A numerical comparison between the multiple-scales and finite-element solution for sound propagation in lined flow ducts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rienstra, S.W.; Eversman, W.

2001-01-01

An explicit, analytical, multiple-scales solution for modal sound transmission through slowly varying ducts with mean flow and acoustic lining is tested against a numerical finite-element solution solving the same potential flow equations. The test geometry taken is representative of a high-bypass

Sound sensitivity of neurons in rat hippocampus during performance of a sound-guided task

Science.gov (United States)

Vinnik, Ekaterina; Honey, Christian; Schnupp, Jan; Diamond, Mathew E.

2012-01-01

To investigate how hippocampal neurons encode sound stimuli, and the conjunction of sound stimuli with the animal's position in space, we recorded from neurons in the CA1 region of hippocampus in rats while they performed a sound discrimination task. Four different sounds were used, two associated with water reward on the right side of the animal and the other two with water reward on the left side. This allowed us to separate neuronal activity related to sound identity from activity related to response direction. To test the effect of spatial context on sound coding, we trained rats to carry out the task on two identical testing platforms at different locations in the same room. Twenty-one percent of the recorded neurons exhibited sensitivity to sound identity, as quantified by the difference in firing rate for the two sounds associated with the same response direction. Sensitivity to sound identity was often observed on only one of the two testing platforms, indicating an effect of spatial context on sensory responses. Forty-three percent of the neurons were sensitive to response direction, and the probability that any one neuron was sensitive to response direction was statistically independent from its sensitivity to sound identity. There was no significant coding for sound identity when the rats heard the same sounds outside the behavioral task. These results suggest that CA1 neurons encode sound stimuli, but only when those sounds are associated with actions. PMID:22219030

Theoretical study on the sound absorption of electrolytic solutions. I. Theoretical formulation

Science.gov (United States)

Yamaguchi, T.; Matsuoka, T.; Koda, S.

2007-04-01

A theory is formulated that describes the sound absorption of electrolytic solutions due to the relative motion of ions, including the formation of ion pairs. The theory is based on the Kubo-Green formula for the bulk viscosity. The time correlation function of the pressure is projected onto the bilinear product of the density modes of ions. The time development of the product of density modes is described by the diffusive limit of the generalized Langevin equation, and approximate expressions for the three- and four-body correlation functions required are given with the hypernetted-chain integral equation theory. Calculations on the aqueous solutions of model electrolytes are performed. It is demonstrated that the theory describes both the activated barrier crossing between contact and solvent-separated ion pairs and the Coulombic correlation between ions.

Three-Dimensional Elasticity Solutions for Sound Radiation of Functionally Graded Materials Plates considering State Space Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tieliang Yang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an analytical study for sound radiation of functionally graded materials (FGM plate based on the three-dimensional theory of elasticity. The FGM plate is a mixture of metal and ceramic, and its material properties are assumed to have smooth and continuous variation in the thickness direction according to a power-law distribution in terms of volume fractions of the constituents. Based on the three-dimensional theory of elasticity and state space method, the governing equations with variable coefficients of the FGM plate are derived. The sound radiation of the vibration plate is calculated with Rayleigh integral. Comparisons of the present results with those of solutions in the available literature are made and good agreements are achieved. Finally, some parametric studies are carried out to investigate the sound radiation properties of FGM plates.

Second sound, osmotic pressure, and Fermi-liquid parameters in 3He-4He solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corruccini, L.R.

1984-01-01

Second-sound velocities and osmotic pressures are analyzed to obtain the first experimental values for the Landau compressibility parameter F 0 /sup s/ in 3 He- 4 He solutions. Data are presented as a function of pressure and 3 He concentration, and are compared to theoretical predictions. The square of the second-sound velocity at finite temperature is found to be accurately proportional to the internal energy of a perfect Fermi gas. Using inertial effective masses given by the Landau-Pomeranchuk theory, the square of the velocity is found to separate into two parts: a temperature-dependent part characterized completely by ideal Fermi-gas behavior and a temperature-independent part containing all the Fermi-liquid corrections. This is related to a similar separation found in the osmotic pressure

Approach to downstream planning for nearshore response and sensitive areas protection outside Prince William Sound, Alaska

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeCola, E.G.; Robertson, T.L.; Robertson, R.; Banta, J.

2004-01-01

This study assessed the need for an oil spill response plan for downstream coastal communities that could be affected by oil spilled from tankers travelling in Prince William Sound, Alaska. For the purpose of oil spill contingency planning, the State of Alaska has been divided into the Kodiak and Cook Inlet sub-areas that are at risk for downstream impacts from a Prince William Sound oil spill. The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill provided an example of a worst-case scenario oil spill from a tanker in Prince William Sound, but the oil spill planning system that has evolved in Alaska does not adequately plan for on oil spill that originates in one sub-area of the state, but impacts other sub-areas in the downstream spill path. This study analyzed the gaps that exist in the current response planning system in the Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet and Kodiak sub-areas. A method was proposed to improve the existing response plans so that emergency response teams are better prepared to manage cross-boundary oil spills originating in Prince William Sound. The proposed method focuses on nearshore response and sensitive areas protection for coastlines and communities that are at risk for oil spills from a tanker travelling the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). 11 refs., 3 figs

Sensory suppression of brain responses to self-generated sounds is observed with and without the perception of agency.

Science.gov (United States)

Timm, Jana; Schönwiesner, Marc; Schröger, Erich; SanMiguel, Iria

2016-07-01

Stimuli caused by our own movements are given special treatment in the brain. Self-generated sounds evoke a smaller brain response than externally generated ones. This attenuated response may reflect a predictive mechanism to differentiate the sensory consequences of one's own actions from other sensory input. It may also relate to the feeling of being the agent of the movement and its effects, but little is known about how sensory suppression of brain responses to self-generated sounds is related to judgments of agency. To address this question, we recorded event-related potentials in response to sounds initiated by button presses. In one condition, participants perceived agency over the production of the sounds, whereas in another condition, participants experience an illusory lack of agency caused by changes in the delay between actions and effects. We compared trials in which the timing of button press and sound was physically identical, but participants' agency judgment differed. Results show reduced amplitudes of the auditory N1 component in response to self-generated sounds irrespective of agency experience, whilst P2 effects correlate with the perception of agency. Our findings suggest that suppression of the auditory N1 component to self-generated sounds does not depend on adaptation to specific action-effect time delays, and does not determine agency judgments, however, the suppression of the P2 component might relate more directly to the experience of agency. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hamiltonian Algorithm Sound Synthesis

OpenAIRE

大矢, 健一

2013-01-01

Hamiltonian Algorithm (HA) is an algorithm for searching solutions is optimization problems. This paper introduces a sound synthesis technique using Hamiltonian Algorithm and shows a simple example. "Hamiltonian Algorithm Sound Synthesis" uses phase transition effect in HA. Because of this transition effect, totally new waveforms are produced.

Can road traffic mask sound from wind turbines? Response to wind turbine sound at different levels of road traffic sound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pedersen, Eja; Berg, Frits van den; Bakker, Roel; Bouma, Jelte

2010-01-01

Wind turbines are favoured in the switch-over to renewable energy. Suitable sites for further developments could be difficult to find as the sound emitted from the rotor blades calls for a sufficient distance to residents to avoid negative effects. The aim of this study was to explore if road traffic sound could mask wind turbine sound or, in contrast, increases annoyance due to wind turbine noise. Annoyance of road traffic and wind turbine noise was measured in the WINDFARMperception survey in the Netherlands in 2007 (n=725) and related to calculated levels of sound. The presence of road traffic sound did not in general decrease annoyance with wind turbine noise, except when levels of wind turbine sound were moderate (35-40 dB(A) Lden) and road traffic sound level exceeded that level with at least 20 dB(A). Annoyance with both noises was intercorrelated but this correlation was probably due to the influence of individual factors. Furthermore, visibility and attitude towards wind turbines were significantly related to noise annoyance of modern wind turbines. The results can be used for the selection of suitable sites, possibly favouring already noise exposed areas if wind turbine sound levels are sufficiently low.

Numerical Solution of the Kzk Equation for Pulsed Finite Amplitude Sound Beams in Thermoviscous Fluids

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yang-Sub

A time-domain numerical algorithm for solving the KZK (Khokhlov-Zabolotskaya-Kuznetsov) nonlinear parabolic wave equation is developed for pulsed, axisymmetric, finite amplitude sound beams in thermoviscous fluids. The KZK equation accounts for the combined effects of diffraction, absorption, and nonlinearity at the same order of approximation. The accuracy of the algorithm is established via comparison with analytical solutions for several limiting cases, and with numerical results obtained from a widely used algorithm for solving the KZK equation in the frequency domain. The time domain algorithm is used to investigate waveform distortion and shock formation in directive sound beams radiated by pulsed circular piston sources. New results include predictions for the entire process of self-demodulation, and for the effect of frequency modulation on pulse envelope distortion. Numerical results are compared with measurements, and focused sources are investigated briefly.

Measurement of the thermal diffusivity and speed of sound of hydrothermal solutions via the laser-induced grating technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Butenhoff, T.J.

1994-01-01

Hydrothermal processing is being developed as a method for organic destruction for the Hanford Site in Washington. Hydrothermal processing refers to the redox reactions of chemical compounds in supercritical or near-supercritical aqueous solutions. In order to design reactors for the hydrothermal treatment of complicated mixtures found in the Hanford wastes, engineers need to know the thermophysical properties of the solutions under hydrothermal conditions. The author used the laser-induced grating technique to measure the thermal diffusivity and speed of sound of hydrothermal solutions. In this non-invasive optical technique, a transient grating is produced in the hydrothermal solution by optical absorption from two crossed time-coincident nanosecond laser pulses. The grating is probed by measuring the diffraction efficiency of a third laser beam. The grating relaxes via thermal diffusion, and the thermal diffusivity can be determined by measuring the decay of the grating diffraction efficiency as a function of the pump-probe delay time. In addition, intense pump pulses produce counterpropagating acoustic waves that appear as large undulations in the transient grating decay spectrum. The speed of sound in the sample is simply the grating fringe spacing divided by the undulation period. The cell is made from a commercial high pressure fitting and is equipped with two diamond windows for optical access. Results are presented for dilute dye/water solutions with T = 400 C and pressures between 20 and 70 MPa

Sound Scattering by a Flexible Plate Embedded on Free Surface

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eldad J. Avital

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Sound wave scattering by a flexible plate embedded on water surface is considered. Linear acoustics and plate elasticity are assumed. The aim is to assess the effect of the plate’s flexibility on sound scattering and the potential in using that flexibility for this purpose. A combined sound-structure solution is used, which is based on a Fourier transform of the sound field and a finite-difference numerical-solution of the plate’s dynamics. The solution is implemented for a circular plate subject to a perpendicular incoming monochromatic sound wave. A very good agreement is achieved with a finite-difference solution of the sound field. It is shown that the flexibility of the plate dampens its scattered sound wave regardless of the type of the plate’s edge support. A hole in the plate is shown to further scatter the sound wave to form maxima in the near sound field. It is suggested that applying an external oscillatory pressure on the plate can reduce significantly and even eliminate its scattered wave, thus making the plate close to acoustically invisible. A uniformly distributed external pressure is found capable of achieving that aim as long as the plate is free edged or is not highly acoustically noncompact.

Effects of musical expertise on oscillatory brain activity in response to emotional sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Nolden, Sophie; Rigoulot, Simon; Jolicoeur, Pierre; Armony, Jorge L

2017-08-01

Emotions can be conveyed through a variety of channels in the auditory domain, be it via music, non-linguistic vocalizations, or speech prosody. Moreover, recent studies suggest that expertise in one sound category can impact the processing of emotional sounds in other sound categories as they found that musicians process more efficiently emotional musical and vocal sounds than non-musicians. However, the neural correlates of these modulations, especially their time course, are not very well understood. Consequently, we focused here on how the neural processing of emotional information varies as a function of sound category and expertise of participants. Electroencephalogram (EEG) of 20 non-musicians and 17 musicians was recorded while they listened to vocal (speech and vocalizations) and musical sounds. The amplitude of EEG-oscillatory activity in the theta, alpha, beta, and gamma band was quantified and Independent Component Analysis (ICA) was used to identify underlying components of brain activity in each band. Category differences were found in theta and alpha bands, due to larger responses to music and speech than to vocalizations, and in posterior beta, mainly due to differential processing of speech. In addition, we observed greater activation in frontal theta and alpha for musicians than for non-musicians, as well as an interaction between expertise and emotional content of sounds in frontal alpha. The results reflect musicians' expertise in recognition of emotion-conveying music, which seems to also generalize to emotional expressions conveyed by the human voice, in line with previous accounts of effects of expertise on musical and vocal sounds processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cortical processing of pitch: Model-based encoding and decoding of auditory fMRI responses to real-life sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

De Angelis, Vittoria; De Martino, Federico; Moerel, Michelle; Santoro, Roberta; Hausfeld, Lars; Formisano, Elia

2017-11-13

Pitch is a perceptual attribute related to the fundamental frequency (or periodicity) of a sound. So far, the cortical processing of pitch has been investigated mostly using synthetic sounds. However, the complex harmonic structure of natural sounds may require different mechanisms for the extraction and analysis of pitch. This study investigated the neural representation of pitch in human auditory cortex using model-based encoding and decoding analyses of high field (7 T) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data collected while participants listened to a wide range of real-life sounds. Specifically, we modeled the fMRI responses as a function of the sounds' perceived pitch height and salience (related to the fundamental frequency and the harmonic structure respectively), which we estimated with a computational algorithm of pitch extraction (de Cheveigné and Kawahara, 2002). First, using single-voxel fMRI encoding, we identified a pitch-coding region in the antero-lateral Heschl's gyrus (HG) and adjacent superior temporal gyrus (STG). In these regions, the pitch representation model combining height and salience predicted the fMRI responses comparatively better than other models of acoustic processing and, in the right hemisphere, better than pitch representations based on height/salience alone. Second, we assessed with model-based decoding that multi-voxel response patterns of the identified regions are more informative of perceived pitch than the remainder of the auditory cortex. Further multivariate analyses showed that complementing a multi-resolution spectro-temporal sound representation with pitch produces a small but significant improvement to the decoding of complex sounds from fMRI response patterns. In sum, this work extends model-based fMRI encoding and decoding methods - previously employed to examine the representation and processing of acoustic sound features in the human auditory system - to the representation and processing of a relevant

Community Response to Multiple Sound Sources: Integrating Acoustic and Contextual Approaches in the Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Lercher

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Sufficient data refer to the relevant prevalence of sound exposure by mixed traffic sources in many nations. Furthermore, consideration of the potential effects of combined sound exposure is required in legal procedures such as environmental health impact assessments. Nevertheless, current practice still uses single exposure response functions. It is silently assumed that those standard exposure-response curves accommodate also for mixed exposures—although some evidence from experimental and field studies casts doubt on this practice. The ALPNAP-study population (N = 1641 shows sufficient subgroups with combinations of rail-highway, highway-main road and rail-highway-main road sound exposure. In this paper we apply a few suggested approaches of the literature to investigate exposure-response curves and its major determinants in the case of exposure to multiple traffic sources. Highly/moderate annoyance and full scale mean annoyance served as outcome. The results show several limitations of the current approaches. Even facing the inherent methodological limitations (energy equivalent summation of sound, rating of overall annoyance the consideration of main contextual factors jointly occurring with the sources (such as vibration, air pollution or coping activities and judgments of the wider area soundscape increases the variance explanation from up to 8% (bivariate, up to 15% (base adjustments up to 55% (full contextual model. The added predictors vary significantly, depending on the source combination. (e.g., significant vibration effects with main road/railway, not highway. Although no significant interactions were found, the observed additive effects are of public health importance. Especially in the case of a three source exposure situation the overall annoyance is already high at lower levels and the contribution of the acoustic indicators is small compared with the non-acoustic and contextual predictors. Noise mapping needs to go down to

Phonemic versus allophonic status modulates early brain responses to language sounds: an MEG/ERF study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Andreas Højlund; Gebauer, Line; Mcgregor, William

allophonic sound contrasts. So far this has only been attested between languages. In the present study we wished to investigate this effect within the same language: Does the same sound contrast that is phonemic in one environment, but allophonic in another, elicit different MMNm responses in native...... ‘that’). This allowed us to manipulate the phonemic/allophonic status of exactly the same sound contrast (/t/-/d/) by presenting it in different immediate phonetic contexts (preceding a vowel (CV) versus following a vowel (VC)), in order to investigate the auditory event-related fields of native Danish...... listeners to a sound contrast that is both phonemic and allophonic within Danish. Methods: Relevant syllables were recorded by a male native Danish speaker. The stimuli were then created by cross-splicing the sounds so that the same vowel [æ] was used for all syllables, and the same [t] and [d] were used...

