Perception of acoustic scale and size in musical instrument sounds

There is size information in natural sounds. For example, as humans grow in height, their vocal tracts increase in length, producing a predictable decrease in the formant frequencies of speech sounds. Recent studies have shown that listeners can make fine discriminations about which of two speakers has the longer vocal tract, supporting the view that the auditory system discriminates changes on the acoustic-scale dimension. Listeners can also recognize vowels scaled well beyond the range of vocal tracts normally experienced, indicating that perception is robust to changes in acoustic scale. This paper reports two perceptual experiments designed to extend research on acoustic scale and size perception to the domain of musical sounds: The first study shows that listeners can discriminate the scale of musical instrument sounds reliably, although not quite as well as for voices. The second experiment shows that listeners can recognize the family of an instrument sound which has been modified in pitch and scale beyond the range of normal experience. We conclude that processing of acoustic scale in music perception is very similar to processing of acoustic scale in speech perception.     

一种利用海豚叫声的仿生水声通信方法

针对水下通信隐蔽性的需求, 克服传统固定载波调制方式带来的声源暴露问题, 提出一种基于海豚叫声的仿生伪装水声通信方法, 使通信信号被当作海洋生物噪声排除, 达到隐蔽通信的效果. 研究了海豚叫声信号特点, 利用海豚哨声信号实现同步与识别, 采用差分脉冲位置调制方法, 信息调制在相邻海豚嘀嗒声信号的时间间隔, 采用压缩传感体制下的匹配追踪技术估计信道, 虚拟时反技术实现信道均衡. 湖试结果验证了该方法的有效性和可行性, 接收声信号与发射信号声音上具有很高的相似度, 可以达到伪装隐蔽的效果. 实验中水平距离2 km, 通信速率不小于29 bps时,误码率可以达到10^-4以下. 关键词： 水声通信 仿生 海豚 隐蔽     

Perception of the sound source position

This paper presents several experiments on sound source localization. They are based on monaural click presented at different interclick intervals (ICI), from 10 to 100 ms. Trains of clicks were presented to 10 healthy subjects. At short interclick intervals the clicks were perceived as a blur of clicks having a buzzy quality. Moreover, it was proven that the accurateness in the response improves with the increase of the length of ICI. The present results imply the usefulness of the interclick interval in estimating the perceptual accuracy. An important benefit of this task is that this enables a careful examination of the sound source perception threshold. This allows detecting, localizing and dividing with a high accuracy the sounds in the environment. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Categorization and discrimination of nonspeech sounds: differences between steady-state and rapidly-changing acoustic cues

Different patterns of performance across vowels and consonants in tests of categorization and discrimination indicate that vowels tend to be perceived more continuously, or less categorically, than consonants. The present experiments examined whether analogous differences in perception would arise in nonspeech sounds that share critical transient acoustic cues of consonants and steady-state spectral cues of simplified synthetic vowels. Listeners were trained to categorize novel nonspeech sounds varying along a continuum defined by a steady-state cue, a rapidly-changing cue, or both cues. Listeners' categorization of stimuli varying on the rapidly changing cue showed a sharp category boundary and posttraining discrimination was well predicted from the assumption of categorical perception. Listeners more accurately discriminated but less accurately categorized steady-state nonspeech stimuli. When listeners categorized stimuli defined by both rapidly-changing and steady-state cues, discrimination performance was accurate and the categorization function exhibited a sharp boundary. These data are similar to those found in experiments with dynamic vowels, which are defined by both steady-state and rapidly-changing acoustic cues. A general account for the speech and nonspeech patterns is proposed based on the supposition that the perceptual trace of rapidly-changing sounds decays faster than the trace of steady-state sounds.     

Individual differences in source identification from synthesized impact sounds

Impact sounds were synthesized according to standard textbook equations given for the motion of freely vibrating membranes, bars, and plates. In a two-interval, forced-choice procedure, highly practiced listeners identified from these sounds predefined target sources based on their material and size, the hardness of the striking mallet, and the presence or absence of light damping applied to the center of the source. Listener decision strategy in each case was determined from a discriminant analysis of trial-by-trial responses resulting in a vector of regression weights given to different acoustic parameters. The analysis revealed significant differences in decision strategy across listeners within identification task, but similarity in decision strategy within listeners across variations in task. Only when the acoustic information for identification was highly constrained (identification of damping) did listeners adopt similar decision strategies approaching that of an ideal observer. Despite the large individual differences in decision strategy, identification accuracy was, in most cases, similar across listeners. Where there were differences in identification accuracy the differences appeared largely related to differences in internal noise and not decision strategy. The results are generally comparable to those obtained for the discrimination of arbitrary tone patterns.     

