Loudness change in response to dynamic acoustic intensity.
Three experiments investigate psychological, methodological, and domain-specific characteristics of loudness change in response to sounds that continuously increase in intensity (up-ramps), relative to sounds that decrease (down-ramps). Timbre (vowel, violin), layer (monotone, chord), and duration (1.8 s, 3.6 s) were manipulated in Experiment 1. Participants judged global loudness change between pairs of spectrally identical up-ramps and down-ramps. It was hypothesized that loudness change is overestimated in up-ramps, relative to down-ramps, using simple speech and musical stimuli. The hypothesis was supported and the proportion of up-ramp overestimation increased with stimulus duration. Experiment 2 investigated recency and a bias for end-levels by presenting paired dynamic stimuli with equivalent end-levels and steady-state controls. Experiment 3 used single stimulus presentations, removing artifacts associated with paired stimuli. Perceptual overestimation of loudness change is influenced by (1) intensity region of the dynamic stimulus; (2) differences in stimulus end-level; (3) order in which paired items are presented; and (4) duration of each item. When methodological artifacts are controlled, overestimation of loudness change in response to up-ramps remains. The relative influence of cognitive and sensory mechanisms is discussed.
Olsen
Kirk N
KN
MARCS Auditory Laboratories, University of Western Sydney, South Penrith, NSW, Australia. k.olsen@uws.edu.au
Stevens
Catherine J
CJ
Tardieu
Julien
J
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions; D007600:Judgment; D008144:Loudness Perception; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D055815:Young Adult