Loudness: Kunnampallil Gejo John Baslp, Maslp

LOUDNESS
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN BASLP,MASLP
KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN
The intensity of a sound refers to the physical magnitude which can be expressed as its power or pressure The perception of the intensity is called loudness There is not a simple one to one correlation between the intensity and loudness Loudness changes when the bass and treble changes
Absolute Threshold
Threshold can be defined as the level at which the sound is heard 50% of the time its prsented(0.5 probability)
Absolute sensitivity
Minimum audible level: The absolute sensitivity describes how much sound intensity is necessary for a typical normal hearing individual to just detect the presence of a stimulus Two fundamental methods have been used MAP(minimum audible pressure): Testing subjects threshold through ear phones and then actually monitoring the sound pressure in the ear canal that corresponds to these threshold
MAF(minimum audible field) Testing subjects threshold by use of a loud speaker and the subjects leave the room and a small mic is placed where the subjects head had been.These measurements corresponds to MAF
Usually MAP curves fall below the MAF curves i.e. a lower intensity is needed to reach the threshold in MAF than MAP It was first demonstrated by Sivian and White and the discrepancy of 6-10 dB is called the missing 6 dB According to them the discrepancy might be due to Physiological noise picked up by the ear when its covered by ear
Binaural thresholds are better than monaural ones
MAP-MAF in water
Under
water the performance will be impaired because of heightened stress and demand on the attention of divers The immersion head under water result in a detection threshold at about 60dB SPL Sivian(1943) speculated that water plugging the ear would enhance hearing by bone conduction and he estimated the hearing loss in water to be between 4449 dB
Hamilton reported that upward threshold shift of 35-45 dB in divers and no change in loudness for occluded ear A study program was initiated to determine the factors which limits mans ability to converse under water as does in the air
Procedure
2 subjects MAP,MAF measurements were done in air. The maximum difference between the two was 4 dB at 4khz and below these frequency the deviation was less than 2dB After the measurements were completed in air, arrangements were made to make similar measurements in water under same 2 subjects.
All underwater measurements were made at the underwater sound laboratory pond The depth of the water was 50 feet and the temperature at the time of test was 72-74F Evidence indicated that hearing under water is primarily accomplished by bone conduction. The increased velocity of sound in water caused a reduced interaural time difference (ITD)and interaural intensity difference and also serve insertion of their fingers into the ear caused no detectable difference in the underwater thresholds
Sivian 1943- the greatest loss in sensitivity underwater is caused by impedance mismatch in air and water also the bone structure of the body is more closely match to sea water than is in the air and an increase in bone conduction reception might be expected
According
to sivian 1943 reduction in sensitivity caused by impedance mismatch in water was around 40dB The sensitivity of submerged ear may be further reduced by factors such as unbalanced static pressure increasing with depth The reduction of increased ambient sound field caused by the acoustic softness or the swimmers head and the body
Sivian also suggested that hearing through the ear drum submerged in water and bone conduction may have approximate hearing threshold at 1Khz and it is of the order of 45-50 dB above the threshold of the air plus allow ness of the effect of unbalanced static pressure and the pressure release effect of the swimmers body
Theories of hearing under water

