SUBJECTIVE ATTRIBUTES OF SOUND

Acoustics of Concert Halls and Rooms

Science of Sound, Chapters 5,6,7

Loudness, Timbre

FOUR ATTRIBUTES USED TO DESCRIBE A SOUND:

•Loudness•Pitch•Timbre•Duration

EACH OF THESE DEPENDS ON ONE OR MORE PHYSICAL PARAMETERS THAT CAN BE MEASURED:

•Sound pressure•Frequency•Spectrum•Duration (measured) •Envelope

Relating the SUBJECTIVE QUALITIES to the PHYSICAL PARAMETERS that we can MEASURE OBJECTIVELYIs an important problem in PSYCHOACOUSTICS

DEPENDENCE OF SUBJECTIVE QUALITIES OF SOUND ON PHYSICAL PARAMETERS

LOUDNESS LEVEL

Contours of equal loudness are labeled phons At 1000 Hz, Loudness Level = Lp

SOUND LEVEL METER

PLOT YOUR OWN FREQUENCY RESPONSE

ASSIGNMENT: Plot your own frequency response curves by using

www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/hearing.html

HOW DOES LOUDNESS DEPEND ON

FREQUENCY?

LOUDNESS SCALING

LOUDNESS OF COMPLEX TONES: CRITICAL BANDS

Loudness depends mainly on SOUND PRESSURE.

but it also depends on FREQUENCY, SPECTRUM and DURATION

DEPENDENCE OF LOUDNESS

ON BANDWIDTH

LOUDNESS OF COMBINED SOUNDS

RANGE OF FREQUENCY AND INTENSITY OF THE EAR

MUSICAL DYNAMICS AND LOUDNESS

HOW DOES LOUDNESS DEPEND ON

PARTIAL MASKING?

HOW DOES LOUDNESS DEPEND ON DURATION?

EFFECT OF TONE ENVELOPE ON TIMBRE

EFFECT OF ENVELOPE ON TIMBRE

PIANO NOTES PLAYED FORWARD AND BACKWARD