Responses of the ear to low frequency sounds, infrasound and wind turbines.

Science.gov (United States)

Salt, Alec N; Hullar, Timothy E

2010-09-01

Infrasonic sounds are generated internally in the body (by respiration, heartbeat, coughing, etc) and by external sources, such as air conditioning systems, inside vehicles, some industrial processes and, now becoming increasingly prevalent, wind turbines. It is widely assumed that infrasound presented at an amplitude below what is audible has no influence on the ear. In this review, we consider possible ways that low frequency sounds, at levels that may or may not be heard, could influence the function of the ear. The inner ear has elaborate mechanisms to attenuate low frequency sound components before they are transmitted to the brain. The auditory portion of the ear, the cochlea, has two types of sensory cells, inner hair cells (IHC) and outer hair cells (OHC), of which the IHC are coupled to the afferent fibers that transmit "hearing" to the brain. The sensory stereocilia ("hairs") on the IHC are "fluid coupled" to mechanical stimuli, so their responses depend on stimulus velocity and their sensitivity decreases as sound frequency is lowered. In contrast, the OHC are directly coupled to mechanical stimuli, so their input remains greater than for IHC at low frequencies. At very low frequencies the OHC are stimulated by sounds at levels below those that are heard. Although the hair cells in other sensory structures such as the saccule may be tuned to infrasonic frequencies, auditory stimulus coupling to these structures is inefficient so that they are unlikely to be influenced by airborne infrasound. Structures that are involved in endolymph volume regulation are also known to be influenced by infrasound, but their sensitivity is also thought to be low. There are, however, abnormal states in which the ear becomes hypersensitive to infrasound. In most cases, the inner ear's responses to infrasound can be considered normal, but they could be associated with unfamiliar sensations or subtle changes in physiology. This raises the possibility that exposure to the

Propagation of Finite Amplitude Sound in Multiple Waveguide Modes.

Science.gov (United States)

van Doren, Thomas Walter

1993-01-01

This dissertation describes a theoretical and experimental investigation of the propagation of finite amplitude sound in multiple waveguide modes. Quasilinear analytical solutions of the full second order nonlinear wave equation, the Westervelt equation, and the KZK parabolic wave equation are obtained for the fundamental and second harmonic sound fields in a rectangular rigid-wall waveguide. It is shown that the Westervelt equation is an acceptable approximation of the full nonlinear wave equation for describing guided sound waves of finite amplitude. A system of first order equations based on both a modal and harmonic expansion of the Westervelt equation is developed for waveguides with locally reactive wall impedances. Fully nonlinear numerical solutions of the system of coupled equations are presented for waveguides formed by two parallel planes which are either both rigid, or one rigid and one pressure release. These numerical solutions are compared to finite -difference solutions of the KZK equation, and it is shown that solutions of the KZK equation are valid only at frequencies which are high compared to the cutoff frequencies of the most important modes of propagation (i.e., for which sound propagates at small grazing angles). Numerical solutions of both the Westervelt and KZK equations are compared to experiments performed in an air-filled, rigid-wall, rectangular waveguide. Solutions of the Westervelt equation are in good agreement with experiment for low source frequencies, at which sound propagates at large grazing angles, whereas solutions of the KZK equation are not valid for these cases. At higher frequencies, at which sound propagates at small grazing angles, agreement between numerical solutions of the Westervelt and KZK equations and experiment is only fair, because of problems in specifying the experimental source condition with sufficient accuracy.

Sound-Making Actions Lead to Immediate Plastic Changes of Neuromagnetic Evoked Responses and Induced β-Band Oscillations during Perception.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Bernhard; Barat, Masihullah; Fujioka, Takako

2017-06-14

Auditory and sensorimotor brain areas interact during the action-perception cycle of sound making. Neurophysiological evidence of a feedforward model of the action and its outcome has been associated with attenuation of the N1 wave of auditory evoked responses elicited by self-generated sounds, such as talking and singing or playing a musical instrument. Moreover, neural oscillations at β-band frequencies have been related to predicting the sound outcome after action initiation. We hypothesized that a newly learned action-perception association would immediately modify interpretation of the sound during subsequent listening. Nineteen healthy young adults (7 female, 12 male) participated in three magnetoencephalographic recordings while first passively listening to recorded sounds of a bell ringing, then actively striking the bell with a mallet, and then again listening to recorded sounds. Auditory cortex activity showed characteristic P1-N1-P2 waves. The N1 was attenuated during sound making, while P2 responses were unchanged. In contrast, P2 became larger when listening after sound making compared with the initial naive listening. The P2 increase occurred immediately, while in previous learning-by-listening studies P2 increases occurred on a later day. Also, reactivity of β-band oscillations, as well as θ coherence between auditory and sensorimotor cortices, was stronger in the second listening block. These changes were significantly larger than those observed in control participants (eight female, five male), who triggered recorded sounds by a key press. We propose that P2 characterizes familiarity with sound objects, whereas β-band oscillation signifies involvement of the action-perception cycle, and both measures objectively indicate functional neuroplasticity in auditory perceptual learning. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT While suppression of auditory responses to self-generated sounds is well known, it is not clear whether the learned action-sound association

Improving the hospital 'soundscape': a framework to measure individual perceptual response to hospital sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Mackrill, J B; Jennings, P A; Cain, R

2013-01-01

Work on the perception of urban soundscapes has generated a number of perceptual models which are proposed as tools to test and evaluate soundscape interventions. However, despite the excessive sound levels and noise within hospital environments, perceptual models have not been developed for these spaces. To address this, a two-stage approach was developed by the authors to create such a model. First, semantics were obtained from listening evaluations which captured the feelings of individuals from hearing hospital sounds. Then, 30 participants rated a range of sound clips representative of a ward soundscape based on these semantics. Principal component analysis extracted a two-dimensional space representing an emotional-cognitive response. The framework enables soundscape interventions to be tested which may improve the perception of these hospital environments.

Sound Zones

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Martin Bo; Olsen, Martin

2017-01-01

Sound zones, i.e. spatially confined regions of individual audio content, can be created by appropriate filtering of the desired audio signals reproduced by an array of loudspeakers. The challenge of designing filters for sound zones is twofold: First, the filtered responses should generate...... an acoustic separation between the control regions. Secondly, the pre- and post-ringing as well as spectral deterioration introduced by the filters should be minimized. The tradeoff between acoustic separation and filter ringing is the focus of this paper. A weighted L2-norm penalty is introduced in the sound...

Structure-borne sound structural vibrations and sound radiation at audio frequencies

CERN Document Server

Cremer, L; Petersson, Björn AT

2005-01-01

Structure-Borne Sound"" is a thorough introduction to structural vibrations with emphasis on audio frequencies and the associated radiation of sound. The book presents in-depth discussions of fundamental principles and basic problems, in order to enable the reader to understand and solve his own problems. It includes chapters dealing with measurement and generation of vibrations and sound, various types of structural wave motion, structural damping and its effects, impedances and vibration responses of the important types of structures, as well as with attenuation of vibrations, and sound radi

Sound Velocity in Soap Foams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Gong-Tao; Lü Yong-Jun; Liu Peng-Fei; Li Yi-Ning; Shi Qing-Fan

2012-01-01

The velocity of sound in soap foams at high gas volume fractions is experimentally studied by using the time difference method. It is found that the sound velocities increase with increasing bubble diameter, and asymptotically approach to the value in air when the diameter is larger than 12.5 mm. We propose a simple theoretical model for the sound propagation in a disordered foam. In this model, the attenuation of a sound wave due to the scattering of the bubble wall is equivalently described as the effect of an additional length. This simplicity reasonably reproduces the sound velocity in foams and the predicted results are in good agreement with the experiments. Further measurements indicate that the increase of frequency markedly slows down the sound velocity, whereas the latter does not display a strong dependence on the solution concentration

Sound-like collective mode excitation with pion absorption in nuclear matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qiu Xijiun; Shen Jianguo; Huang Lingfang

1985-01-01

The relativistic mean field theory consistent with bulk properties of nuclear matter is extended to study the excitations of the sound-like collective modes in nuclear matter. Corresponding relativistic mean field equations are solved numerically and self-consistently. The effective mass of nucleon, the speed of the sound and the amplitude of the sound-like solution are calculated. When the nuclear density is near or greater than the saturation density, the sound-like non-trivial solution could be found

Behavioral responses by Icelandic White-Beaked Dolphins (Lagenorhynchus albirostris) to playback sounds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Marianne H.; Atem, Ana; Miller, Lee A.

2016-01-01

AbstractThe aim of this study was to investigate how wild white-beaked dolphins (Lagenorhynchus albirostris)respond to the playback of novel, anthropogenic sounds. We used amplitude-modulated tones and synthetic pulse-bursts. (Some authors in the literature use the term “burst pulse” meaning a bu...... a response and a change in the natural behavior of a marine mammal—in this case, wild white-beaked dolphins........ The estimated received levels for tonal signals were from 110 to 160 dB and for pulse-bursts were 153 to 166 dB re 1 μPa (peak-to-peak). Playback of a file with no signal served as a no sound control in all experiments. The animals responded to all acoustic signals with nine different behavioral responses: (1......) circling the array, (2) turning around and approaching the camera, (3)underwater tail slapping, (4)emitting bubbles, (5)turning their belly towards the set-up, (6) emitting pulse-bursts towards the loudspeaker, (7) an increase in swim speed, (8) a change in swim direction, and (9) jumping. A total of 157...

Modelling Hyperboloid Sound Scattering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Burry, Jane; Davis, Daniel; Peters, Brady

2011-01-01

The Responsive Acoustic Surfaces workshop project described here sought new understandings about the interaction between geometry and sound in the arena of sound scattering. This paper reports on the challenges associated with modelling, simulating, fabricating and measuring this phenomenon using...... both physical and digital models at three distinct scales. The results suggest hyperboloid geometry, while difficult to fabricate, facilitates sound scattering....

Cognitive Control of Involuntary Distraction by Deviant Sounds

Science.gov (United States)

Parmentier, Fabrice B. R.; Hebrero, Maria

2013-01-01

It is well established that a task-irrelevant sound (deviant sound) departing from an otherwise repetitive sequence of sounds (standard sounds) elicits an involuntary capture of attention and orienting response toward the deviant stimulus, resulting in the lengthening of response times in an ongoing task. Some have argued that this type of…

An Exploratory Analysis of Sound Field Characteristics using the Impulse Response in a Car Cabin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yoshiharu Soeta

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Sound environments in cars are becoming quieter and receiving attention because of the prevalence of low-noise engines such as hybrid and electric engines and the manifestation of automated driving. Although the car cabin has potential as a listening space, its acoustic quality has not been examined in detail. The present study investigated sound field characteristics in the car cabin using acoustic parameters obtained by impulse response analysis. In particular, effects of the passenger position, open windows and the use of an air conditioner on acoustic parameters were investigated. The passenger position affected the sound strength at low frequencies. Rear seats, except for the rear central seat, had lower interaural correlation than the front seats, suggesting that rear seats have more diffused sound fields. The opening of windows and use of air conditioners attenuated the ratio of early- and late-arriving energy at high frequencies, suggesting a loss of clarity for music.

Oyster larvae settle in response to habitat-associated underwater sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Lillis, Ashlee; Eggleston, David B; Bohnenstiehl, DelWayne R

2013-01-01

Following a planktonic dispersal period of days to months, the larvae of benthic marine organisms must locate suitable seafloor habitat in which to settle and metamorphose. For animals that are sessile or sedentary as adults, settlement onto substrates that are adequate for survival and reproduction is particularly critical, yet represents a challenge since patchily distributed settlement sites may be difficult to find along a coast or within an estuary. Recent studies have demonstrated that the underwater soundscape, the distinct sounds that emanate from habitats and contain information about their biological and physical characteristics, may serve as broad-scale environmental cue for marine larvae to find satisfactory settlement sites. Here, we contrast the acoustic characteristics of oyster reef and off-reef soft bottoms, and investigate the effect of habitat-associated estuarine sound on the settlement patterns of an economically and ecologically important reef-building bivalve, the Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica). Subtidal oyster reefs in coastal North Carolina, USA show distinct acoustic signatures compared to adjacent off-reef soft bottom habitats, characterized by consistently higher levels of sound in the 1.5-20 kHz range. Manipulative laboratory playback experiments found increased settlement in larval oyster cultures exposed to oyster reef sound compared to unstructured soft bottom sound or no sound treatments. In field experiments, ambient reef sound produced higher levels of oyster settlement in larval cultures than did off-reef sound treatments. The results suggest that oyster larvae have the ability to respond to sounds indicative of optimal settlement sites, and this is the first evidence that habitat-related differences in estuarine sounds influence the settlement of a mollusk. Habitat-specific sound characteristics may represent an important settlement and habitat selection cue for estuarine invertebrates and could play a role in driving

Oyster larvae settle in response to habitat-associated underwater sounds.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ashlee Lillis

Full Text Available Following a planktonic dispersal period of days to months, the larvae of benthic marine organisms must locate suitable seafloor habitat in which to settle and metamorphose. For animals that are sessile or sedentary as adults, settlement onto substrates that are adequate for survival and reproduction is particularly critical, yet represents a challenge since patchily distributed settlement sites may be difficult to find along a coast or within an estuary. Recent studies have demonstrated that the underwater soundscape, the distinct sounds that emanate from habitats and contain information about their biological and physical characteristics, may serve as broad-scale environmental cue for marine larvae to find satisfactory settlement sites. Here, we contrast the acoustic characteristics of oyster reef and off-reef soft bottoms, and investigate the effect of habitat-associated estuarine sound on the settlement patterns of an economically and ecologically important reef-building bivalve, the Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica. Subtidal oyster reefs in coastal North Carolina, USA show distinct acoustic signatures compared to adjacent off-reef soft bottom habitats, characterized by consistently higher levels of sound in the 1.5-20 kHz range. Manipulative laboratory playback experiments found increased settlement in larval oyster cultures exposed to oyster reef sound compared to unstructured soft bottom sound or no sound treatments. In field experiments, ambient reef sound produced higher levels of oyster settlement in larval cultures than did off-reef sound treatments. The results suggest that oyster larvae have the ability to respond to sounds indicative of optimal settlement sites, and this is the first evidence that habitat-related differences in estuarine sounds influence the settlement of a mollusk. Habitat-specific sound characteristics may represent an important settlement and habitat selection cue for estuarine invertebrates and could play a

Solutions for improved sound insulation in old housing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoffmeyer, Dan; Rasmussen, Birgit

), Denmark. [2] Projects “Bedre lydisolering i nyrenoverede boliger” (Better sound insulation in newly renovated homes). Danish Ministry of Housing and Building & GI (The Danish Landowners Investment Fund). 1999-2006. Several publications, incl. a brochure/flyer and website: http://ejendomsviden.dk/Nabostoj...