Tympanic theory- Banner under water hearing is accomplished, the same manner as hearing in air, however because the human ear is adapted (impedance match ) to function in air and the characteristic acoustic impedance of water is much greater than that of the air, a substantial mismatch exist btw water and air Banner concluded that the human ear is not sensitive to water born sounds as it is to air borne
Acc to this model the sensitivity loss is frequency dependent i.e. there will be no loss of sensitivity at 100hz but a linear drop in sensitivity (12dB/octave) as frequency increases from 1005khz
Sivians dual path approach
Under water hearing is mediated by both tympanic and bone conduction mechanism and they are approximately equal by 1khz,at other frequency one path way may predominate One complication of dual path approach is that a deficiency in one route should not result in degraded under water hearing When under water hearing is compared to that in air the two are not found to be equal
Bone conduction model Reysenback and Hann
Since the impedance of human skull is close to that of water sound is readily transmitted from water to cochlea through these tissues and it bypasses the acoustically in efficient route of the external and the middle ear It also postulated that 2 cochlea are not independently stimulated under water as they are in air due to cross conduction of sound through the skull and it impairs the sound localization in humans
Its suggested that the so called underwater hearing loss is not a loss at all but rather that the thresholds of sensitivity i.e. on the mechanical relationship between sound transmission in water and the anatomy of human head The observed threshold are consequence of the mechanical force/amplitude arrangements i.e. those which under water sound travel through air in a high amplitude low force model(Af) yet through a fluid such as water as high force low amplitude (aF).the external and middle section of the ear function to increase the force from its air born level to one which will interfere with viscous fluid of the inner ear
Hearing in air is Af aF where as hearing under water involves a third step (aF Af aF) with all the reduction in efficiency that this multiple change implies. Ie the external and middle ear mechanism are not needed, sound waves enters the cochlea directly through the skull
Model of underwater hearing
This model specifies that the human dynamic range of hearing is reduced to 55-60dB from one in air which can exceed 130 dB Under water sound does not decay as rapidly as it does in the air Because due to elevated threshold of detect ability the divers may not be aware of the actual intensity of some of the high energy sound that they experience
Loudness level of a sound is the sound pressure level of a 1 khz tone that is as loud as the sound Its unit is Phon
Loudness level
The magnitude of intensity needed in order for tones of different frequencies to sound equally loud---equal loudness level
Procedure
One tone is presented at a fixed intensity level and serve as the reference tone. The other tone is then varied in level until the loudness is judged equal to that of the reference tone. The traditional reference tone was 1khz Steven (1972) suggested the use of 3150hz where threshold sensitivity is almost acute
If the experiment is repeated for different reference tone intensity the result is a series of contours like the figure
Equal loudness contour curve are of similar shape to the threshold curve but tend to become flatter at high loudness level i.e. the rate of growth of loudness differ for tones of different frequencies The rate of growth of lower frequency and to same extend for higher frequency is higher than for middle frequencies
Loudness matching
The listener is required to vary the intensity of one stimuli so that it sound as loud as a standard stimulus with a fixed intensity The procedure reveals how the physical parameters of sound (frequency and bandwidth) affect the loudness and also how loudness is affected by intrinsic factors of the listeners ear (eg; presence of SN component)
Method for measurement of equal loudness contours

Fletcher and Munson(1933) They took up 11 subjects, hearing thresholds were determined and rule out for any pathology
Method
used:Loudness balanced method
First the subject heard the sound being tested and immediately afterwards the reference tone each for a period of one second after a pause of one sound. The subjects were required to estimate whether the reference tone was louder or softer
Other methods
Magnitude
estimation method (frequently used) Magnitude production method Cross modality method
Robinson and dadson

120 subject of normals-ruled out for any pathology Method:Method of constant stimuli Observer task is to simply judge the inequality of loudnesss for pair of pure tone,one at fixed intensity and the other variable.
Innitial comparison to the standard reference tone of 1khz and corresponding equal loudness relation to various frequencies.
Fletcher-munson
Linear increaser in loudness from 500hz-20khz.
Robinson-Dadson
Relatively high steeper at low frequncies.(20Hz100Hz)
Obtained phon curve up to 120 phones
Relatively flat response at 100hz and 1000hz. Obtained phon curve up to 100 phones.
Similarities:

Both ELCs have notch at 4 khz. Both ELCs are in 10dB steps Flat response of loudness seen at high loudness levels.
Loudness scaling-SS Stevens

2 methods Magnitude estimation Magnitude production In ME, sounds with various levels are presented and the subject is asked to assign number to each one according to its perceived loudness
Magnitude production
The subject is asked to adjust the level of a test sound until it has a specified loudness either in absolute terms or relative terms that of a standard. for eg: twice as loud,4 times as loud and so on.
The real function lies somewhat in between the 2.so the unbiased fn may be obtained by using the method of psychological magnitude balance suggested by Hellman and Zwislocki.
This method involves the tracking the geometric means of ME and MP along the intensity axis and loudness matching.
Steven suggested that the perceived loudness L is a power function of physical intensity I. .03 L=KI I.e. loudness of a given sound is proportional to its intensity raised to the power .03
This low states that sensation grows as a power of stimulus level The exponent shows the rate at which the sensation grows with stimulus magnitude. Exponent<1:sensation grows at a slower rate than physical magnitude Exponent>1:sensation grows at a fasterrate than physical magnitude
Steven propose the Sone as the unit of loudness.

