Modulatory effect of inaudible high-frequency sounds on human acoustic perception.
We evaluated the effects of the intensity of an inaudible high-frequency component (HFC) of sound on human responses by employing a multi-parametric approach consisting of behavioral measurements of the comfortable listening level (CLL), psychological measurements of the subjective impression of sounds, and physiological measurements using electroencephalogram (EEG). Increasing the intensity of the inaudible HFC resulted in a significant increase in the CLL, the subjective impression of sounds, and the occipital alpha frequency component of the spontaneous EEG. These effects peaked with an increase of 6 dB in HFC intensity. The results of the present study suggest that the intensity of inaudible HFC non-linearly modulates human sound perception.
Yagi
Reiko
R
Department of Cyber Society and Culture, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0193, Japan.
Nishina
Emi
E
Honda
Manabu
M
Oohashi
Tsutomu
T
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014465:Ultrasonics