Audition

Perceptual aspects of sound

Dr. Stephan Moratti

 Threshold and loudness
• Loudness is the perceptual quality related to the level or
amplitude of an auditory stimulus (expressed in dB).
• The relation between loudness (subjective) and dB (physical)
has been described for the first time by S. S. Stevens.
• Method: magnitude estimation
 Threshold and loudness
Reference sound: 40 dB, 1000 Hz pure tone
Subjective value of 1 assigned

Now, the same tone with different levels is

presented and the subject has to assign a value
proportional to 1.

Here: Increasing the intensity from 40 dB to 50

dB increases the perceived loudness by 2.
 Threshold and loudness
• However, for different frequencies the relationship between
sound level and perceived loudness changes!
Audibility curve
 Threshold and loudness
• Human hearing range: 20Hz – 20,000Hz
• Dogs > 40,000Hz
• Delphines: 150,000Hz!

• Equal loudness curves: These curves indicate the sound levels

(intensities) that create the same perception of loudness at
different frequencies.
 Pitch
• “high” and “low” pitch. Pitch = auditory sensation in terms of
which sounds may be ordered on a musical scale (Bendor &
Wang, 2005).

• Pitch perception is related to the fundamental frequency of a

tone (repetition rate), but it is a psychological entity and
cannot be measured!
 Pitch

Tone hight: perceptual experience of increasing pitch when the fundamental frequency is increased

Tone chroma (see Figure 11.9): Tones with the same letter sound similar although we increased the
fundamental frequency!.
Octave: Tone chromas that are separated by an octave (8 frequency steps)
The same tone chromas are based on multiples of the fundamental frequency (27.5,55,110, etc. Hz)
 Pitch
• Constancy of pitch when the
fundamental or a harmonic is
removed is called effect of the
missing fundamental
• The pitch that we perceive in that
case is called periodicity pitch.
 Timbre
• Timbre is the difference between two tones,
when loudness, pitch, and duration are the
same.

• When we eliminate the fundamental or a

harmonic, the pitch perception does not
change, but the timbre changes.
Timbre
 Timbre
• The pitch is not defined by the presence of the
fundamental or a harmonic, but by the
distance between them in the frequency
spectra.
 Timbre
• Example: Most common telephones cannot
reproduce sounds lower than 300 Hz, but a
male voice has a fundamental frequency of
approximately 150 Hz. Because of the missing
fundamental effect, the fundamental
frequencies of male voices are still perceived as
their pitches over the telephone
 Timbre
All three tones have the same fundamental frequency (G3, 196 Hz), but different timber.

Guitar Piano Sax

Timbre
 Timbre
• Other factors that determine the timbre
(instrumentos)
– Attack (accumulation of sound at the beginning)
– Decay (decay of sound at the end)
 Timbre
• Depends on:
– Steady state harmonic structure
– attack
– decay

– For example, if we invert a sound in time but don’t

change the harmonic structure, the timbre will
change.
Timbre (example)
Timbre (example)
 To consider…
• Musical instruments produce pure and complex sounds
– Periodic sounds:
• The pattern of atmospheric sound pressure changes
repeats
– Aperiodic sounds:
• No regularity (people talking, door slamming, etc.)