Sone:loudness of 1 khz tone at 40dBSPL 1 khs tone with a level of 50dBSPL is usually perceived as twice as loud as a 40dB tone and has a loudness of 2 sones. This relation dont hold good for loudness level below 40dB.ie at low levels loudness change more rapidly with sound levels.
Sone=2(phone-40)/10 Critisism for loudness scaling-Paulton1979 Technique used seem very susceptible to bias effect and result are affected by factors such as Range of stimuli presented Firs stimulus presented Instruction to subject
Range of permissible response Symmetry of response change Various other factors related to experience, motivation, training and attention
Theoretical objection
Triesman(1964)-pointed out that there are 2 stages involved in obtaining a loudness judgments First satge the stimulus evoked a loudness sensation in the listener
In the second stage the listener gives a number which is related to some way to the magnitude scale, such as a logarithmic scale There is no easy way to determine what number scale the listener is giving.
Psychophysical power law
Describes the way in which sensation grow as stimulus intensity is increased. Webbers law-EH Webber(1834) The generalization that a just noticeable difference /change in stimulus magnitude is a constant proportion of initial magnitude
OR
In other words for an increment in a stimulus to cause it to be just noticeably different from the one preceding it, would have always to be a constant fraction of capacity of a late state in the auditory system A high level of internal noise might characterize the later stage.
The limitation of peripheral processing would then only appear when a relatively small population of fibers may convey the peripheral information.
Parameters of loudness/Factors affecting loudness
Spectral parameters
Equal loudness contours Band width
Intensity parameters
Loudness function
Duration parameters
Back ground variable

Masking Loudness enhancement
Listener variable
Binaural summation Recruitment Auditory fatigue
Band width
Band width of signal refers to the range of frequencies occupied by its different elements. The loudness of a signal held at a given overall SPL doesnt increased when its bandwidth is increased from that of a single frequency tone to what is called critical band width
An increase of band width beyond critical band width still keeping the total SPL does increase the loudness because the signal occupies more than one critical band.
Intensity parameters
Loudness is a monotonic fn of stimulus intensity, the change of loudness with a change of sound pressure level is more accurately represented by decibel scale doesnt reflect the relation between loudness and sound pressure accurately either a graph that plot the change of loudness as the sound pressure is varied is called loudness function
The loudness function can be plotted in 2 ways Geometric function Linear function.
Geometric function
It represent the ratios of loudness and make use of multiplications. The unit of loudness on the vertical scale is sone The loudness in sones of any other sound is numerically equal to the ratios of its loudness to the loudness level at 40 phons. A sound as twice as the 40 phon reference has a loudness level of 2 sones.
LINEAR FUNCTION

The loudness scale is laid out in equal interval Each point in the scale is an addition to rather than a multiple of loudness values of the previous point. With increase in the SPL for equal loudness interval number of sones increased by an equal amount irrespective of the starting point.
Duration parameters