Sounds scary? Lack of habituation following the presentation of novel sounds.

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Tine A Biedenweg

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Animals typically show less habituation to biologically meaningful sounds than to novel signals. We might therefore expect that acoustic deterrents should be based on natural sounds. METHODOLOGY: We investigated responses by western grey kangaroos (Macropus fulignosus towards playback of natural sounds (alarm foot stomps and Australian raven (Corvus coronoides calls and artificial sounds (faux snake hiss and bull whip crack. We then increased rate of presentation to examine whether animals would habituate. Finally, we varied frequency of playback to investigate optimal rates of delivery. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Nine behaviors clustered into five Principal Components. PC factors 1 and 2 (animals alert or looking, or hopping and moving out of area accounted for 36% of variance. PC factor 3 (eating cessation, taking flight, movement out of area accounted for 13% of variance. Factors 4 and 5 (relaxing, grooming and walking; 12 and 11% of variation, respectively discontinued upon playback. The whip crack was most evocative; eating was reduced from 75% of time spent prior to playback to 6% following playback (post alarm stomp: 32%, raven call: 49%, hiss: 75%. Additionally, 24% of individuals took flight and moved out of area (50 m radius in response to the whip crack (foot stomp: 0%, raven call: 8% and 4%, hiss: 6%. Increasing rate of presentation (12x/min ×2 min caused 71% of animals to move out of the area. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The bull whip crack, an artificial sound, was as effective as the alarm stomp at eliciting aversive behaviors. Kangaroos did not fully habituate despite hearing the signal up to 20x/min. Highest rates of playback did not elicit the greatest responses, suggesting that 'more is not always better'. Ultimately, by utilizing both artificial and biological sounds, predictability may be masked or offset, so that habituation is delayed and more effective deterrents may be produced.

Evaluation of a Loudspeaker-Based Virtual Acoustic Environment for Investigating sound-field auditory steady-state responses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zapata-Rodriguez, Valentina; Marbjerg, Gerd Høy; Brunskog, Jonas

2017-01-01

Measuring sound-field auditory steady-state responses (ASSR) is a promising new objective clinical procedure for hearing aid fitting validation, particularly for infants who cannot respond to behavioral tests. In practice, room acoustics of non-anechoic test rooms can heavily influence the audito...... tool PARISM (Phased Acoustical Radiosity and Image Source Method) and validated through measurements. This study discusses the limitations of the system and the potential improvements needed for a more realistic sound-field ASSR simulation....

Sound Beams with Shockwave Pulses

Science.gov (United States)

Enflo, B. O.

2000-11-01

The beam equation for a sound beam in a diffusive medium, called the Khokhlov-Zabolotskaya-Kuznetsov (KZK) equation, has a class of solutions, which are power series in the transverse variable with the terms given by a solution of a generalized Burgers’ equation. A free parameter in this generalized Burgers’ equation can be chosen so that the equation describes an N-wave which does not decay. If the beam source has the form of a spherical cap, then a beam with a preserved shock can be prepared. This is done by satisfying an inequality containing the spherical radius, the N-wave pulse duration, the N-wave pulse amplitude, and the sound velocity in the fluid.

Auditory Brainstem Response to Complex Sounds Predicts Self-Reported Speech-in-Noise Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Samira; Parbery-Clark, Alexandra; White-Schwoch, Travis; Kraus, Nina

2013-01-01

Purpose: To compare the ability of the auditory brainstem response to complex sounds (cABR) to predict subjective ratings of speech understanding in noise on the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ; Gatehouse & Noble, 2004) relative to the predictive ability of the Quick Speech-in-Noise test (QuickSIN; Killion, Niquette,…

Analysis and Optimal Condition of the Rear-Sound-Aided Control Source in Active Noise Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karel Kreuter

2011-01-01

Full Text Available An active noise control scenario of simple ducts is considered. The previously suggested technique of using an single loudspeaker and its rear sound to cancel the upstream sound is further examined and compared to the bidirectional solution in order to give theoretical proof of its advantage. Firstly, a model with a new approach for taking damping effects into account is derived based on the electrical transmission line theory. By comparison with the old model, the new approach is validated, and occurring differences are discussed. Moreover, a numerical application with the consideration of damping is implemented for confirmation. The influence of the rear sound strength on the feedback-path system is investigated, and the optimal condition is determined. Finally, it is proven that the proposed source has an advantage of an extended phase lag and a time delay in the feedback-path system by both frequency-response analysis and numerical calculation of the time response.

Simulation of Sound Waves Using the Lattice Boltzmann Method for Fluid Flow: Benchmark Cases for Outdoor Sound Propagation.

Science.gov (United States)

Salomons, Erik M; Lohman, Walter J A; Zhou, Han

2016-01-01

Propagation of sound waves in air can be considered as a special case of fluid dynamics. Consequently, the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for fluid flow can be used for simulating sound propagation. In this article application of the LBM to sound propagation is illustrated for various cases: free-field propagation, propagation over porous and non-porous ground, propagation over a noise barrier, and propagation in an atmosphere with wind. LBM results are compared with solutions of the equations of acoustics. It is found that the LBM works well for sound waves, but dissipation of sound waves with the LBM is generally much larger than real dissipation of sound waves in air. To circumvent this problem it is proposed here to use the LBM for assessing the excess sound level, i.e. the difference between the sound level and the free-field sound level. The effect of dissipation on the excess sound level is much smaller than the effect on the sound level, so the LBM can be used to estimate the excess sound level for a non-dissipative atmosphere, which is a useful quantity in atmospheric acoustics. To reduce dissipation in an LBM simulation two approaches are considered: i) reduction of the kinematic viscosity and ii) reduction of the lattice spacing.

Long-term evolution of brainstem electrical evoked responses to sound after restricted ablation of the auditory cortex.

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Verónica Lamas

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to assess the top-down control of sound processing in the auditory brainstem of rats. Short latency evoked responses were analyzed after unilateral or bilateral ablation of auditory cortex. This experimental paradigm was also used towards analyzing the long-term evolution of post-lesion plasticity in the auditory system and its ability to self-repair. METHOD: Auditory cortex lesions were performed in rats by stereotactically guided fine-needle aspiration of the cerebrocortical surface. Auditory Brainstem Responses (ABR were recorded at post-surgery day (PSD 1, 7, 15 and 30. Recordings were performed under closed-field conditions, using click trains at different sound intensity levels, followed by statistical analysis of threshold values and ABR amplitude and latency variables. Subsequently, brains were sectioned and immunostained for GAD and parvalbumin to assess the location and extent of lesions accurately. RESULTS: Alterations in ABR variables depended on the type of lesion and post-surgery time of ABR recordings. Accordingly, bilateral ablations caused a statistically significant increase in thresholds at PSD1 and 7 and a decrease in waves amplitudes at PSD1 that recover at PSD7. No effects on latency were noted at PSD1 and 7, whilst recordings at PSD15 and 30 showed statistically significant decreases in latency. Conversely, unilateral ablations had no effect on auditory thresholds or latencies, while wave amplitudes only decreased at PSD1 strictly in the ipsilateral ear. CONCLUSION: Post-lesion plasticity in the auditory system acts in two time periods: short-term period of decreased sound sensitivity (until PSD7, most likely resulting from axonal degeneration; and a long-term period (up to PSD7, with changes in latency responses and recovery of thresholds and amplitudes values. The cerebral cortex may have a net positive gain on the auditory pathway response to sound.

Sound and sound sources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Ole Næsbye; Wahlberg, Magnus

2017-01-01

There is no difference in principle between the infrasonic and ultrasonic sounds, which are inaudible to humans (or other animals) and the sounds that we can hear. In all cases, sound is a wave of pressure and particle oscillations propagating through an elastic medium, such as air. This chapter...... is about the physical laws that govern how animals produce sound signals and how physical principles determine the signals’ frequency content and sound level, the nature of the sound field (sound pressure versus particle vibrations) as well as directional properties of the emitted signal. Many...... of these properties are dictated by simple physical relationships between the size of the sound emitter and the wavelength of emitted sound. The wavelengths of the signals need to be sufficiently short in relation to the size of the emitter to allow for the efficient production of propagating sound pressure waves...

Detecting change in stochastic sound sequences.

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Benjamin Skerritt-Davis

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Our ability to parse our acoustic environment relies on the brain's capacity to extract statistical regularities from surrounding sounds. Previous work in regularity extraction has predominantly focused on the brain's sensitivity to predictable patterns in sound sequences. However, natural sound environments are rarely completely predictable, often containing some level of randomness, yet the brain is able to effectively interpret its surroundings by extracting useful information from stochastic sounds. It has been previously shown that the brain is sensitive to the marginal lower-order statistics of sound sequences (i.e., mean and variance. In this work, we investigate the brain's sensitivity to higher-order statistics describing temporal dependencies between sound events through a series of change detection experiments, where listeners are asked to detect changes in randomness in the pitch of tone sequences. Behavioral data indicate listeners collect statistical estimates to process incoming sounds, and a perceptual model based on Bayesian inference shows a capacity in the brain to track higher-order statistics. Further analysis of individual subjects' behavior indicates an important role of perceptual constraints in listeners' ability to track these sensory statistics with high fidelity. In addition, the inference model facilitates analysis of neural electroencephalography (EEG responses, anchoring the analysis relative to the statistics of each stochastic stimulus. This reveals both a deviance response and a change-related disruption in phase of the stimulus-locked response that follow the higher-order statistics. These results shed light on the brain's ability to process stochastic sound sequences.

On the absorption of a sound in helium 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matveev, Yu.A.

1977-01-01

A theory is developed which describes the propagation of high frequency sound in helium 2 at low temperatures (T 15 atm.) pressures when the phonon energy spectrum becomes stable. The absorption and sound dispersion coefficients under these conditions are calculated. The dependence of the velocity of second sound on frequency is determined. The resonance properties of the solution obtained are discussed

Extraction of ground reaction forces for real-time synthesis of walking sounds

OpenAIRE

Serafin, Stefania; Turchet, Luca; Nordahl, Rolf

2009-01-01

A shoe-independent system to synthesize real-time footstep sounds on different materials has beendeveloped. A footstep sound is considered as the result of an interaction between an exciter (the shoe) and aresonator (the floor). To achieve our goal, we propose two different solutions. The first solution is based oncontact microphones attached on the exterior part of each shoe, which capture the sound of a footstep. Thesecond approach consists on using microphones placed on the floor. In both ...

Modeling and control of sound radiation by simply supported and cantilever beam coupled with smart material

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Vitaly Makarenko

2007-03-01

Full Text Available  In this paper forced vibration of the beam due to bonded piezoelectric patch is considered. When an external excitation is applied to the beam, it starts to vibrate, and the resulting acoustic response is predicted from the analytical model, which is based on Bernoulli-Euler theory of beam vibration. Analytical research of the sound radiation by a finite elastic beam is done for criteria based on minimal total sound power level. Helmholtz equation and inhomogeneous differential equation for beam transverse motion defines the solution to this problem. Such solutions were found for boundary conditions of simply supported and cantilever beams. In order to solve the task two analytical methods were used for simply supported beam. The solutions received by Fourier transform and Green functions approach give the very similar results, thus, proving methods reliability. At the case studies the exerted voltage, phase, location and piezoelectric actuator length are varied in order to establish their influence on noise attenuation.

Texture-dependent effects of pseudo-chewing sound on perceived food texture and evoked feelings in response to nursing care foods.

Science.gov (United States)

Endo, Hiroshi; Ino, Shuichi; Fujisaki, Waka

2017-09-01

Because chewing sounds influence perceived food textures, unpleasant textures of texture-modified diets might be improved by chewing sound modulation. Additionally, since inhomogeneous food properties increase perceived sensory intensity, the effects of chewing sound modulation might depend on inhomogeneity. This study examined the influences of texture inhomogeneity on the effects of chewing sound modulation. Three kinds of nursing care foods in two food process types (minced-/puréed-like foods for inhomogeneous/homogeneous texture respectively) were used as sample foods. A pseudo-chewing sound presentation system, using electromyogram signals, was used to modulate chewing sounds. Thirty healthy elderly participants participated in the experiment. In two conditions with and without the pseudo-chewing sound, participants rated the taste, texture, and evoked feelings in response to sample foods. The results showed that inhomogeneity strongly influenced the perception of food texture. Regarding the effects of the pseudo-chewing sound, taste was less influenced, the perceived food texture tended to change in the minced-like foods, and evoked feelings changed in both food process types. Though there were some food-dependent differences in the effects of the pseudo-chewing sound, the presentation of the pseudo-chewing sounds was more effective in foods with an inhomogeneous texture. In addition, it was shown that the pseudo-chewing sound might have positively influenced feelings. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cell type-specific suppression of mechanosensitive genes by audible sound stimulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumeta, Masahiro; Takahashi, Daiji; Takeyasu, Kunio; Yoshimura, Shige H

2018-01-01

Audible sound is a ubiquitous environmental factor in nature that transmits oscillatory compressional pressure through the substances. To investigate the property of the sound as a mechanical stimulus for cells, an experimental system was set up using 94.0 dB sound which transmits approximately 10 mPa pressure to the cultured cells. Based on research on mechanotransduction and ultrasound effects on cells, gene responses to the audible sound stimulation were analyzed by varying several sound parameters: frequency, wave form, composition, and exposure time. Real-time quantitative PCR analyses revealed a distinct suppressive effect for several mechanosensitive and ultrasound-sensitive genes that were triggered by sounds. The effect was clearly observed in a wave form- and pressure level-specific manner, rather than the frequency, and persisted for several hours. At least two mechanisms are likely to be involved in this sound response: transcriptional control and RNA degradation. ST2 stromal cells and C2C12 myoblasts exhibited a robust response, whereas NIH3T3 cells were partially and NB2a neuroblastoma cells were completely insensitive, suggesting a cell type-specific response to sound. These findings reveal a cell-level systematic response to audible sound and uncover novel relationships between life and sound.

Opponent Coding of Sound Location (Azimuth) in Planum Temporale is Robust to Sound-Level Variations.