Acoustic source separation for the detection of coronary artery sounds

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in the United States, being responsible for more than 20% of all deaths in the country. This is in large part due to the difficulty of diagnostic screening for CAD. Phonoangiography seeks to detect CAD via the acoustic signature associated with turbulent flow near an abnormally constricted, or stenosed, region. However, the usefulness of the technique is severely hindered by the low strength of the CAD signal compared to the background noise within the chest. In this work, acoustic finite element analysis (FEA) was performed on physiologically accurate chest geometries to demonstrate the feasibility of an original acoustic source separation methodology for isolating coronary sounds. This approach is based upon pseudoinversion of mixing matrices determined through a combination of experiment and computation. This allows calculation of the sound emitted by the coronary arteries based upon measurements of the acoustic velocity on the chest surface. This work demonstrates the feasibility of such a technique computationally and examines the vulnerability of the proposed approach to measurement errors.     

Characteristics of thermal acoustic radiation as a source of acoustic signals

A linear dependence of the output voltage of an acoustic thermometer on the temperature difference between the source and the piezoelectric transducer is demonstrated experimentally. The constant component of the output voltage is determined by the noise temperature of the receiving device. The main feature of the thermal acoustic radiation as a source of acoustic signals is that the signal is represented not by the total thermal radiation of the object, which is proportional to the absolute temperature of the latter, but by the part of this radiation that is proportional to the temperature difference between the object and the transducer.     

The parametric source method for measuring characteristics of underwater acoustic materials in a pressure vessel

A truncated broadband parametric array with a primary frequency of 500 kHz and difference frequency range of 1 kHz to 30 kHz was designed as a sound source of the underwater acoustic material measurement system.By analyzing the theoretical calculation and actual measurement results in array directivity of the truncated broadband parametric source at typical frequencies,we observed that the curves of the two results were basically consistent,which proved that the calculation model was correct.App...     

压力罐中水声材料声学特性的参量源测量法

设计了一种原波频率500 kHz、差频范围1~30 kHz的截断宽带参量阵,作为水声材料测量系统的声源。通过分析典型频率下的宽带参量源指向性理论计算和实际测量结果,发现两者结果的曲线基本吻合,证明计算模型是正确的。应用钟形短时脉冲实现水声材料声特性的宽带测量,有益于降低样品边缘衍射干扰。并建立了测量水声材料大面积板状样品声压反射系数、声压透射系数和吸声系数的压力罐测量系统,罐体内尺寸Φ4 m×12 m,最高静水压4.5 MPa,测量频率范围1~30 kHz。对标准样品(尺寸1m×1m)进行了测量实验,其测量结果和理论曲线有很好的吻合,参量源测量法得到了验证;之后,通过对一块橡胶板样品在不同静压力下的吸声性能进行了测量和有效评估,进一步确认了参量源测量法在压力罐这样有限水域中的潜在应用价值。     

Heart sounds as a result of acoustic dipole radiation of heart valves

Heart sounds are associated with impulses of force acting on heart valves at the moment they close under the action of blood-pressure difference. A unified model for all the valves represents this impulse as an acoustic dipole. The near pressure field of this dipole creates a distribution of the normal velocity on the breast surface with features typical of auscultation practice: a pronounced localization of heart sound audibility areas, an individual area for each of the valves, and a noncoincidence of these areas with the projections of the valves onto the breast surface. In the framework of the dipole theory, the optimum size of the stethoscope’s bell is found and the spectrum of the heart sounds is estimated. The estimates are compared with the measured spectrum.     

宽带铁磁流体电动式声源

本文阐明了铁磁流体电动式声源的换能机理．我们详细地研究了它的磁路结构，及在振动活塞上安置一个大的橡皮充气球泡，它能提高低频的辐射效率．这声源具有4个倍频程的低频宽带发射响应     

冲击声的稀疏特征提取及声源类型识别

针对低信噪比下声源材料类型的细分任务,将稀疏表达用于冲击声信号的声源类型识别,提取的稀疏特征相比传统的MFCC特征有效改善了识别性能。分别基于3种预定义词典和一组根据训练信号学习的词典,利用正交匹配追踪(OMP)方法对录制冲击声进行稀疏表达,提取稀疏特征用于不同信噪比下冲击声信号的声源辨识,并与MFCC特征进行比较。对包含12类材料的冲击声数据库的分类结果显示,在几乎所有情况下,稀疏特征比MFCC特征具有更好的识别效果。特别是在信噪比较低的情况下,稀疏特征具有更好的抗噪性能。     

Feature extraction for sound source material recognition with impact sounds

Sound source recognition is a part of environmental sound recognition,which is one of the most important research areas in pattern recognition.Impact sounds carry much physical information associated with the sound sources,which makes impact sound based sound source recognition an important approach to improve recognition performance.In this study,the impact sound continuum synthesized with a ball-plate collision model is used for material recognition of the impacted plates.The basis function learning method and time-frequency representation methods,including the short time Fourier transform and the wavelet packet transform,are applied into classification and the recognition results are compared.The result shows that the features obtained by using the basis function learning perform better for material classification of the impacted plates than that by using the short time Fourier transform and the wavelet packet transform.This demonstrates the high efficiency and superiority of this method in material recognition of sound sources.     

利用冲击声辨识声源材料的特征提取

声源辨识属于环境声识别的范畴,是模式识别的一个重要研究方向。冲击声携带了大量的声源物理信息,因此利用冲击声提取特征进行声源材料辨识是提高声目标识别分类性能的重要途径。对球-板撞击物理模型合成的冲击声连续统,提出使用基函数学习法提取目标特征,同时利用短时傅里叶变换和小波包变换进行特征提取,以此为基础完成被击平板的材料识别。研究结果表明,利用基函数学习法获得的特征,对于冲击声分类的效果明显优于短时傅里叶变换和小波包变换方法,说明利用该方法进行冲击声声源材料辨识的可行性和优势。     

Traits of acoustic signalization and generation of sounds by some schooling physostomous fish

The results of experimental investigations of acoustic activity of schooling physostomous fish are discussed, made with reference to chum salmon, pink salmon, Pacific herring, and sardine. Dynamic spectra of most investigated fish are concentrated within two subranges of frequency, according to each investigated fish species. Direct participation of the swimming bladder in sound formation in the investigated fish is shown. Morphological traits of sound-producing organs of salmons and herrings are considered. Mechanisms of generation of signals in physotmous fish involving the muscular sphincter and swimming bladder are analyzed.     

Perception of complex sounds in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) with temporary hearing loss

Songbirds and parrots deafened as nestlings fail to develop normal vocalizations, while birds deafened as adults show a gradual deterioration in the quality and precision of vocal production. Beyond this, little is known about the effect of hearing loss on the perception of vocalizations. Here, we induced temporary hearing loss in budgerigars with kanamycin and tested several aspects of the hearing, including the perception of complex, species-specific vocalizations. The ability of these birds to discriminate among acoustically distinct vocalizations was not impaired but the ability to make fine-grain discriminations among acoustically similar vocalizations was affected, even weeks after the basilar papilla had been repopulated with new hair cells. Interestingly, these birds were initially unable to recognize previously familiar contact calls in a classification task-suggesting that previously familiar vocalizations sounded unfamiliar with new hair cells. Eventually, in spite of slightly elevated absolute thresholds, the performance of birds on discrimination and perceptual recognition of vocalizations tasks returned to original levels. Thus, even though vocalizations may initially sound different with new hair cells, there are only minimal long-term effects of temporary hearing loss on auditory perception, recognition of species-specific vocalizations, or other aspects of acoustic communication in these birds.     

Differential reductions in acoustic startle document the discrimination of speech sounds in rats

The intensity of a noise-induced startle response can be reduced by the presentation of an otherwise neutral stimulus immediately before the noise ("prepulse inhibition" or PPI). This effect has been used to study the detection of gaps and other stimuli, but has been applied infrequently to complex stimuli or the ability to discriminate among multiple stimuli. To address both issues and explore the potential of PPI, rats were presented a series of 5 tasks, most contrasting a pair of speech sounds. One of these (the "standard" stimulus) occurred frequently but rarely preceded the startle stimulus. The second occurred infrequently (as an "oddball") and always preceded a noise. In each such task, startle responses were inhibited more by the oddball than by the standard stimulus, usually within the first test. This suggests that PPI can be adapted to studies of the discrimination of speech and other complex sounds, and that this method can provide useful information on subjects' ability to discriminate with greater ease and speed than other methods.