The loudness of a short sound, e.g., a burst of white noise, depends on its duration (Scharf 1978). Successive noise bursts equated in acoustic power and increasing in duration from, say, 5 ms to about 200 ms are perceived not only as longer and longer but also as louder and louder. Loudness is thus determined by a temporal integration of acoustic power. This temporal integration implies that a percept of loudness is in fact the content of an auditory memory.
Measurements of the variation of absolute threshold with duration indicate that, over a certain range of durations, the threshold corresponds to a constant energy rather than a constant power (Garner and Miller, 1947). In other words, over this range of durations, the ear behaves as if it were a perfect energy integrator, although there is some debate as to whether the actual neural mechanisms involved include a "true" long time-constant integration device.
loudness is also related to stimulus duration, although, as one might expect, there is considerable variability in the results.
Using a procedure in which listeners were required to match the loudness of tone bursts of variable duration to that of a continuous reference tone, Boone (1973)showed that loudness is also proportional to the total energy of the tone, so that as the duration of a tone of constant power is increased, its loudness also increases.
Stephens (1974) replicated these results but showed in addition that this relationship is highly susceptible to the experimental procedure and the instructions given to the listener. In particular, at long durations it is hard to make a judgment of the total loudness of the sound, rather than the loudness at a particular instant or over a short time period.
Back ground variable
Masking; Reduction of loudness by a back ground noise is called masking. The masking sound raises the threshold for the signal and reduce its loudness The partial masking not only depends on intensity but also bandwidth and frequency
Frequency and band width
The slope of the loudness function under masking increases when the band width of the masking noise is narrowed while its overall level is kept constant.(hellman1970 and Zwicker,1963) NBN is the better masker than WBN for pur tone. Low freq are better masker of high freq but high freq req more energy to mask low freq.
Loudness enhancement
In contrast to the reduction in loudness produced by sounds presented simultaneously with the target, sounds presented before the target can sometimes produce an increase in loudness. Max enhancement occurs when the enhancement and the target sound have same freq (Zwislocki & Sokolich, 1974), the effect is attenuated (but not eliminated) when the two tones are presented to different ears (Galambos et al., 1972; Elmasian & Galambos, 1975).
Listeners variable
Loudness of a signal is more on binaural hearing than in mono aural hearing due to binaural summation.
Binaural summation
If perfect binaural summation occurred between two ear then the judged loudness in monaural sound would be half of the loudness in the binaural hearing. Hellman and zwislocki(1963) and Mark(1978) leads to hypothesize that total loudness sound is the listener sum of the loudness resulting from each ear.
Marks (1987) reported a phenomenon called super summation by virtue of which the binaural summation is greater than twice of the mono aural loudness when a binaural tonal stimuli is heard over a partial masking by noise. Fletcher and Munson concluded that stimulus of a given SPL would sound twice as loud as mono aurally
Application
The increase in loudness due to binaural hearing has a particular advantage for hearing impaired person, as it reduces the power requirement of amplification.
Loudness Adaptation
It refers to the apparent decrease in the loudness of a signal thats continuously presented over a period of time. The signal appears to be softer even though the intensity is same Its the general property of the sensory system that neural response to long duration stimulation decays rapidly after stimulus onset to reach a steady equilibrium state.
Schraff (1983) based on the experimentation using magnitude estimation provide a cohesive report as follows. There is noticeable amount of variability among subject in terms how much adaptation experience. Loudness of a pure tone adapts when its presented to the subject at level up to 30dB SL (appx). Later Miskiewics et al(1973) found that loudness adaptation also occurs above 30dB SL for high freq tone (12,14,16 Khz)
There is more adaptation for high freq tone than low freq tone or noises. Adaptation appears to be same regardless of presentation signal to one or both the ears.
Effects of Sensory Hearing Loss on Loudness: Recruitment
Sensorineural hearing impairment is characterized by elevated thresholds for the detection of sounds in quiet. Despite this loss in sensitivity, a sound at a high intensity might sound equally loud to a hearing impaired listener as it does to a normally hearing listener. In other words, there is an abnormally steep growth of loudness with intensity in the impaired ear. This phenomenon is called recruitment,
Now its termed as softness imperception Due to in adequate functioning of OHCs, the low intensity sounds are not perceived and the high intensity sounds are perceived as the way normal person perceive it. This leads to rapid growth at supra threshold levels.
Evans (1975) has suggested that recruitment may be a result of the reduced frequency selectivity usually associated with hearing loss (Tyler,1986). As the intensity of a pure tone is increased, excitation spreads across the basilar membrane so that the number of nerve fibers excited also increases. The broad auditory filters in impaired ears will give rise to a greater spread of excitation with increasing intensity than occurs in normal ears
Models of loudness
Loudness is often regarded as a global attribute of a sound, so that we usually talk about the overall loudness of a sound rather than describe separately the loudness in individual frequency regions. An exception to this arises from the models of loudness that calculate the "specific loudness" of a sound in each frequency channel it excites to obtain an overall loudness measure by summation.
Zwicker (1958; Zwicker & Scharf, 1965) developed a model of loudness based on the excitation pattern. The model consists of a number of stages. First, the input stimulus is passed through a fixed filter representing the transfer characteristics of the outer and middle ear. Above 2 kHz the form of the filter is given by the inverted absolute threshold curve. Below 2 kHz, Zwicker assumed that the transfer function is flat. The rise in absolute threshold with decreasing frequency is assumed to be caused by an internal low-frequency noise.
In the second stage, an excitation pattern for the stimulus is calculated .. Excitation is plotted as a function of frequency on a Bark scale Finally, excitation is converted into specific loudness (or loudness per critical band),N'
Following Stevens, N' is assumed to be related to excitation intensity,E, by a power law. N ' = CE where C and are constants and < 1. Zwicker and Fastl (1990) estimated to be 0.23. This relationship works for excitation levels well above absolute threshold.
To account for the steep growth of loudness near absolute threshold the equation was modified as follows:
where ESIG is the excitation produced by the stimulus and ETHRQ is the excitation at absolute threshold. The overall loudness of the sound is defined as the area under the specific loudness pattern. In other words, the total loudness is the sum of the loudness across each critical band.
This model has been modified by Moore and Glasberg (1986, 1994). They assumed that, below I kHz, the form of the initial filter is given by the inverted equal loudness contour at 100 phon Above I kHz the filter shape is given by the inverted absolute threshold curve. Excitation patterns are calculated from auditory filter shapes they derived in earlier work (Moore & Glasberg, 1983; Excitation is converted into specific loudness according to the following relationship:
------------(4)
Notice that when ESIG = ETHRQ the specific loudness is0. Hence, near absolute threshold, a small change in excitation produces a large proportional change in specific loudness. Equation (4) can account here fore, for the steep (proportional) growth of loudness with level near absolute threshold.
In the model of Moore and Glasberg, the overall loudness of the sound is calculated by integrating positive specific loudness values across the specific loudness pattern, as before. In this case, however, the specific loudness pattern is plotted on an "equivalent rectangular bandwidth" (ERB) frequency scale rather than on the Bark scale
The modified model is quite successful at predicting the variation in loudness with intensity, frequency, and bandwidth (Moore & Glasberg,1994), supporting the view that loudness is intimately related to the frequency selectivity of the peripheral auditory system, and not just to the physical intensity of the sound per se.
DIFFERENTIAL SENSITIVITY
The DL is the smallest perceivable difference in dB between 2 intensities ( l) or the smallest perceivable change in Hz between 2 frequencies( f) We may think of the JND in 2 ways One is the absolute difference between the 2 and the other is as the relative difference between them.
The relative DL is obtained by dividing the absolute DL by the value of the starting level. If the starting level I is 1000 unit and the DL (delta I) is 50 units then the relative DL I/I =50/1000=0.05. This ratio is called the weber fraction.
An important concept in psychophysics is webers law, which states that the the value of I/I(weber fraction) is a constant (K) regardless of the stimulus level or I/I=K
Loudness perception in pathological ears