Science.gov (United States)

Derey, Kiki; Valente, Giancarlo; de Gelder, Beatrice; Formisano, Elia

2016-01-01

Coding of sound location in auditory cortex (AC) is only partially understood. Recent electrophysiological research suggests that neurons in mammalian auditory cortex are characterized by broad spatial tuning and a preference for the contralateral hemifield, that is, a nonuniform sampling of sound azimuth. Additionally, spatial selectivity decreases with increasing sound intensity. To accommodate these findings, it has been proposed that sound location is encoded by the integrated activity of neuronal populations with opposite hemifield tuning ("opponent channel model"). In this study, we investigated the validity of such a model in human AC with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a phase-encoding paradigm employing binaural stimuli recorded individually for each participant. In all subjects, we observed preferential fMRI responses to contralateral azimuth positions. Additionally, in most AC locations, spatial tuning was broad and not level invariant. We derived an opponent channel model of the fMRI responses by subtracting the activity of contralaterally tuned regions in bilateral planum temporale. This resulted in accurate decoding of sound azimuth location, which was unaffected by changes in sound level. Our data thus support opponent channel coding as a neural mechanism for representing acoustic azimuth in human AC. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

A generalized linear model for estimating spectrotemporal receptive fields from responses to natural sounds.

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Ana Calabrese

2011-01-01

Full Text Available In the auditory system, the stimulus-response properties of single neurons are often described in terms of the spectrotemporal receptive field (STRF, a linear kernel relating the spectrogram of the sound stimulus to the instantaneous firing rate of the neuron. Several algorithms have been used to estimate STRFs from responses to natural stimuli; these algorithms differ in their functional models, cost functions, and regularization methods. Here, we characterize the stimulus-response function of auditory neurons using a generalized linear model (GLM. In this model, each cell's input is described by: 1 a stimulus filter (STRF; and 2 a post-spike filter, which captures dependencies on the neuron's spiking history. The output of the model is given by a series of spike trains rather than instantaneous firing rate, allowing the prediction of spike train responses to novel stimuli. We fit the model by maximum penalized likelihood to the spiking activity of zebra finch auditory midbrain neurons in response to conspecific vocalizations (songs and modulation limited (ml noise. We compare this model to normalized reverse correlation (NRC, the traditional method for STRF estimation, in terms of predictive power and the basic tuning properties of the estimated STRFs. We find that a GLM with a sparse prior predicts novel responses to both stimulus classes significantly better than NRC. Importantly, we find that STRFs from the two models derived from the same responses can differ substantially and that GLM STRFs are more consistent between stimulus classes than NRC STRFs. These results suggest that a GLM with a sparse prior provides a more accurate characterization of spectrotemporal tuning than does the NRC method when responses to complex sounds are studied in these neurons.

A Hearing-Based, Frequency Domain Sound Quality Model for Combined Aerodynamic and Power Transmission Response with Application to Rotorcraft Interior Noise

Science.gov (United States)

Sondkar, Pravin B.

The severity of combined aerodynamics and power transmission response in high-speed, high power density systems such as a rotorcraft is still a major cause of annoyance in spite of recent advancement in passive, semi-active and active control. With further increase in the capacity and power of this class of machinery systems, the acoustic noise levels are expected to increase even more. To achieve further improvements in sound quality, a more refined understanding of the factors and attributes controlling human perception is needed. In the case of rotorcraft systems, the perceived quality of the interior sound field is a major determining factor of passenger comfort. Traditionally, this sound quality factor is determined by measuring the response of a chosen set of juries who are asked to compare their qualitative reactions to two or more sounds based on their subjective impressions. This type of testing is very time-consuming, costly, often inconsistent, and not useful for practical design purposes. Furthermore, there is no known universal model for sound quality. The primary aim of this research is to achieve significant improvements in quantifying the sound quality of combined aerodynamic and power transmission response in high-speed, high power density machinery systems such as a rotorcraft by applying relevant objective measures related to the spectral characteristics of the sound field. Two models have been proposed in this dissertation research. First, a classical multivariate regression analysis model based on currently known sound quality metrics as well some new metrics derived in this study is presented. Even though the analysis resulted in the best possible multivariate model as a measure of the acoustic noise quality, it lacks incorporation of human judgment mechanism. The regression model can change depending on specific application, nature of the sounds and types of juries used in the study. Also, it predicts only the averaged preference scores and

Context effects on processing widely deviant sounds in newborn infants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gábor Péter Háden

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Detecting and orienting towards sounds carrying new information is a crucial feature of the human brain that supports adaptation to the environment. Rare, acoustically widely deviant sounds presented amongst frequent tones elicit large event related brain potentials (ERPs in neonates. Here we tested whether these discriminative ERP responses reflect only the activation of fresh afferent neuronal populations (i.e., neuronal circuits not affected by the tones or they also index the processing of contextual mismatch between the rare and the frequent sounds.In two separate experiments, we presented sleeping newborns with 150 different environmental sounds and the same number of white noise bursts. Both sounds served either as deviants in an oddball paradigm with the frequent standard stimulus a tone (Novel/Noise deviant, or as the standard stimulus with the tone as deviant (Novel/Noise standard, or they were delivered alone with the same timing as the deviants in the oddball condition (Novel/Noise alone.Whereas the ERP responses to noise–deviants elicited similar responses as the same sound presented alone, the responses elicited by environmental sounds in the corresponding conditions morphologically differed from each other. Thus whereas the ERP response to the noise sounds can be explained by the different refractory state of stimulus specific neuronal populations, the ERP response to environmental sounds indicated context sensitive processing. These results provide evidence for an innate tendency of context dependent auditory processing as well as a basis for the different developmental trajectories of processing acoustical deviance and contextual novelty.

Car audio using DSP for active sound control. DSP ni yoru active seigyo wo mochiita audio

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamada, K.; Asano, S.; Furukawa, N. (Mitsubishi Motor Corp., Tokyo (Japan))

1993-06-01

In the automobile cabin, there are some unique problems which spoil the quality of sound reproduction from audio equipment, such as the narrow space and/or the background noise. The audio signal processing by using DSP (digital signal processor) makes enable a solution to these problems. A car audio with a high amenity has been successfully made by the active sound control using DSP. The DSP consists of an adder, coefficient multiplier, delay unit, and connections. For the actual processing by DSP, are used functions, such as sound field correction, response and processing of noises during driving, surround reproduction, graphic equalizer processing, etc. High effectiveness of the method was confirmed through the actual driving evaluation test. The present paper describes the actual method of sound control technology using DSP. Especially, the dynamic processing of the noise during driving is discussed in detail. 1 ref., 12 figs., 1 tab.

Thermodynamic properties of aqueous solutions with citrate ions. Compressibility studies in aqueous solutions of citric acid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Apelblat, Alexander; Korin, Eli; Manzurola, Emanuel

2013-01-01

Highlights: • Over a wide range of concentrations and temperatures sound velocities were measured in aqueous solutions of citric acid. • Compressibility properties of citric acid solutions are thermodynamically characterized. • Changes in the structure of water when citric acid is dissolved are discussed. -- Abstract: Sound velocities in aqueous solutions of citric acid were measured from 15 °C to 50 °C in 5 °C intervals, within the 0.1 mol · kg −1 to 5.0 mol · kg −1 concentration range. These sound velocities served to evaluate the isentropic and isothermal compressibilities, the apparent molar compressibilities, the isochoric thermal pressure coefficients, changes of the cubic expansion coefficients with pressure at constant temperature, the changes of heat capacities with volume and hydration numbers of citric acid in aqueous solutions

Behavioral changes in response to sound exposure and no spatial avoidance of noisy conditions in captive zebrafish.

Science.gov (United States)

Neo, Yik Yaw; Parie, Lisa; Bakker, Frederique; Snelderwaard, Peter; Tudorache, Christian; Schaaf, Marcel; Slabbekoorn, Hans

2015-01-01

Auditory sensitivity in fish serves various important functions, but also makes fish susceptible to noise pollution. Human-generated sounds may affect behavioral patterns of fish, both in natural conditions and in captivity. Fish are often kept for consumption in aquaculture, on display in zoos and hobby aquaria, and for medical sciences in research facilities, but little is known about the impact of ambient sounds in fish tanks. In this study, we conducted two indoor exposure experiments with zebrafish (Danio rerio). The first experiment demonstrated that exposure to moderate sound levels (112 dB re 1 μPa) can affect the swimming behavior of fish by changing group cohesion, swimming speed and swimming height. Effects were brief for both continuous and intermittent noise treatments. In the second experiment, fish could influence exposure to higher sound levels by swimming freely between an artificially noisy fish tank (120-140 dB re 1 μPa) and another with ambient noise levels (89 dB re 1 μPa). Despite initial startle responses, and a brief period in which many individuals in the noisy tank dived down to the bottom, there was no spatial avoidance or noise-dependent tank preference at all. The frequent exchange rate of about 60 fish passages per hour between tanks was not affected by continuous or intermittent exposures. In conclusion, small groups of captive zebrafish were able to detect sounds already at relatively low sound levels and adjust their behavior to it. Relatively high sound levels were at least at the on-set disturbing, but did not lead to spatial avoidance. Further research is needed to show whether zebrafish are not able to avoid noisy areas or just not bothered. Quantitatively, these data are not directly applicable to other fish species or other fish tanks, but they do indicate that sound exposure may affect fish behavior in any captive condition.

Sound field reproduction as an equivalent acoustical scattering problem.

Science.gov (United States)

Fazi, Filippo Maria; Nelson, Philip A

2013-11-01

Given a continuous distribution of acoustic sources, the determination of the source strength that ensures the synthesis of a desired sound field is shown to be identical to the solution of an equivalent acoustic scattering problem. The paper begins with the presentation of the general theory that underpins sound field reproduction with secondary sources continuously arranged on the boundary of the reproduction region. The process of reproduction by a continuous source distribution is modeled by means of an integral operator (the single layer potential). It is then shown how the solution of the sound reproduction problem corresponds to that of an equivalent scattering problem. Analytical solutions are computed for two specific instances of this problem, involving, respectively, the use of a secondary source distribution in spherical and planar geometries. The results are shown to be the same as those obtained with analyses based on High Order Ambisonics and Wave Field Synthesis, respectively, thus bringing to light a fundamental analogy between these two methods of sound reproduction. Finally, it is shown how the physical optics (Kirchhoff) approximation enables the derivation of a high-frequency simplification for the problem under consideration, this in turn being related to the secondary source selection criterion reported in the literature on Wave Field Synthesis.

Oil spill response planning, training and facilities for wildlife in Prince William Sound, Alaska

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hillman, S.O.

1996-01-01

The special provisions of the SERVS System of the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company concerning the treatment of wildlife in the event of an oil spill, were described. The Company is prepared to mobilize a rapid response for protection and treatment of wildlife in the event of an oil spill anywhere along the trans-Alaska pipeline or in Prince William Sound. Equipment for hazing, capture, and treatment is pre-assembled and staged at facilities at the Valdez Marine Terminal. Veterinarians and wildlife treatment specialists are under contract for treating oiled birds. This complex of wildlife response capabilities meets or exceeds the guidelines and response planning standards set by wildlife agencies. 7 refs., 6 figs

Physiological phenotyping of dementias using emotional sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Fletcher, Phillip D; Nicholas, Jennifer M; Shakespeare, Timothy J; Downey, Laura E; Golden, Hannah L; Agustus, Jennifer L; Clark, Camilla N; Mummery, Catherine J; Schott, Jonathan M; Crutch, Sebastian J; Warren, Jason D

2015-06-01

Emotional behavioral disturbances are hallmarks of many dementias but their pathophysiology is poorly understood. Here we addressed this issue using the paradigm of emotionally salient sounds. Pupil responses and affective valence ratings for nonverbal sounds of varying emotional salience were assessed in patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) (n = 14), semantic dementia (SD) (n = 10), progressive nonfluent aphasia (PNFA) (n = 12), and AD (n = 10) versus healthy age-matched individuals (n = 26). Referenced to healthy individuals, overall autonomic reactivity to sound was normal in Alzheimer's disease (AD) but reduced in other syndromes. Patients with bvFTD, SD, and AD showed altered coupling between pupillary and affective behavioral responses to emotionally salient sounds. Emotional sounds are a useful model system for analyzing how dementias affect the processing of salient environmental signals, with implications for defining pathophysiological mechanisms and novel biomarker development.

The Aesthetic Experience of Sound

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Breinbjerg, Morten

2005-01-01

to react on. In an ecological understanding of hearing our detection of audible information affords us ways of responding to our environment. In my paper I will address both these ways of using sound in relation to computer games. Since a game player is responsible for the unfolding of the game, his......The use of sound in (3D) computer games basically falls in two. Sound is used as an element in the design of the set and as a narrative. As set design sound stages the nature of the environment, it brings it to life. As a narrative it brings us information that we can choose to or perhaps need...... exploration of the virtual space laid out before him is pertinent. In this mood of exploration sound is important and heavily contributing to the aesthetic of the experience....

Individual differences in sound-in-noise perception are related to the strength of short-latency neural responses to noise.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ekaterina Vinnik

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Important sounds can be easily missed or misidentified in the presence of extraneous noise. We describe an auditory illusion in which a continuous ongoing tone becomes inaudible during a brief, non-masking noise burst more than one octave away, which is unexpected given the frequency resolution of human hearing. Participants strongly susceptible to this illusory discontinuity did not perceive illusory auditory continuity (in which a sound subjectively continues during a burst of masking noise when the noises were short, yet did so at longer noise durations. Participants who were not prone to illusory discontinuity showed robust early electroencephalographic responses at 40-66 ms after noise burst onset, whereas those prone to the illusion lacked these early responses. These data suggest that short-latency neural responses to auditory scene components reflect subsequent individual differences in the parsing of auditory scenes.

Inverse problem of radiofrequency sounding of ionosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Velichko, E. N.; Yu. Grishentsev, A.; Korobeynikov, A. G.

2016-01-01

An algorithm for the solution of the inverse problem of vertical ionosphere sounding and a mathematical model of noise filtering are presented. An automated system for processing and analysis of spectrograms of vertical ionosphere sounding based on our algorithm is described. It is shown that the algorithm we suggest has a rather high efficiency. This is supported by the data obtained at the ionospheric stations of the so-called “AIS-M” type.

Review of sound card photogates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gingl, Zoltan; Mingesz, Robert; Mellar, Janos; Makra, Peter

2011-01-01

Photogates are probably the most commonly used electronic instruments to aid experiments in the field of mechanics. Although they are offered by many manufacturers, they can be too expensive to be widely used in all classrooms, in multiple experiments or even at home experimentation. Today all computers have a sound card - an interface for analogue signals. It is possible to make very simple yet highly accurate photogates for cents, while much more sophisticated solutions are also available at a still very low cost. In our paper we show several experimentally tested ways of implementing sound card photogates in detail, and we also provide full-featured, free, open-source photogate software as a much more efficient experimentation tool than the usually used sound recording programs. Further information is provided on a dedicated web page, www.noise.physx.u-szeged.hu/edudev.

Foley Sounds vs Real Sounds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Trento, Stefano; Götzen, Amalia De

2011-01-01

This paper is an initial attempt to study the world of sound effects for motion pictures, also known as Foley sounds. Throughout several audio and audio-video tests we have compared both Foley and real sounds originated by an identical action. The main purpose was to evaluate if sound effects...

A study of the electric response of He II at the excitation of second sound waves

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Chagovets, Tymofiy

2016-01-01

Roč. 42, č. 3 (2016), s. 230-235 ISSN 1063-777X R&D Projects: GA ČR GP13-03806P Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : superfluid helium * electric response * second sound * ions in He II Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 0.804, year: 2016

Music and natural sounds in an auditory steady-state response based brain-computer interface to increase user acceptance.

Science.gov (United States)

Heo, Jeong; Baek, Hyun Jae; Hong, Seunghyeok; Chang, Min Hye; Lee, Jeong Su; Park, Kwang Suk

2017-05-01

Patients with total locked-in syndrome are conscious; however, they cannot express themselves because most of their voluntary muscles are paralyzed, and many of these patients have lost their eyesight. To improve the quality of life of these patients, there is an increasing need for communication-supporting technologies that leverage the remaining senses of the patient along with physiological signals. The auditory steady-state response (ASSR) is an electro-physiologic response to auditory stimulation that is amplitude-modulated by a specific frequency. By leveraging the phenomenon whereby ASSR is modulated by mind concentration, a brain-computer interface paradigm was proposed to classify the selective attention of the patient. In this paper, we propose an auditory stimulation method to minimize auditory stress by replacing the monotone carrier with familiar music and natural sounds for an ergonomic system. Piano and violin instrumentals were employed in the music sessions; the sounds of water streaming and cicadas singing were used in the natural sound sessions. Six healthy subjects participated in the experiment. Electroencephalograms were recorded using four electrodes (Cz, Oz, T7 and T8). Seven sessions were performed using different stimuli. The spectral power at 38 and 42Hz and their ratio for each electrode were extracted as features. Linear discriminant analysis was utilized to classify the selections for each subject. In offline analysis, the average classification accuracies with a modulation index of 1.0 were 89.67% and 87.67% using music and natural sounds, respectively. In online experiments, the average classification accuracies were 88.3% and 80.0% using music and natural sounds, respectively. Using the proposed method, we obtained significantly higher user-acceptance scores, while maintaining a high average classification accuracy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psychophysiological Assessment Of Fear Experience In Response To Sound During Computer Video Gameplay

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garner, Tom Alexander; Grimshaw, Mark

2013-01-01

The potential value of a looping biometric feedback system as a key component of adaptive computer video games is significant. Psychophysiological measures are essential to the development of an automated emotion recognition program, capable of interpreting physiological data into models of affect...... and systematically altering the game environment in response. This article presents empirical data the analysis of which advocates electrodermal activity and electromyography as suitable physiological measures to work effectively within a computer video game-based biometric feedback loop, within which sound...

78 FR 13869 - Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Puget Sound Energy...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-01

...-123-LNG; 12-128-NG; 12-148-NG; 12- 158-NG] Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; CE FLNG, LLC; Consolidated...-NG Puget Sound Energy, Inc Order granting long- term authority to import/export natural gas from/to...

Behavioural changes in response to sound exposure and no spatial avoidance of noisy conditions in captive zebrafish

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yik Yaw (Errol eNeo

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Auditory sensitivity in fish serves various important functions, but also makes fish susceptible to noise pollution. Human-generated sounds may affect behavioural patterns of fish, both in natural conditions and in captivity. Fish are often kept for consumption in aquaculture, on display in zoos and hobby aquaria, and for medical sciences in research facilities, but little is known about the impact of ambient sounds in fish tanks. In this study, we conducted two indoor exposure experiments with zebrafish (Danio rerio. The first experiment demonstrated that exposure to moderate sound levels (112 dB re 1 μPa can affect the swimming behaviour of fish by changing group cohesion, swimming speed and swimming height. Effects were brief for both continuous and intermittent noise treatments. In the second experiment, fish could influence exposure to higher sound levels by swimming freely between an artificially noisy fish tank (120-140 dB re 1 μPa and another with ambient noise levels (89 dB re 1 μPa. Despite initial startle responses, and a brief period in which many individuals in the noisy tank dived down to the bottom, there was no spatial avoidance or noise-dependent tank preference at all. The frequent exchange rate of about 60 fish passages per hour between tanks was not affected by continuous or intermittent exposures. In conclusion, small groups of captive zebrafish were able to detect sounds already at relatively low sound levels and adjust their behaviour to it. Relatively high sound levels were at least at the on-set disturbing, but did not lead to spatial avoidance. Further research is needed to show whether zebrafish are not able to avoid noisy areas or just not bothered. Quantitatively, these data are not directly applicable to other fish species or other fish tanks, but they do indicate that sound exposure may affect fish behaviour in any captive condition.

Acoustic quality and sound insulation between dwellings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rindel, Jens Holger

1998-01-01

to another, however, several of the results show a slope around 4 % per dB. The results may be used to evaluate the acoustic quality level of a certain set of sound insulation requirements, or they may be used as a basis for specifying the desired acoustic quality of future buildings......During the years there have been several large field investigations in different countries with the aim to find a relationship between sound insulation between dwellings and the subjective degree of annoyance. This paper presents an overview of the results, and the difficulties in comparing...... the different findings are discussed. It is tried to establish dose-response relationships between airborne sound insulation or impact sound pressure level according to ISO 717 and the percentage of people being annoyed by noise from neighbours. The slopes of the dose-response curves vary from one investigation...

Efficient sound barrier calculations with the BEM

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Juhl, Peter Møller; Cutanda Henriquez, Vicente

2018-01-01

The Boundary Element Method has been used for calculating the effect of introducing sound barriers for some decades. The method has also been used for optimizing the shape of the barrier and in some cases the effects of introducing sound absorption. However, numerical calculations are still quite...... time consuming and inconvenient to use, which is limiting their use for many practical problems. Moreover, measurements are mostly taken in one-third or full octave bands opposed to the numerical computations at specific frequencies, which then has to be conducted using a fine density in frequencies....... This paper addresses some of the challenges and possible solutions for developing BEM into a more efficient tool for sound barrier calculations....

Acoustic quality and sound insulation between dwellings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rindel, Jens Holger

1999-01-01

to another, however, several of the results show a slope around 4 % per dB. The results may be used to evaluate the acoustic quality level of a certain set of sound insulation requirements, or they may be used as a basis for specifying the desired acoustic quality of future buildings.......During the years there have been several large field investigations in different countries with the aim to find a relationship between sound insulation between dwellings and the subjective degree of annoyance. This paper presents an overview of the results, and the dif-ficulties in comparing...... the different findings are discussed. It is tried to establish dose-response relationships between airborne sound insulation or impact sound pressure level according to ISO 717 and the percentage of people being annoyed by noise from neighbours. The slopes of the dose-response curves vary from one investigation...

Method for measuring violin sound radiation based on bowed glissandi and its application to sound synthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Perez Carrillo, Alfonso; Bonada, Jordi; Patynen, Jukka; Valimaki, Vesa

2011-08-01

This work presents a method for measuring and computing violin-body directional frequency responses, which are used for violin sound synthesis. The approach is based on a frame-weighted deconvolution of excitation and response signals. The excitation, consisting of bowed glissandi, is measured with piezoelectric transducers built into the bridge. Radiation responses are recorded in an anechoic chamber with multiple microphones placed at different angles around the violin. The proposed deconvolution algorithm computes impulse responses that, when convolved with any source signal (captured with the same transducer), produce a highly realistic violin sound very similar to that of a microphone recording. The use of motion sensors allows for tracking violin movements. Combining this information with the directional responses and using a dynamic convolution algorithm, helps to improve the listening experience by incorporating the violinist motion effect in stereo.

Brain responses to sound intensity changes dissociate depressed participants and healthy controls.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruohonen, Elisa M; Astikainen, Piia

2017-07-01

Depression is associated with bias in emotional information processing, but less is known about the processing of neutral sensory stimuli. Of particular interest is processing of sound intensity which is suggested to indicate central serotonergic function. We tested weather event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to occasional changes in sound intensity can dissociate first-episode depressed, recurrent depressed and healthy control participants. The first-episode depressed showed larger N1 amplitude to deviant sounds compared to recurrent depression group and control participants. In addition, both depression groups, but not the control group, showed larger N1 amplitude to deviant than standard sounds. Whether these manifestations of sensory over-excitability in depression are directly related to the serotonergic neurotransmission requires further research. The method based on ERPs to sound intensity change is fast and low-cost way to objectively measure brain activation and holds promise as a future diagnostic tool. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Graded behavioral responses and habituation to sound in the common cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Samson, J.E.; Mooney, T.A.; Gussekloo, S.W.S.; Hanlon, R.T.

2014-01-01

Sound is a widely available and vital cue in aquatic environments yet most bioacoustic research has focused on marine vertebrates, leaving sound detection in invertebrates poorly understood. Cephalopods are an ecologically key taxon that likely use sound and may be impacted by increasing

Bulk damping of sound in superfluid 3He--4He under stagnation of the normal component

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karchava, T.A.; Sanikidze, D.G.; Chkhaidze, N.D.

1983-01-01

The propagation of waves in superfluid 3 He-- 4 He solutions is considered under partial stagnation of the normal component. The wave processes in capillaries are presented as a superposition of the first sound, second sound, and viscous and diffusion waves. The damping coefficients are calculated for the modified first sound and for the thermal wave in superfluid 3 He-- 4 He solutions and related to the viscosity, thermal conductivity, diffusion, barodiffusion, and thermodiffusion coefficients

A Analysis of the Low Frequency Sound Field in Non-Rectangular Enclosures Using the Finite Element Method.

Science.gov (United States)

Geddes, Earl Russell

The details of the low frequency sound field for a rectangular room can be studied by the use of an established analytic technique--separation of variables. The solution is straightforward and the results are well-known. A non -rectangular room has boundary conditions which are not separable and therefore other solution techniques must be used. This study shows that the finite element method can be adapted for use in the study of sound fields in arbitrary shaped enclosures. The finite element acoustics problem is formulated and the modification of a standard program, which is necessary for solving acoustic field problems, is examined. The solution of the semi-non-rectangular room problem (one where the floor and ceiling remain parallel) is carried out by a combined finite element/separation of variables approach. The solution results are used to construct the Green's function for the low frequency sound field in five rooms (or data cases): (1) a rectangular (Louden) room; (2) The smallest wall of the Louden room canted 20 degrees from normal; (3) The largest wall of the Louden room canted 20 degrees from normal; (4) both the largest and the smallest walls are canted 20 degrees; and (5) a five-sided room variation of Case 4. Case 1, the rectangular room was calculated using both the finite element method and the separation of variables technique. The results for the two methods are compared in order to access the accuracy of the finite element method models. The modal damping coefficient are calculated and the results examined. The statistics of the source and receiver average normalized RMS P('2) responses in the 80 Hz, 100 Hz, and 125 Hz one-third octave bands are developed. The receiver averaged pressure response is developed to determine the effect of the source locations on the response. Twelve source locations are examined and the results tabulated for comparison. The effect of a finite sized source is looked at briefly. Finally, the standard deviation of the

Numerical Model on Sound-Solid Coupling in Human Ear and Study on Sound Pressure of Tympanic Membrane

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yao Wen-juan

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Establishment of three-dimensional finite-element model of the whole auditory system includes external ear, middle ear, and inner ear. The sound-solid-liquid coupling frequency response analysis of the model was carried out. The correctness of the FE model was verified by comparing the vibration modes of tympanic membrane and stapes footplate with the experimental data. According to calculation results of the model, we make use of the least squares method to fit out the distribution of sound pressure of external auditory canal and obtain the sound pressure function on the tympanic membrane which varies with frequency. Using the sound pressure function, the pressure distribution on the tympanic membrane can be directly derived from the sound pressure at the external auditory canal opening. The sound pressure function can make the boundary conditions of the middle ear structure more accurate in the mechanical research and improve the previous boundary treatment which only applied uniform pressure acting to the tympanic membrane.

By the sound of it. An ERP investigation of human action sound processing in 7-month-old infants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena Geangu

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Recent evidence suggests that human adults perceive human action sounds as a distinct category from human vocalizations, environmental, and mechanical sounds, activating different neural networks (Engel et al., 2009; Lewis et al., 2011. Yet, little is known about the development of such specialization. Using event-related potentials (ERP, this study investigated neural correlates of 7-month-olds’ processing of human action (HA sounds in comparison to human vocalizations (HV, environmental (ENV, and mechanical (MEC sounds. Relative to the other categories, HA sounds led to increased positive amplitudes between 470 and 570 ms post-stimulus onset at left anterior temporal locations, while HV led to increased negative amplitudes at the more posterior temporal locations in both hemispheres. Collectively, human produced sounds (HA + HV led to significantly different response profiles compared to non-living sound sources (ENV + MEC at parietal and frontal locations in both hemispheres. Overall, by 7 months of age human action sounds are being differentially processed in the brain, consistent with a dichotomy for processing living versus non-living things. This provides novel evidence regarding the typical categorical processing of socially relevant sounds.

The sound field of a rotating dipole in a plug flow.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhao-Huan; Belyaev, Ivan V; Zhang, Xiao-Zheng; Bi, Chuan-Xing; Faranosov, Georgy A; Dowell, Earl H

2018-04-01

An analytical far field solution for a rotating point dipole source in a plug flow is derived. The shear layer of the jet is modelled as an infinitely thin cylindrical vortex sheet and the far field integral is calculated by the stationary phase method. Four numerical tests are performed to validate the derived solution as well as to assess the effects of sound refraction from the shear layer. First, the calculated results using the derived formulations are compared with the known solution for a rotating dipole in a uniform flow to validate the present model in this fundamental test case. After that, the effects of sound refraction for different rotating dipole sources in the plug flow are assessed. Then the refraction effects on different frequency components of the signal at the observer position, as well as the effects of the motion of the source and of the type of source are considered. Finally, the effect of different sound speeds and densities outside and inside the plug flow is investigated. The solution obtained may be of particular interest for propeller and rotor noise measurements in open jet anechoic wind tunnels.

Sound

CERN Document Server

Robertson, William C

2003-01-01

Muddled about what makes music? Stuck on the study of harmonics? Dumbfounded by how sound gets around? Now you no longer have to struggle to teach concepts you really don t grasp yourself. Sound takes an intentionally light touch to help out all those adults science teachers, parents wanting to help with homework, home-schoolers seeking necessary scientific background to teach middle school physics with confidence. The book introduces sound waves and uses that model to explain sound-related occurrences. Starting with the basics of what causes sound and how it travels, you'll learn how musical instruments work, how sound waves add and subtract, how the human ear works, and even why you can sound like a Munchkin when you inhale helium. Sound is the fourth book in the award-winning Stop Faking It! Series, published by NSTA Press. Like the other popular volumes, it is written by irreverent educator Bill Robertson, who offers this Sound recommendation: One of the coolest activities is whacking a spinning metal rod...

Neuroanatomic organization of sound memory in humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Kraut, Michael A; Pitcock, Jeffery A; Calhoun, Vince; Li, Juan; Freeman, Thomas; Hart, John

2006-11-01

The neural interface between sensory perception and memory is a central issue in neuroscience, particularly initial memory organization following perceptual analyses. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify anatomic regions extracting initial auditory semantic memory information related to environmental sounds. Two distinct anatomic foci were detected in the right superior temporal gyrus when subjects identified sounds representing either animals or threatening items. Threatening animal stimuli elicited signal changes in both foci, suggesting a distributed neural representation. Our results demonstrate both category- and feature-specific responses to nonverbal sounds in early stages of extracting semantic memory information from these sounds. This organization allows for these category-feature detection nodes to extract early, semantic memory information for efficient processing of transient sound stimuli. Neural regions selective for threatening sounds are similar to those of nonhuman primates, demonstrating semantic memory organization for basic biological/survival primitives are present across species.

Extraction of ground reaction forces for real-time synthesis of walking sounds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Serafin, Stefania; Turchet, Luca; Nordahl, Rolf

2009-01-01

A shoe-independent system to synthesize real-time footstep sounds on different materials has been developed. A footstep sound is considered as the result of an interaction between an exciter (the shoe) and a resonator (the floor). To achieve our goal, we propose two different solutions. The first...

Making sound vortices by metasurfaces

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ye, Liping; Qiu, Chunyin, E-mail: cyqiu@whu.edu.cn; Lu, Jiuyang; Tang, Kun; Ke, Manzhu; Peng, Shasha [Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education and School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072 (China); Jia, Han [State Key Laboratory of Acoustics and Key Laboratory of Noise and Vibration Research, Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China); Liu, Zhengyou [Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education and School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072 (China); Institute for Advanced Studies, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072 (China)

2016-08-15

Based on the Huygens-Fresnel principle, a metasurface structure is designed to generate a sound vortex beam in airborne environment. The metasurface is constructed by a thin planar plate perforated with a circular array of deep subwavelength resonators with desired phase and amplitude responses. The metasurface approach in making sound vortices is validated well by full-wave simulations and experimental measurements. Potential applications of such artificial spiral beams can be anticipated, as exemplified experimentally by the torque effect exerting on an absorbing disk.

Precision of working memory for speech sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph, Sabine; Iverson, Paul; Manohar, Sanjay; Fox, Zoe; Scott, Sophie K; Husain, Masud

2015-01-01

Memory for speech sounds is a key component of models of verbal working memory (WM). But how good is verbal WM? Most investigations assess this using binary report measures to derive a fixed number of items that can be stored. However, recent findings in visual WM have challenged such "quantized" views by employing measures of recall precision with an analogue response scale. WM for speech sounds might rely on both continuous and categorical storage mechanisms. Using a novel speech matching paradigm, we measured WM recall precision for phonemes. Vowel qualities were sampled from a formant space continuum. A probe vowel had to be adjusted to match the vowel quality of a target on a continuous, analogue response scale. Crucially, this provided an index of the variability of a memory representation around its true value and thus allowed us to estimate how memories were distorted from the original sounds. Memory load affected the quality of speech sound recall in two ways. First, there was a gradual decline in recall precision with increasing number of items, consistent with the view that WM representations of speech sounds become noisier with an increase in the number of items held in memory, just as for vision. Based on multidimensional scaling (MDS), the level of noise appeared to be reflected in distortions of the formant space. Second, as memory load increased, there was evidence of greater clustering of participants' responses around particular vowels. A mixture model captured both continuous and categorical responses, demonstrating a shift from continuous to categorical memory with increasing WM load. This suggests that direct acoustic storage can be used for single items, but when more items must be stored, categorical representations must be used.

Can road traffic mask sound from wind turbines? Response to wind turbine sound at different levels of road traffic sound

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pedersen, Eja; van den Berg, Frits; Bakker, Roel; Bouma, Jelte

Wind turbines are favoured in the switch-over to renewable energy. Suitable sites for further developments could be difficult to find as the sound emitted from the rotor blades calls for a sufficient distance to residents to avoid negative effects. The aim of this study was to explore if road

Sound velocity in potassium hydroxide aqueous solution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsapuryan, Kh.D.; Aleksandrov, A.A.; Kochetkov, A.I.

1992-01-01

Measurements of ultrasonic velocities in potassium hydroxide aqueous solutions are carried out within the frames of studies on improvement of water chemistry in NPP cooling systems. Method of echo pulses superposition with acoustic path length of 41.447 mm is used for measurements. The measurements are performed at 2.6 MHz frequency. Complex temperature dependence of ultrasonic velocity is determined. Ultrasonic velocity dependence on pressure is close to linear one. The formula for calculation of thermodynamic properties of the studied solutions on the basis of experimental data obtained is proposed

Female listeners’ autonomic responses to dramatic shifts between loud and soft music/sound passages: a study of heavy metal songs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tzu-Han eCheng

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Although music and the emotion it conveys unfold over time, little is known about how listeners respond to shifts in musical emotions. A special technique in heavy metal music utilizes dramatic shifts between loud and soft passages. Loud passages are penetrated by distorted sounds conveying aggression, whereas soft passages are often characterized by a clean, calm singing voice and light accompaniment. The present study used heavy metal songs and soft sea sounds to examine how female listeners’ respiration rates and heart rates responded to the arousal changes associated with auditory stimuli. The high-frequency power of heart rate variability (HF-HRV was used to assess cardiac parasympathetic activity. The results showed that the soft passages of heavy metal songs and soft sea sounds expressed lower arousal and induced significantly higher HF-HRVs than the loud passages of heavy metal songs. Listeners’ respiration rate was determined by the arousal level of the present music passage, whereas the heart rate was dependent on both the present and preceding passages. Compared with soft sea sounds, the loud music passage led to greater deceleration of the heart rate at the beginning of the following soft music passage. The sea sounds delayed the heart rate acceleration evoked by the following loud music passage. The data provide evidence that sound-induced parasympathetic activity affects listener’s heart rate in response to the following music passage. These findings have potential implications for future research of the temporal dynamics of musical emotions.

Improvement of Low-Frequency Sound Field Obtained by an Optimized Boundary

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

JING Lu; ZHU Xiao-tian

2006-01-01

An approach based on the finite element analysis was introduced to improve low-frequency sound field. The optimized scatters on the wall redistribute the modes of the room and provide effective diffusion of sound field. The frequency response, eigenfrequency, spatial distribution and transient response were calculated. Experimental data were obtained through a 1:5 scaled set up. The results show that the optimized treatment has a positive effect on sound field and the improvement is obvious.

Aging Affects Adaptation to Sound-Level Statistics in Human Auditory Cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Herrmann, Björn; Maess, Burkhard; Johnsrude, Ingrid S

2018-02-21

Optimal perception requires efficient and adaptive neural processing of sensory input. Neurons in nonhuman mammals adapt to the statistical properties of acoustic feature distributions such that they become sensitive to sounds that are most likely to occur in the environment. However, whether human auditory responses adapt to stimulus statistical distributions and how aging affects adaptation to stimulus statistics is unknown. We used MEG to study how exposure to different distributions of sound levels affects adaptation in auditory cortex of younger (mean: 25 years; n = 19) and older (mean: 64 years; n = 20) adults (male and female). Participants passively listened to two sound-level distributions with different modes (either 15 or 45 dB sensation level). In a control block with long interstimulus intervals, allowing neural populations to recover from adaptation, neural response magnitudes were similar between younger and older adults. Critically, both age groups demonstrated adaptation to sound-level stimulus statistics, but adaptation was altered for older compared with younger people: in the older group, neural responses continued to be sensitive to sound level under conditions in which responses were fully adapted in the younger group. The lack of full adaptation to the statistics of the sensory environment may be a physiological mechanism underlying the known difficulty that older adults have with filtering out irrelevant sensory information. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Behavior requires efficient processing of acoustic stimulation. Animal work suggests that neurons accomplish efficient processing by adjusting their response sensitivity depending on statistical properties of the acoustic environment. Little is known about the extent to which this adaptation to stimulus statistics generalizes to humans, particularly to older humans. We used MEG to investigate how aging influences adaptation to sound-level statistics. Listeners were presented with sounds drawn from

Sound analysis of a cup drum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Kun ho

2012-01-01

The International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT) is a worldwide tournament that evaluates a high-school student's ability to solve various physics conundrums that have not been fully resolved in the past. The research presented here is my solution to the cup drum problem. The physics behind a cup drum has never been explored or modelled. A cup drum is a musical instrument that can generate different frequencies and amplitudes depending on the location of a cup held upside-down over, on or under a water surface. The tapping sound of a cup drum can be divided into two components: standing waves and plate vibration. By individually researching the nature of these two sounds, I arrived at conclusions that could accurately predict the frequencies in most cases. When the drum is very close to the surface, qualitative explanations are given. In addition, I examined the trend of the tapping sound amplitude at various distances and qualitatively explained the experimental results. (paper)

A review of research progress in air-to-water sound transmission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng Zhao-Hui; Zhang Ling-Shan

2016-01-01

International and domestic research progress in theory and experiment and applications of the air-to-water sound transmission are presented in this paper. Four classical numerical methods of calculating the underwater sound field generated by an airborne source, i.e., the ray theory, the wave solution, the normal-mode theory and the wavenumber integration approach, are introduced. Effects of two special conditions, i.e., the moving airborne source or medium and the rough air-water interface, on the air-to-water sound transmission are reviewed. In experimental studies, the depth and range distributions of the underwater sound field created by different kinds of airborne sources in near-field and far-field, the longitudinal horizontal correlation of underwater sound field and application methods for inverse problems are reviewed. (special topic)

How do auditory cortex neurons represent communication sounds?

Science.gov (United States)

Gaucher, Quentin; Huetz, Chloé; Gourévitch, Boris; Laudanski, Jonathan; Occelli, Florian; Edeline, Jean-Marc

2013-11-01

A major goal in auditory neuroscience is to characterize how communication sounds are represented at the cortical level. The present review aims at investigating the role of auditory cortex in the processing of speech, bird songs and other vocalizations, which all are spectrally and temporally highly structured sounds. Whereas earlier studies have simply looked for neurons exhibiting higher firing rates to particular conspecific vocalizations over their modified, artificially synthesized versions, more recent studies determined the coding capacity of temporal spike patterns, which are prominent in primary and non-primary areas (and also in non-auditory cortical areas). In several cases, this information seems to be correlated with the behavioral performance of human or animal subjects, suggesting that spike-timing based coding strategies might set the foundations of our perceptive abilities. Also, it is now clear that the responses of auditory cortex neurons are highly nonlinear and that their responses to natural stimuli cannot be predicted from their responses to artificial stimuli such as moving ripples and broadband noises. Since auditory cortex neurons cannot follow rapid fluctuations of the vocalizations envelope, they only respond at specific time points during communication sounds, which can serve as temporal markers for integrating the temporal and spectral processing taking place at subcortical relays. Thus, the temporal sparse code of auditory cortex neurons can be considered as a first step for generating high level representations of communication sounds independent of the acoustic characteristic of these sounds. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Communication Sounds and the Brain: New Directions and Perspectives". Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sound insulation performance in Danish multi-storey housing 1850-2009 and upgrade possibilities to meet current regulations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Birgit; Hoffmeyer, Dan

2013-01-01

to improve sound insulation in multi-storey housing. The paper quantifies dwellings built in different periods of 1850-2009 and summarizes key characteristics of building types and constructions as well as related sound insulation performance, some being far from fulfilling the limits in the latest Danish...... regulations. Sound insulation data from selected building types are presented, and improvement potential and feasibility based on benefits and drawbacks of different solutions are discussed. To include practical experience in development of solutions, several housing associations have been contacted, but even...... when carrying out major refurbishment work, focus is on energy issues, building maintenance and visual qualities, and sound insulation improvement almost never considered. Thus, it is clearly a challenge to change the mind-set of involved parties to apply a more holistic approach and include sound...

Assessing signal-driven mechanism in neonates: brain responses to temporally and spectrally different sounds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasuyo eMinagawa-Kawai

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Past studies have found that in adults that acoustic properties of sound signals (such as fast vs. slow temporal features differentially activate the left and right hemispheres, and some have hypothesized that left-lateralization for speech processing may follow from left-lateralization to rapidly changing signals. Here, we tested whether newborns’ brains show some evidence of signal-specific lateralization responses using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS and auditory stimuli that elicits lateralized responses in adults, composed of segments that vary in duration and spectral diversity. We found significantly greater bilateral responses of oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb in the temporal areas for stimuli with a minimum segment duration of 21 ms, than stimuli with a minimum segment duration of 667 ms. However, we found no evidence for hemispheric asymmetries dependent on the stimulus characteristics. We hypothesize that acoustic-based functional brain asymmetries may develop throughout early infancy, and discuss their possible relationship with brain asymmetries for language.

Sound exposure measurements using hearing-aid technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Simon Boelt; Drastrup, Mads; Morales, Esteban Chávez

2016-01-01

scenarios. The purpose of this work is to document the use of a modified behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing-aid as a portable sound pressure level (SPL) meter. In order to obtain sound level measurements with a BTE device comparable to sound field values that can be used with existing risk assessment strategies...... levels of sound exposures are experienced in modern society in many different situations such as attending concerts, sport events and others. This leads to an interest in measurement devices which are discreet and simple to use, in order to assess sound exposures encountered in typical daily life......, differences due to microphone positions and the presence of a person in the measurement must be taken into account. The present study presents measurements carried out to document the characteristics of the BTE device, using the same framework presented in the ISO 11904 standard series. The responses...

Source Separation of Heartbeat Sounds for Effective E-Auscultation

Science.gov (United States)

Geethu, R. S.; Krishnakumar, M.; Pramod, K. V.; George, Sudhish N.

2016-03-01

This paper proposes a cost effective solution for improving the effectiveness of e-auscultation. Auscultation is the most difficult skill for a doctor, since it can be acquired only through experience. The heart sound mixtures are captured by placing the four numbers of sensors at appropriate auscultation area in the body. These sound mixtures are separated to its relevant components by a statistical method independent component analysis. The separated heartbeat sounds can be further processed or can be stored for future reference. This idea can be used for making a low cost, easy to use portable instrument which will be beneficial to people living in remote areas and are unable to take the advantage of advanced diagnosis methods.

Decoding sound level in the marmoset primary auditory cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Wensheng; Marongelli, Ellisha N; Watkins, Paul V; Barbour, Dennis L

2017-10-01

Neurons that respond favorably to a particular sound level have been observed throughout the central auditory system, becoming steadily more common at higher processing areas. One theory about the role of these level-tuned or nonmonotonic neurons is the level-invariant encoding of sounds. To investigate this theory, we simulated various subpopulations of neurons by drawing from real primary auditory cortex (A1) neuron responses and surveyed their performance in forming different sound level representations. Pure nonmonotonic subpopulations did not provide the best level-invariant decoding; instead, mixtures of monotonic and nonmonotonic neurons provided the most accurate decoding. For level-fidelity decoding, the inclusion of nonmonotonic neurons slightly improved or did not change decoding accuracy until they constituted a high proportion. These results indicate that nonmonotonic neurons fill an encoding role complementary to, rather than alternate to, monotonic neurons. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Neurons with nonmonotonic rate-level functions are unique to the central auditory system. These level-tuned neurons have been proposed to account for invariant sound perception across sound levels. Through systematic simulations based on real neuron responses, this study shows that neuron populations perform sound encoding optimally when containing both monotonic and nonmonotonic neurons. The results indicate that instead of working independently, nonmonotonic neurons complement the function of monotonic neurons in different sound-encoding contexts. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Sound algorithms

OpenAIRE

De Götzen , Amalia; Mion , Luca; Tache , Olivier

2007-01-01

International audience; We call sound algorithms the categories of algorithms that deal with digital sound signal. Sound algorithms appeared in the very infancy of computer. Sound algorithms present strong specificities that are the consequence of two dual considerations: the properties of the digital sound signal itself and its uses, and the properties of auditory perception.

