Prediction of absolute thresholds and equal-loudness contours using a modified loudness model

The loudness model described by Moore et al. [J. Audio Eng. Soc. 45, 224-240 (1997)] forms the basis for a recent ANSI standard for the calculation of the loudness of steady sounds. However, the model does not give accurate predictions of the absolute thresholds published in a recent ISO standard. Here it is described how the assumed middle-ear transfer function in the model can be modified to give more accurate absolute threshold predictions. The modified model also gives reasonably accurate predictions of the equal-loudness contours published in a recent ISO standard.     

Comments on "Acoustic Transfer Characteristics in Human Middle Ears Studied by a SQUID Magnetometer Method" [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 82, 1646-1654 (1987)

The study by Brenkman et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 82, 1646-1654 (1987)] of malleus umbo and anterior crus of stapes displacement in 14 human temporal bones shows a mean -7.3-dB/oct slope above 1.0 kHz for stapes displacement in response to a 80-dB SPL input at the eardrum. The slope they obtained for midfrequency (1.0-4.0 kHz) stapes displacement is significantly flatter than what was found previously [Gyo et al., Acta Otolaryngol. 103, 87-95 (1987); Gundersen, Prostheses in the Ossicular Chain (University Park, Baltimore, MD, 1971); Kringlebotn and Gundersen, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 77, 159-164 (1985); Vlaming and Feenstra, Clin. Otolaryngol. 11, 353-363 (1986a)]; in these studies, stapes displacement rolled off at -12.0 to -14.9 dB/oct above 1.0 kHz. It appears that their mean midfrequency stapes displacement slope has been flattened by some unusual results in a small number of ears. Possible reasons for these results are discussed.     

Comparing F0 discrimination in sequential and simultaneous conditions

In an influential study, Carlyon and Shackleton [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 95, 3541-3554 (1994)] measured listeners' performance (d') in fundamental-frequency (F0) discrimination between harmonic complex tones (HCTs) presented simultaneously in different spectral regions and compared their performance with that found in a sequential-comparison task. In this Letter, it is suggested that Carlyon and Shackleton's analysis of the simultaneous-comparison data did not adequately reflect their assumption that listeners were effectively comparing F0's across regions. A reanalysis consistent with this assumption is described. The new results suggest that under the assumption that listeners were effectively comparing F0 across regions, their performance in this task was substantially higher than originally estimated by Carlyon and Shackleton, and in some conditions much higher than expected from the performances measured in a traditional F0-discrimination task with sequential HCTs. Possible explanations for this outcome, as well as alternative interpretations, are proposed.     

Direct and inverse scattering of transient acoustic waves by a slab of rigid porous material

This paper provides a temporal model of the direct and inverse scattering problem for the propagation of transient ultrasonic waves in a homogeneous isotropic slab of porous material having a rigid frame. This new time domain model of wave propagation takes into account the viscous and thermal losses of the medium as described by the model of Johnson et al. [D. L. Johnson, J. Koplik, and R. Dashen, J. Fluid. Mech. 176, 379 (1987)] and Allard [J. F. Allard (Chapman and Hall, London, 1993)] modified by a fractional calculus based method applied in the time domain. This paper is devoted to the analytical calculus of acoustic field in a slab of porous material. The main result is the derivation of the expression of the scattering operators (reflection and transmission) which are the responses of the medium to an incident acoustic pulse. In this model the reflection operator is the sum of two contributions: the first interface and the bulk of the medium. Experimental and numerical results are given as a validation of our model.     

Acoustic radiation torque and the conservation of angular momentum (L)

This note concerns the evaluation of the static acoustic radiation torque exerted by an acoustic field on a scatterer immersed in a nonviscous fluid based on far-field scattering. The radiation torque is expressed as the integral of the time-averaged flux of angular momentum over a spherical surface far removed from the scattering object with its center at the centroid of the object. That result was given previously [G. Maidanik, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 30, 620-623 (1956)]. Another expression given recently [Z. W. Fan et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 124, 2727-2732 (2008)] is simplified to this formula. Comments are made on obtaining it directly from the general theorem of angular momentum conservation in the integral form.     

Children's detection of pure-tone signals with random multitone maskers.