Recruitment Sensorineural hearing impairment is characterized by elevated thresholds for the detection of sounds in quiet. Despite this loss in sensitivity, a sound at a high intensity might sound equally loud to a hearing impaired listener as it does to a normally hearing listener. In other words, there is an abnormally steep growth of loudness with intensity in the impaired ear. This phenomenon is called recruitment,
Due to in adequate functioning of OHCs, the low intensity sounds are not perceived and the high intensity sounds are perceived as the way normal person perceive it. This leads to rapid growth at supra threshold levels.
Evans (1975) has suggested that recruitment may be a result of the reduced frequency selectivity usually associated with hearing loss (Tyler,1986). As the intensity of a pure tone is increased, excitation spreads across the basilar membrane so that the number of nerve fibers excited also increases. The broad auditory filters in impaired ears will give rise to a greater spread of excitation with increasing intensity than occurs in normal ears
Loudness Adaptation
It refers to the apparent decrease in the loudness of a signal thats continuously presented over a period of time. The signal appears to be softer even though the intensity is same.
Schraff (1983) based on the experimentation using magnitude estimation provide a cohesive report as follows. There is noticeable amount of variability among subject in terms how much adaptation experience. Loudness of a pure tone adapts when its presented to the subject at level up to 30dB SL (appx). Later Miskiewics et al(1973) found that loudness adaptation also occurs above 30dB SL for high freq tone (12,14,16 Khz)
There is more adaptation for high freq tone than low freq tone or noises. Adaptation appears to be same regardless of presentation signal to one or both the ears.

Loudness: Kunnampallil Gejo John Baslp, Maslp

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LOUDNESS

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN BASLP,MASLP

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

Binaural thresholds are better than monaural ones

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

Theories of hearing under water

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

Sivians dual path approach

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

Bone conduction model Reysenback and Hann

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

Model of underwater hearing

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

Method for measurement of equal loudness contours

used:Loudness balanced method

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

Robinson and dadson

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

Obtained phon curve up to 120 phones

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

Loudness scaling-SS Stevens

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

Steven propose the Sone as the unit of loudness.

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

Psychophysical power law

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

Parameters of loudness/Factors affecting loudness

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

Back ground variable

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN

KUNNAMPALLIL GEJO JOHN