Search for fourth sound propagation in supersolid 4He

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aoki, Y.; Kojima, H.; Lin, X.

2008-01-01

A systematic study is carried out to search for fourth sound propagation solid 4 He samples below 500 mK down to 40 mK between 25 and 56 bar using the techniques of heat pulse generator and titanium superconducting transition edge bolometer. If solid 4 He is endowed with superfluidity below 200 mK, as indicated by recent torsional oscillator experiments, theories predict fourth sound propagation in such a supersolid state. If found, fourth sound would provide convincing evidence for superfluidity and a new tool for studying the new phase. The search for a fourth sound-like mode is based on the response of the bolometers to heat pulses traveling through cylindrical samples of solids grown with different crystal qualities. Bolometers with increasing sensitivity are constructed. The heater generator amplitude is reduced to the sensitivity limit to search for any critical velocity effects. The fourth sound velocity is expected to vary as ∞ √ Ρ s /ρ. Searches for a signature in the bolometer response with such a characteristic temperature dependence are made. The measured response signal has not so far revealed any signature of a new propagating mode within a temperature excursion of 5 μK from the background signal shape. Possible reasons for this negative result are discussed. Prior to the fourth sound search, the temperature dependence of heat pulse propagation was studied as it transformed from 'second sound' in the normal solid 4 He to transverse ballistic phonon propagation. Our work extends the studies of [V. Narayanamurti and R. C. Dynes, Phys. Rev. B 12, 1731 (1975)] to higher pressures and to lower temperatures. The measured transverse ballistic phonon propagation velocity is found to remain constant (within the 0.3% scatter of the data) below 100 mK at all pressures and reveals no indication of an onset of supersolidity. The overall dynamic thermal response of solid to heat input is found to depend strongly on the sample preparation procedure

Pacific and Atlantic herring produce burst pulse sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Ben; Batty, Robert S; Dill, Lawrence M

2004-02-07

The commercial importance of Pacific and Atlantic herring (Clupea pallasii and Clupea harengus) has ensured that much of their biology has received attention. However, their sound production remains poorly studied. We describe the sounds made by captive wild-caught herring. Pacific herring produce distinctive bursts of pulses, termed Fast Repetitive Tick (FRT) sounds. These trains of broadband pulses (1.7-22 kHz) lasted between 0.6 s and 7.6 s. Most were produced at night; feeding regime did not affect their frequency, and fish produced FRT sounds without direct access to the air. Digestive gas or gulped air transfer to the swim bladder, therefore, do not appear to be responsible for FRT sound generation. Atlantic herring also produce FRT sounds, and video analysis showed an association with bubble expulsion from the anal duct region (i.e. from the gut or swim bladder). To the best of the authors' knowledge, sound production by such means has not previously been described. The function(s) of these sounds are unknown, but as the per capita rates of sound production by fish at higher densities were greater, social mediation appears likely. These sounds may have consequences for our understanding of herring behaviour and the effects of noise pollution.

46 CFR 7.20 - Nantucket Sound, Vineyard Sound, Buzzards Bay, Narragansett Bay, MA, Block Island Sound and...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Nantucket Sound, Vineyard Sound, Buzzards Bay, Narragansett Bay, MA, Block Island Sound and easterly entrance to Long Island Sound, NY. 7.20 Section 7.20... Atlantic Coast § 7.20 Nantucket Sound, Vineyard Sound, Buzzards Bay, Narragansett Bay, MA, Block Island...

The influence of meaning on the perception of speech sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Kazanina, Nina; Phillips, Colin; Idsardi, William

2006-07-25

As part of knowledge of language, an adult speaker possesses information on which sounds are used in the language and on the distribution of these sounds in a multidimensional acoustic space. However, a speaker must know not only the sound categories of his language but also the functional significance of these categories, in particular, which sound contrasts are relevant for storing words in memory and which sound contrasts are not. Using magnetoencephalographic brain recordings with speakers of Russian and Korean, we demonstrate that a speaker's perceptual space, as reflected in early auditory brain responses, is shaped not only by bottom-up analysis of the distribution of sounds in his language but also by more abstract analysis of the functional significance of those sounds.

Sound field separation with cross measurement surfaces.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Mao

Full Text Available With conventional near-field acoustical holography, it is impossible to identify sound pressure when the coherent sound sources are located on the same side of the array. This paper proposes a solution, using cross measurement surfaces to separate the sources based on the equivalent source method. Each equivalent source surface is built in the center of the corresponding original source with a spherical surface. According to the different transfer matrices between equivalent sources and points on holographic surfaces, the weighting of each equivalent source from coherent sources can be obtained. Numerical and experimental studies have been performed to test the method. For the sound pressure including noise after separation in the experiment, the calculation accuracy can be improved by reconstructing the pressure with Tikhonov regularization and the L-curve method. On the whole, a single source can be effectively separated from coherent sources using cross measurement.

When Distance Matters: Perceptual Bias and Behavioral Response for Approaching Sounds in Peripersonal and Extrapersonal Space

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Camponogara, I.; Komeilipoor, N.; Cesari, P.

2015-01-01

Studies on sound perception show a tendency to overestimate the distance of an approaching sound source, leading to a faster reaction time compared to a receding sound source. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether motor preparation and execution change according to the perceived sound direction and

Hearing abilities and sound reception of broadband sounds in an adult Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus).

Science.gov (United States)

Mooney, T Aran; Yang, Wei-Cheng; Yu, Hsin-Yi; Ketten, Darlene R; Jen, I-Fan

2015-08-01

While odontocetes do not have an external pinna that guides sound to the middle ear, they are considered to receive sound through specialized regions of the head and lower jaw. Yet odontocetes differ in the shape of the lower jaw suggesting that hearing pathways may vary between species, potentially influencing hearing directionality and noise impacts. This work measured the audiogram and received sensitivity of a Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) in an effort to comparatively examine how this species receives sound. Jaw hearing thresholds were lowest (most sensitive) at two locations along the anterior, midline region of the lower jaw (the lower jaw tip and anterior part of the throat). Responses were similarly low along a more posterior region of the lower mandible, considered the area of best hearing in bottlenose dolphins. Left- and right-side differences were also noted suggesting possible left-right asymmetries in sound reception or differences in ear sensitivities. The results indicate best hearing pathways may vary between the Risso's dolphin and other odontocetes measured. This animal received sound well, supporting a proposed throat pathway. For Risso's dolphins in particular, good ventral hearing would support their acoustic ecology by facilitating echo-detection from their proposed downward oriented echolocation beam.

Optical response of the FXG solution to different phantom materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cavinato, C.C.; Sakuraba, R.K.; Cruz, J.C.; Campos, L.L.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the performance of the Fricke xylenol gel (FXG) solution developed at IPEN, prepared with 270 Bloom gelatine (made in Brazil), for clinical electron beams to the reference depth, using different phantom materials. The colour change, optical absorption spectra, intra and inter-batches reproducibility, dose-response, lower detection limit, energy and dose rate dependent response and response uniformity were studied. The excellent results obtained indicate the viability of employing this solution in 2D spectrophotometric dosimetry (could be extended to 3D MRI dosimetry) to be applied in quality assurance for clinical radiotherapy treatment planning of superficial tumours being treated with clinical electron beams.

Extraordinary absorption of sound in porous lamella-crystals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Johan; Romero-García, V.; Picó, R.

2014-01-01

. Experimental measurements show that strong all-angle sound absorption with almost zero reflectance takes place for a frequency range exceeding two octaves. We demonstrate that lowering the crystal filling fraction increases the wave interaction time and is responsible for the enhancement of intrinsic material......We present the design of a structured material supporting complete absorption of sound with a broadband response and functional for any direction of incident radiation. The structure which is fabricated out of porous lamellas is arranged into a low-density crystal and backed by a reflecting support...

Fast detection of unexpected sound intensity decrements as revealed by human evoked potentials.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heike Althen

Full Text Available The detection of deviant sounds is a crucial function of the auditory system and is reflected by the automatically elicited mismatch negativity (MMN, an auditory evoked potential at 100 to 250 ms from stimulus onset. It has recently been shown that rarely occurring frequency and location deviants in an oddball paradigm trigger a more negative response than standard sounds at very early latencies in the middle latency response of the human auditory evoked potential. This fast and early ability of the auditory system is corroborated by the finding of neurons in the animal auditory cortex and subcortical structures, which restore their adapted responsiveness to standard sounds, when a rare change in a sound feature occurs. In this study, we investigated whether the detection of intensity deviants is also reflected at shorter latencies than those of the MMN. Auditory evoked potentials in response to click sounds were analyzed regarding the auditory brain stem response, the middle latency response (MLR and the MMN. Rare stimuli with a lower intensity level than standard stimuli elicited (in addition to an MMN a more negative potential in the MLR at the transition from the Na to the Pa component at circa 24 ms from stimulus onset. This finding, together with the studies about frequency and location changes, suggests that the early automatic detection of deviant sounds in an oddball paradigm is a general property of the auditory system.

The relationship between sound insulation and acoustic quality in dwellings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rindel, Jens Holger

1998-01-01

to another, however, several of the results show a slope around 4 % per dB. The results may be used to evaluate the acoustic quality level of a certain set of sound insulation requirements, or they may be used as a basis for specifying the desired acoustic quality of future buildings.......During the years there have been several large field investigations in different countries with the aim to find a relationship between sound insulation between dwellings and the subjective degree of annoyance. This paper presents an overview of the results, and the difficulties in comparing...... the different findings are discussed. It is tried to establish dose-response relationships between airborne sound insulation or impact sound pressure level according to ISO 717 and the percentage of people being annoyed by noise from neighbours. The slopes of the dose-response curves vary from one investigation...

Leading edge effect in laminar boundary layer excitation by sound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leehey, P.; Shapiro, P.

1980-01-01

Essentially plane pure tone sound waves were directed downstream over a heavily damped smooth flat plate installed in a low turbulence (0.04%) subsonic wind tunnel. Laminar boundary layer disturbance growth rates were measured with and without sound excitation and compared with numerical results from spatial stability theory. The data indicate that the sound field and Tollmien-Schlichting (T-S) waves coexist with comparable amplitudes when the latter are damped; moreover, the response is linear. Higher early growth rates occur for excitation by sound than by stream turbulence. Theoretical considerations indicate that the boundary layer is receptive to sound excitation primarily at the test plate leading edge. (orig.)

Experimental methodology for obtaining sound absorption coefficients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos A. Macía M

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Objective: the authors propose a new methodology for estimating sound absorption coefficients using genetic algorithms. Methodology: sound waves are generated and conducted along a rectangular silencer. The waves are then attenuated by the absorbing material covering the silencer’s walls. The attenuated sound pressure level is used in a genetic algorithm-based search to find the parameters of the proposed attenuation expressions that include geometric factors, the wavelength and the absorption coefficient. Results: a variety of adjusted mathematical models were found that make it possible to estimate the absorption coefficients based on the characteristics of a rectangular silencer used for measuring the attenuation of the noise that passes through it. Conclusions: this methodology makes it possible to obtain the absorption coefficients of new materials in a cheap and simple manner. Although these coefficients might be slightly different from those obtained through other methodologies, they provide solutions within the engineering accuracy ranges that are used for designing noise control systems.

Assessment of the TRANSREC-350 mechanical recovery capacity of the oil spill response equipment in Prince William Sound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Provant, S.G.

1992-01-01

Studies were conducted to determine the compliance of oil spill response equipment in Prince William Sound, Alaska, to state standards. Data on the observed performance of the Framo TRANSREC skimmer, which represents a large portion of the initial response skimming capability of the Sound's equipment, were obtained from Norwegian experience. The results of the analysis are based on the level of performance expected from well-trained skimmer crews responding to a 300,000 bbl spill under the worst average weather conditions over a 72-h period. Certain assumptions are made about volumes of evaporation and decanting. Results indicate that the volume of oil expected to be recovered would be 188,900 bbl, which would expand via emulsion formation to 303,000 bbl. In addition, a volume of free water would be taken in with the emulsion, which would be reduced by decanting. The overall storage capacity needed would then be 382,300 bbl. With the present available configuration of skimmers and barges, the maximum available storage capacity is 370,000 bbl. Skimmer capability can be maximized by matching storage capacity to recovery capability or by developing and demonstrating a capability to offload the recovered oil effectively such that transfer operations do not materially affect recovery operations. Recommendations are made for spill response organizations to improve their operations. 4 refs., 9 figs

Spatial aspects of sound quality - and by multichannel systems subjective assessment of sound reproduced by stereo

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Choisel, Sylvain

the fidelity with which sound reproduction systems can re-create the desired stereo image, a laser pointing technique was developed to accurately collect subjects' responses in a localization task. This method is subsequently applied in an investigation of the effects of loudspeaker directivity...... on the perceived direction of panned sources. The second part of the thesis addresses the identification of auditory attributes which play a role in the perception of sound reproduced by multichannel systems. Short musical excerpts were presented in mono, stereo and several multichannel formats to evoke various...

Correlation Between Resting Testosterone/Cortisol Ratio and Sound-Induced Vasoconstriction at Fingertip in Men.

Science.gov (United States)

Ooishi, Yuuki

2018-01-01

A sound-induced sympathetic tone has been used as an index for orienting responses to auditory stimuli. The resting testosterone/cortisol ratio is a biomarker of social aggression that drives an approaching behavior in response to environmental stimuli, and a higher testosterone level and a lower cortisol level can facilitate the sympathetic response to environmental stimuli. Therefore, it is possible that the testosterone/cortisol ratio is correlated with the sound-induced sympathetic tone. The current study investigated the relationship between the resting testosterone/cortisol ratio and vasoconstriction induced by listening to sound stimuli. Twenty healthy males aged 29.0 ± 0.53 years (mean ± S.E.M) participated in the study. They came to the laboratory for 3 days and listened to one of three types of sound stimuli for 1 min on each day. Saliva samples were collected for an analysis of salivary testosterone and cortisol levels on the day of each experiment. After the collecting the saliva sample, we measured the blood volume pulse (BVP) amplitude at a fingertip. Since vasoconstriction is mediated by the activation of the sympathetic nerves, the strength of the reduction in BVP amplitude at a fingertip was called the BVP response (finger BVPR). No difference was observed between the sound-induced finger BVPR for the three types of sound stimuli ( p = 0.779). The correlation coefficient between the sound-induced finger BVPR and the salivary testosterone/cortisol ratio within participants was significantly different from no correlation ( p = 0.011) and there was a trend toward a significance in the correlation between the sound-induced finger BVPR and the salivary testosterone/cortisol ratio between participants ( r = 0.39, p = 0.088). These results suggest that the testosterone/cortisol ratio affects the difference in the sound-evoked sympathetic response.

Sound velocity profiles in the St. Clair and St. Mary's Rivers in the Great Lakes area by the National Ocean Service's Navigation Response Team 4, May 2006 (NODC Accession 0006777)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Sound velocity profile data were collected using sound velocimeter in the St. Clair and St. Mary rivers in the Great Lakes area by the NAVIGATION RESPONSE TEAM 4...