Preschoolers and adults were asked to detect a 1000-Hz signal, which was masked by a multitone complex. The frequencies and amplitudes of the components in the complex varied randomly and independently on each presentation. A staircase, cued two-interval, forced-choice procedure disguised as a "listening game" was used to obtain signal thresholds in quiet and in the presence of the multitone maskers. The number of components in the masker was fixed within an experimental condition and varied from 2 to 906 across experimental conditions. Thresholds were also measured with a broadband noise masker. Eight preschool children and eight adults were tested. Although individual differences were large, among both adults and children, there was little difference between the groups in the mean amount of masking produced by the maskers with large numbers of components (400 and 906). There was also a small but significant difference between adults and children in the mean amount of masking produced by the broadband noise. The difference between the groups was much larger with smaller numbers of components. Data obtained from the adults were basically similar to that previously reported [cf. Neff and Green, Percept. Psychophys. 41, 409-415 (1987); Oh and Lutfi, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 104, 3489-3499 (1998)]: maskers comprised of 10-40 components produced as much as 30 to 60 dB of masking in some, but not all listeners. Those same maskers produced larger amounts of masking (70-83 dB) in many of the preschool children, although, as in the adult group, individual differences were large. The component-relative-entropy (CoRE) model [Lutfi, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 94, 748-758 (1993)] was used to describe the differences in performance between the children and adults. According to this model the average child appears to integrate information over a larger number of auditory filters than the average adult.     

Photocurrent theory based on coordinate dependent lifetime

Recent work by Pejova [Mater. Res. Bull. 43, 2887 (2008)] showed that the widely cited classical photocurrent theory of DeVore [Phys. Rev. 102, 86 (1956)] does not necessarily apply for photocurrent experiments carried out on thin-film semiconductors. In this Letter, we theoretically and experimentally justify the successful use of the photocurrent model published by Bouchenaki et al. [J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 8, 691 (1991)].     

Nonlinear progressive wave equation for stratified atmospheres

The nonlinear progressive wave equation (NPE) [McDonald and Kuperman, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 81, 1406-1417 (1987)] is expressed in a form to accommodate changes in the ambient atmospheric density, pressure, and sound speed as the time-stepping computational window moves along a path possibly traversing significant altitude differences (in pressure scale heights). The modification is accomplished by the addition of a stratification term related to that derived in the 1970s for linear range-stepping calculations and later adopted into Khokhlov-Zabolotskaya-Kuznetsov-type nonlinear models. The modified NPE is shown to preserve acoustic energy in a ray tube and yields analytic similarity solutions for vertically propagating N waves in isothermal and thermally stratified atmospheres.     

Unification and extension of monolithic state space and iterative cochlear models

Time domain cochlear models have primarily followed a method introduced by Allen and Sondhi [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 66, 123-132 (1979)]. Recently the "state space formalism" proposed by Elliott et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 122, 2759-2771 (2007)] has been used to simulate a wide range of nonlinear cochlear models. It used a one-dimensional approach that is extended to two dimensions in this paper, using the finite element method. The recently developed "state space formalism" in fact shares a close relationship to the earlier approach. Working from Diependaal et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 82, 1655-1666 (1987)] the two approaches are compared and the relationship formalized. Understanding this relationship allows models to be converted from one to the other in order to utilize each of their strengths. A second method to derive the state space matrices required for the "state space formalism" is also presented. This method offers improved numerical properties because it uses the information available about the model more effectively. Numerical results support the claims regarding fluid dimension and the underlying similarity of the two approaches. Finally, the recent advances in the state space formalism [Bertaccini and Sisto, J. Comp. Phys. 230, 2575-2587 (2011)] are discussed in terms of this relationship.     

Optical gap solitons: Past,present, and future; theory and experiments

Optical gap solitons refer to nonlinear waves propagating in optical fibers whose linear refractive index has a periodic variation. Stationary gap solitons came to light first in 1987 [Chen and Mills, Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 160 (1987)]; two years later, they re-emerge in Christodoulides and Joseph [Phys. Rev. Lett. 62, 1746 (1989)] and are first extended to a more general traveling wave form in Aceves and Wabnitz [Phys. Lett. A 141, 37 (1989)]. But it was not until seven years later, that the first experimental demonstration [Eggleton et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 1627 (1996); J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 14, 2980 (1997)] was reported. Since then, there has been an increase in the study of the dynamics and applications of such solitons. This paper is a brief survey of some of the ongoing and future research on optical gap solitons. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics.