Psychoacoustics:
The study of how we
perceive sound
Pinna (part):
The fleshy outer part (outer ear)

-Gathers Sound

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-Encodes Directional Info

Auditory Canal (part):
Commonly called the ear
canal. (outer ear)

• Protects the ear.

• Amplifies Frequencies
from 2.5kHz to 4kHz.

Tympanic Membrane (part):
The Ear Drum (outer ear)

• Vibrates when
agitated by acoustic
energy

• Starts the chain
reaction of auditory
information.

The Ossicles (part):
The three smallest bones in the human body. (middle ear)

• Attach to the
Tympanic Membrane
on one side and the
Cochlea on the other.

• Function like a lever
to increase the sound
pressure on the
Cochlea.

• In rare instances the
muscles around the
ossicles will constrict the
movement to protect
against high SPLs.

Ossicle Muscles (part):
(middle ear)

1)Maleus
(mallet)

2)Incus (Anvil)

3)Stapes
(stirrup)

Cochlea (part):
A fluid filled
organ about the size of
your pinky nail.(inner ear)

Contains two fluid
filled chambers and
the Basilar Membrane/
Organ of Corti.

Basilar Membrane (part):
Runs down the center of the
two chambers and
transmits the vibrations
of the fluid to the Organ
of Corti. (inner ear)
Organ of Corti (part):
Gelatinous Mass which
contains the hair cell
(Stereo-cilia) which
transduce the acoustic
energy into electrical
energy in the nervous
system.
stereo-cilia
tiny hair cells
Critical Bands
A section of stereo-cilia
responsible for
transducing a specific
frequency band.
Tinitus
Stress or damaged
induced ringing in the
ears which generally
affects the middle and
upper range of hearing.
Interaural Level
Difference
• “Sound Shadow”

• The dB difference
between sound arriving
at the left ear versus the
right ear.

• Functions above 500Hz,
but doesn’t become
excellent until 3000Hz.

Interaural Time Delay
Phase difference
between ears
.
• 13ms resolution.

• Functions below
1500Hz.

• Room reflections can
interfere.

HRTF
• Head Related Transfer
Function

• The scattering of
frequencies based on
anatomy.

• Filtering patterns are
common below 6000Hz,
but are listener
dependent above said
frequency.

Masking
The amplitude
of one sound hides a
second sound.
Synchronous or
Temporal. Partially
related to Critical Band
overlap.
Phantom Fundamentals:
We
hear frequencies which are
not actually present because
our brains synthesize it in the presence of harmonics
Haas Effect
• Precedence Effect

• Sound from two
separate sources is
perceived as arriving
from only the first
source if the time
difference is ≤ 40ms
even if the second
source is louder than the
first.

The Cocktail Party
Our ability to focus
listening attention on a
single sound in a group.
We can easily sort out a
conversation at a
cocktail party, but we
can’t teach a computer
to do it.
Glissando Illusion:
Listen
to the motion of the sine
tone as it plays relative
to the other sound.
Discovered by Diana
Deutsch.