Thus, only certain dimensions of a stimulus may be cognitively relevant-perhaps only those dimensions that are naturally correlated (McBeath & Neuhoff, 2002)-and only certain dimensions may be engaging to attention and may affect processing. Future research of change detection in the auditory domain may lead to insights about the general mechanisms of attention and cognition as well as to specific insights into the processes and representations involved in spoken word recognition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Change deafness: The inability to detect changes between two voices.

Vitevitch

2003

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

112

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A shadowing task was used to demonstrate an auditory analogue of change blindness (the failure to detect a change in a visual scene), namely change deafness. Participants repeated words varying in lexical difficulty. Halfway through the word list, either the same or a different talker presented the words to participants. At least 40% of the participants failed to detect the change in talker. More interesting is that differences in shadowing times were found as a function of change detection. Alternative possibilities to the change detection phenomenon were ruled out. The results of these experiments suggest that the allocation of attention may influence the detection of changes as well as the processing of spoken words in complex ways.

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“…If the vehicle turns, there is a different pattern of change in the underlying cues. Transverse motion also introduces a sound frequency change known as the Doppler shift (McBeath & Neuhoff, 2002) caused by acceleration (during approach) in the distance component of motion, noticeable at fairly high velocities. Doppler shift can specify that a sound source is approaching (or receding from) a listener, with some indication of the rate of approach.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Auditory Perception of Motor Vehicle Travel Paths

et al. 2012

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Objective These experiments address concerns that motor vehicles in electric engine mode are so quiet that they pose a risk to pedestrians, especially those with visual impairments. Background The “quiet car” issue has focused on hybrid and electric vehicles, although it also applies to internal combustion engine vehicles. Previous research has focused on detectability of vehicles, mostly in quiet settings. Instead, we focused on the functional ability to perceive vehicle motion paths. Method Participants judged whether simulated vehicles were traveling straight or turning, with emphasis on the impact of background traffic sound. Results In quiet, listeners made the straight-or-turn judgment soon enough in the vehicle’s path to be useful for deciding whether to start crossing the street. This judgment is based largely on sound level cues rather than the spatial direction of the vehicle. With even moderate background traffic sound, the ability to tell straight from turn paths is severely compromised. The signal-to-noise ratio needed for the straight-or-turn judgment is much higher than that needed to detect a vehicle. Conclusion Although a requirement for a minimum vehicle sound level might enhance detection of vehicles in quiet settings, it is unlikely that this requirement would contribute to pedestrian awareness of vehicle movements in typical traffic settings with many vehicles present. Application The findings are relevant to deliberations by government agencies and automobile manufacturers about standards for minimum automobile sounds and, more generally, for solutions to pedestrians’ needs for information about traffic, especially for pedestrians with sensory impairments.

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The Doppler effect is not what you think it is: Dramatic pitch change due to dynamic intensity change

Cited by 42 publications

References 49 publications

Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) hear rising frequency sounds as looming.

Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) hear rising frequency sounds as looming.

Change deafness: The inability to detect changes between two voices.

Auditory Perception of Motor Vehicle Travel Paths

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