HumanAuditorySystem

Anatomyandphysiologyofhuman
ears
Anatomy
Physiology
Psychoacoustics
Frequencymasking
Temporalmasking
Demos
Anatomy,masking,emotion,deception


ADemoofHumanAuditorySystem

PhysiologyofHumanAuditorySystem

Outerear:collectssoundwaves
amplifiessoundwavesinsomefrequencies

vibrationsofairaretranslatedtovibrationsofthetympanic
membrane
Middleear:vibrationsoftympanicmembranearetranslatedto
oscillationsofliquidininnerear
performedbytheossicles

amplification15:1

Innerear:
Cochleatransformsmechanicalvibrationsintonerveimpulses
Movementofbasilarmembranecausesthehairstobend(3Khairsin
cochlea)
Whatinformationisinthenerveimpulses?Notwellunderstood
nerveendings(30Knervefibers).

AnatomyofHumanAuditorySystem

Outerear:itchannelssoundwavesthroughtheear
canaltotheeardrum
Middleear:vibrationscausedairpressurechanges
intheearcanalaretransmittedtothreesmallbones
called"ossicles".
Innerear:ithousesthe"cochlea",aspiralshaped
structurethatcontainstheorganof"Corti"themost
importantcomponentofhearing.TheCortisitsinan
extremelysensitivemembranecalledthe"basilar
membrane".Wheneverthebasilarmembrane
vibrates,smallsensoryhaircellsinsidetheCortiare
bent,whichstimulatesthesendingofnerve
impulsestothebrain.

PhysiologyofHumanAuditorySystem
Frequencydiscrimination
Earlyworksuggestedthatspecificplacesinthe
cochleamayberesponsibleforhearingspecific
frequenciesofsound.
Placeprinciple:eachhaircellandneuroninthe
cochleaistunedtorespondtoaspecific
frequencyandthatthatfrequencycanbe
determinedbasedonitspositioninthecochlea
Volleyprinciple:frequencydiscriminationisnot
donebasedonbasilarmembraneresonance,but
ontiminginformation

PhysiologyofHAS(Cont)
Amplitudediscrimination
p
SoundPressureLevel(SPL) LSPL = 20 log10 (dB)
p0
psoundpressureofstimulusinPascals,p020Pa
Humanhearinghasadynamicrangeof
approximately110dB
Temporalinformation
Phaselocking:neuronsseemtoprefertofireat
onlycertaintimesintheircenterfrequency's
waveform
Usedtotellthedifferenceinthepositionofa
soundsource

PsychoacousticsOverview
Absolutethresholdofhearing
Characterizetheamountofenergyneededina
puretonesuchthatitcanbeheard
Criticalbands
Nonlinearwarpingoffrequencybandstobetter
matchthefrequencydependentsensitivityof
humanears
Simultaneousmasking(frequencymasking)
Nonsimultaneousmasking(temporal
masking)

 SensitivityofHASinQuiet

Characterizetheamountofenergyneededinapuretonesuchthatitcan
Beheardbyalistenerinanoiselessenvironment

CriticalBands
Humanauditorysystemhasalimited,
frequencydependentresolution
Cochleacanbeviewedasbankofhighly
overlappingbandpassfilters
Theperceptuallyuniformmeasureof
frequencycanbeexpressedintermsofthe
widthoftheCriticalBands.
Itislessthan100Hzatthelowestaudible
frequencies,andmorethan4kHzatthehighend.
Altogether,theaudiofrequencyrangecanbe
partitionedinto25criticalbands

 Bark(anewunitoffrequency)

1Bark=widthofonecriticalband
Forfrequency<500Hz,itconvertstofreq/
100Bark
Forfrequency>500Hz,itis
9+4log2(freq/1000)Bark.
f 2
z ( f ) = 13 tan (0.00076 f ) + 3.5 tan (
1 1
) ( Bark )
7500

CriticalBandsIllustration

CBvs.Frequency
CB
(Bark)

Freq.(Hz)

Masking
Maskingreferstoaprocesswhereone
soundisrenderedinaudiblebecauseofthe
presenceofanothersound
Simultaneousmasking(frequencymasking)
Nonsimultaneousmasking(temporalmasking)
Masker:primarytone(maskingtone)
Maskee:secondarytone(testtone)
Spreadofmasking:amaskeratsomeCB
alsohaspredictableeffectondetection
thresholdsinotherCBs

FrequencyMasking

Question:doreceptorsinterferewitheach
other?
Experiment:
Play1kHztone(maskingtone)atfixedlevel(60dB).
Playtesttoneatadifferentlevel(e.g.,1.1kHz),and
raiseleveluntiljustdistinguishable.
Varythefrequencyofthetesttoneandplotthe
thresholdwhenitbecomesaudible
Repeatforvariousfrequenciesofmaskingtones
Theresultwillbeacollectionofcurvesshowing
thefrequencymaskingeffect

 FrequencyMasking(Cond)

ThreeTypesofFrequencyMasking
NoiseMaskingTone(NMT):SMR=4dB
ToneMaskingNoise(TMN):SMR=24dB
NoiseMaskingNoise(NMN):SMR=26dB

NMT Asymmetry
TMN

TemporalMasking
Ifwehearaloudsound,thenitstops,ittakesalittle
whileuntilwecanhearasofttonenearby.
Experiment:Play1kHzmaskingtoneat60dB,plus
atesttoneat1.1kHzat40dB.Testtonecan'tbe
heard(it'smasked).Stopmaskingtone,thenstop
testtoneafterashortdelay.
Adjustdelaytimetotheshortesttimewhentesttone
canbeheard(e.g.,5ms).
Repeatwithdifferentlevelofthetesttoneandplot

 TemporalMasking(Cond)

Premaskingvs.Postmasking

TotalEffectofBothFrequencyand
TemporalMasking

SummaryofPsychoacoustics

Frequencyandtemporalmasking
Twosoundscouldbecomeindistinguishableif
theirfrequenciesareclose
Atesttonecouldbemaskedbyamaskingoneifit
istoocloseandrelativelyweaker
Implicationintoaudiocompression
Time:wedonotneedtorepresentalltones
faithfullyifsomearemaskedbyothers
Frequency:wedonotneedtorepresentall
frequenciesifsomearemaskedbyothers