Acoustic performance design and optimal allocation of sound package in ship cabin noise reduction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

YANG Deqing

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The sound package in noise reduction design of ship cabins has become the main approach for the future. The sound package is a specially designed acoustic component consisting of damping materials, absorption materials, sound isolation materials and base structural materials which can achieve the prescribed performance of noise reduction. Based on the Statistical Energy Analysis(SEAmethod, quick evaluation and design methods, and the optimal allocation theory of sound packages are investigated. The standard numerical acoustic performance evaluation model, sound package optimization design model and sound package optimal allocation model are presented. A genetic algorithm is applied to solve the presented optimization problems. Design examples demonstrate the validity and efficiency of the proposed models and solutions. The presented theory and methods benefit the standardization and programming of sound package design, and decrease noise reduction costs.

Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring Data for Puget Sound - SoundToxins: Partnership for Enhanced Monitoring and Emergency Response to Harmful Algal Blooms in Puget Sound

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Toxic outbreaks of species of the dinoflagellate Alexandrium have become pervasive in the Puget Sound region over the last two decades, escalating the threats to...

PREFACE: Aerodynamic sound Aerodynamic sound

Science.gov (United States)

Akishita, Sadao

2010-02-01

The modern theory of aerodynamic sound originates from Lighthill's two papers in 1952 and 1954, as is well known. I have heard that Lighthill was motivated in writing the papers by the jet-noise emitted by the newly commercialized jet-engined airplanes at that time. The technology of aerodynamic sound is destined for environmental problems. Therefore the theory should always be applied to newly emerged public nuisances. This issue of Fluid Dynamics Research (FDR) reflects problems of environmental sound in present Japanese technology. The Japanese community studying aerodynamic sound has held an annual symposium since 29 years ago when the late Professor S Kotake and Professor S Kaji of Teikyo University organized the symposium. Most of the Japanese authors in this issue are members of the annual symposium. I should note the contribution of the two professors cited above in establishing the Japanese community of aerodynamic sound research. It is my pleasure to present the publication in this issue of ten papers discussed at the annual symposium. I would like to express many thanks to the Editorial Board of FDR for giving us the chance to contribute these papers. We have a review paper by T Suzuki on the study of jet noise, which continues to be important nowadays, and is expected to reform the theoretical model of generating mechanisms. Professor M S Howe and R S McGowan contribute an analytical paper, a valuable study in today's fluid dynamics research. They apply hydrodynamics to solve the compressible flow generated in the vocal cords of the human body. Experimental study continues to be the main methodology in aerodynamic sound, and it is expected to explore new horizons. H Fujita's study on the Aeolian tone provides a new viewpoint on major, longstanding sound problems. The paper by M Nishimura and T Goto on textile fabrics describes new technology for the effective reduction of bluff-body noise. The paper by T Sueki et al also reports new technology for the

The isolation of low frequency impact sounds in hotel construction

Science.gov (United States)

LoVerde, John J.; Dong, David W.

2002-11-01

One of the design challenges in the acoustical design of hotels is reducing low frequency sounds from footfalls occurring on both carpeted and hard-surfaced floors. Research on low frequency impact noise [W. Blazier and R. DuPree, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 96, 1521-1532 (1994)] resulted in a conclusion that in wood construction low frequency impact sounds were clearly audible and that feasible control methods were not available. The results of numerous FIIC (Field Impact Insulation Class) measurements performed in accordance with ASTM E1007 indicate the lack of correlation between FIIC ratings and the reaction of occupants in the room below. The measurements presented include FIIC ratings and sound pressure level measurements below the ASTM E1007 low frequency limit of 100 Hertz, and reveal that excessive sound levels in the frequency range of 63 to 100 Hertz correlate with occupant complaints. Based upon this history, a tentative criterion for maximum impact sound level in the low frequency range is presented. The results presented of modifying existing constructions to reduce the transmission of impact sounds at low frequencies indicate that there may be practical solutions to this longstanding problem.

SOUND FIELD SHIELDING BY FLAT ELASTIC LAYER AND THIN UNCLOSED SPHERICAL SHELL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Ch. Shushkevich

2014-01-01

Full Text Available An analytical solution of a boundary problem describing the process of penetration of a sound field of a spherical radiator located inside a thin unclosed spherical shell through a flat elastic layer is constructed. An influence of some parameters of the problem on the value of the attenuation coeffi-cient (screening of the sound field was studied by using a numerical simulation.

Statistical learning of recurring sound patterns encodes auditory objects in songbird forebrain.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Kai; Vicario, David S

2014-10-07

Auditory neurophysiology has demonstrated how basic acoustic features are mapped in the brain, but it is still not clear how multiple sound components are integrated over time and recognized as an object. We investigated the role of statistical learning in encoding the sequential features of complex sounds by recording neuronal responses bilaterally in the auditory forebrain of awake songbirds that were passively exposed to long sound streams. These streams contained sequential regularities, and were similar to streams used in human infants to demonstrate statistical learning for speech sounds. For stimulus patterns with contiguous transitions and with nonadjacent elements, single and multiunit responses reflected neuronal discrimination of the familiar patterns from novel patterns. In addition, discrimination of nonadjacent patterns was stronger in the right hemisphere than in the left, and may reflect an effect of top-down modulation that is lateralized. Responses to recurring patterns showed stimulus-specific adaptation, a sparsening of neural activity that may contribute to encoding invariants in the sound stream and that appears to increase coding efficiency for the familiar stimuli across the population of neurons recorded. As auditory information about the world must be received serially over time, recognition of complex auditory objects may depend on this type of mnemonic process to create and differentiate representations of recently heard sounds.

A system for heart sounds classification.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grzegorz Redlarski

Full Text Available The future of quick and efficient disease diagnosis lays in the development of reliable non-invasive methods. As for the cardiac diseases - one of the major causes of death around the globe - a concept of an electronic stethoscope equipped with an automatic heart tone identification system appears to be the best solution. Thanks to the advancement in technology, the quality of phonocardiography signals is no longer an issue. However, appropriate algorithms for auto-diagnosis systems of heart diseases that could be capable of distinguishing most of known pathological states have not been yet developed. The main issue is non-stationary character of phonocardiography signals as well as a wide range of distinguishable pathological heart sounds. In this paper a new heart sound classification technique, which might find use in medical diagnostic systems, is presented. It is shown that by combining Linear Predictive Coding coefficients, used for future extraction, with a classifier built upon combining Support Vector Machine and Modified Cuckoo Search algorithm, an improvement in performance of the diagnostic system, in terms of accuracy, complexity and range of distinguishable heart sounds, can be made. The developed system achieved accuracy above 93% for all considered cases including simultaneous identification of twelve different heart sound classes. The respective system is compared with four different major classification methods, proving its reliability.

Conditioning Influences Audio-Visual Integration by Increasing Sound Saliency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fabrizio Leo

2011-10-01

Full Text Available We investigated the effect of prior conditioning of an auditory stimulus on audiovisual integration in a series of four psychophysical experiments. The experiments factorially manipulated the conditioning procedure (picture vs monetary conditioning and multisensory paradigm (2AFC visual detection vs redundant target paradigm. In the conditioning sessions, subjects were presented with three pure tones (= conditioned stimulus, CS that were paired with neutral, positive, or negative unconditioned stimuli (US, monetary: +50 euro cents,.–50 cents, 0 cents; pictures: highly pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral IAPS. In a 2AFC visual selective attention paradigm, detection of near-threshold Gabors was improved by concurrent sounds that had previously been paired with a positive (monetary or negative (picture outcome relative to neutral sounds. In the redundant target paradigm, sounds previously paired with positive (monetary or negative (picture outcomes increased response speed to both auditory and audiovisual targets similarly. Importantly, prior conditioning did not increase the multisensory response facilitation (ie, (A + V/2 – AV or the race model violation. Collectively, our results suggest that prior conditioning primarily increases the saliency of the auditory stimulus per se rather than influencing audiovisual integration directly. In turn, conditioned sounds are rendered more potent for increasing response accuracy or speed in detection of visual targets.

Effects of Sound on the Behavior of Wild, Unrestrained Fish Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Louise; Cheesman, Samuel; Hawkins, Anthony D

2016-01-01

To assess and manage the impact of man-made sounds on fish, we need information on how behavior is affected. Here, wild unrestrained pelagic fish schools were observed under quiet conditions using sonar. Fish were exposed to synthetic piling sounds at different levels using custom-built sound projectors, and behavioral changes were examined. In some cases, the depth of schools changed after noise playback; full dispersal of schools was also evident. The methods we developed for examining the behavior of unrestrained fish to sound exposure have proved successful and may allow further testing of the relationship between responsiveness and sound level.

Human Sound Externalization in Reverberant Environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Catic, Jasmina

In everyday environments, listeners perceive sound sources as externalized. In listening conditions where the spatial cues that are relevant for externalization are not represented correctly, such as when listening through headphones or hearing aids, a degraded perception of externalization may...... occur. In this thesis, the spatial cues that arise from a combined effect of filtering due to the head, torso, and pinna and the acoustic environment were analysed and the impact of such cues for the perception of externalization in different frequency regions was investigated. Distant sound sources...... were simulated via headphones using individualized binaural room impulse responses (BRIRs). An investigation of the influence of spectral content of a sound source on externalization showed that effective externalization cues are present across the entire frequency range. The fluctuation of interaural...

Theoretical analysis of sound transmission loss through graphene sheets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Natsuki, Toshiaki; Ni, Qing-Qing

2014-01-01

We examine the potential of using graphene sheets (GSs) as sound insulating materials that can be used for nano-devices because of their small size, super electronic, and mechanical properties. In this study, a theoretical analysis is proposed to predict the sound transmission loss through multi-layered GSs, which are formed by stacks of GS and bound together by van der Waals (vdW) forces between individual layers. The result shows that the resonant frequencies of the sound transmission loss occur in the multi-layered GSs and the values are very high. Based on the present analytical solution, we predict the acoustic insulation property for various layers of sheets under both normal incident wave and acoustic field of random incidence source. The scheme could be useful in vibration absorption application of nano devices and materials

Theoretical analysis of sound transmission loss through graphene sheets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Natsuki, Toshiaki, E-mail: natsuki@shinshu-u.ac.jp [Faculty of Textile Science and Technology, Shinshu University, 3-15-1 Tokida, Ueda 386-8567 (Japan); Institute of Carbon Science and Technology, Shinshu University, 4-17-1 Wakasato, Nagano 380-8553 (Japan); Ni, Qing-Qing [Faculty of Textile Science and Technology, Shinshu University, 3-15-1 Tokida, Ueda 386-8567 (Japan)

2014-11-17

We examine the potential of using graphene sheets (GSs) as sound insulating materials that can be used for nano-devices because of their small size, super electronic, and mechanical properties. In this study, a theoretical analysis is proposed to predict the sound transmission loss through multi-layered GSs, which are formed by stacks of GS and bound together by van der Waals (vdW) forces between individual layers. The result shows that the resonant frequencies of the sound transmission loss occur in the multi-layered GSs and the values are very high. Based on the present analytical solution, we predict the acoustic insulation property for various layers of sheets under both normal incident wave and acoustic field of random incidence source. The scheme could be useful in vibration absorption application of nano devices and materials.

Not all carp are created equal: Impacts of broadband sound on common carp swimming behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Murchy, Kelsie; Vetter, Brooke J.; Brey, Marybeth; Amberg, Jon J.; Gaikowski, Mark; Mensinger, Allen F.

2016-01-01

Bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), silver carp (H. molitrix) (hereafter: bigheaded carps), and common carp (Cyprinus carpio) are invasive fish causing negative impacts throughout their North American range. To control their movements, non-physical barriers are being developed. Broadband sound (0.06 to 10 kHz) has shown potential as an acoustic deterrent for bigheaded carps, but the response of common carp to broadband sound has not been evaluated. Since common carp are ostariophysians, possessing Weberian ossicles similar to bigheaded carps, it is possible that sound can be used as an acoustical deterrent for all three species. Behavioral responses to a broadband sound were evaluated for common carp in an outdoor concrete pond. Common carp responded a median of 3.0 (1st Q: 1.0, 3rd Q: 6.0) consecutive times to the broadband sound which was lower than silver carp and bighead carp to the same stimulus. The current study shows that common carp demonstrate an inconsistent negative phonotaxis response to a broadband sound, and seem to habituate to the sound quickly.

Best of Three Worlds : Towards Sound Architectural Dependability Models

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boudali, Hichem; Haverkort, Boudewijn R.; Kuntz, Matthias; Stoelinga, Mariëlle

This paper surveys the most prominent formalisms for availability and reliability analysis and discusses the pros and cons of these approaches. Based on our findings, we outline a solution that unites the merits of the existing approaches into a sound architectural dependability model.

Developing the STS sound pollution unit for enhancing students' applying knowledge among science technology engineering and mathematics

Science.gov (United States)

Jumpatong, Sutthaya; Yuenyong, Chokchai

2018-01-01

STEM education suggested that students should be enhanced to learn science with integration between Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. To help Thai students make sense of relationship between Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, this paper presents learning activities of STS Sound Pollution. The developing of STS Sound Pollution is a part of research that aimed to enhance students' perception of the relationship between Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. This paper will discuss how to develop Sound Pollution through STS approach in framework of Yuenyong (2006) where learning activities were provided based on 5 stages. These included (1) identification of social issues, (2) identification of potential solutions, (3) need for knowledge, (4) decisionmaking, and (5) socialization stage. The learning activities could be highlighted as following. First stage, we use video clip of `Problem of people about Sound Pollution'. Second stage, students will need to identification of potential solutions by design Home/Factory without noisy. The need of scientific and other knowledge will be proposed for various alternative solutions. Third stage, students will gain their scientific knowledge through laboratory and demonstration of sound wave. Fourth stage, students have to make decision for the best solution of designing safety Home/Factory based on their scientific knowledge and others (e.g. mathematics, economics, art, value, and so on). Finally, students will present and share their Design Safety Home/Factory in society (e.g. social media or exhibition) in order to validate their ideas and redesigning. The paper, then, will discuss how those activities would allow students' applying knowledge of science technology engineering, mathematics and others (art, culture and value) for their possible solution of the STS issues.

Investigating emotional contagion in dogs (Canis familiaris) to emotional sounds of humans and conspecifics.

Science.gov (United States)

Huber, Annika; Barber, Anjuli L A; Faragó, Tamás; Müller, Corsin A; Huber, Ludwig

2017-07-01

Emotional contagion, a basic component of empathy defined as emotional state-matching between individuals, has previously been shown in dogs even upon solely hearing negative emotional sounds of humans or conspecifics. The current investigation further sheds light on this phenomenon by directly contrasting emotional sounds of both species (humans and dogs) as well as opposed valences (positive and negative) to gain insights into intra- and interspecies empathy as well as differences between positively and negatively valenced sounds. Different types of sounds were played back to measure the influence of three dimensions on the dogs' behavioural response. We found that dogs behaved differently after hearing non-emotional sounds of their environment compared to emotional sounds of humans and conspecifics ("Emotionality" dimension), but the subjects responded similarly to human and conspecific sounds ("Species" dimension). However, dogs expressed more freezing behaviour after conspecific sounds, independent of the valence. Comparing positively with negatively valenced sounds of both species ("Valence" dimension), we found that, independent of the species from which the sound originated, dogs expressed more behavioural indicators for arousal and negatively valenced states after hearing negative emotional sounds. This response pattern indicates emotional state-matching or emotional contagion for negative sounds of humans and conspecifics. It furthermore indicates that dogs recognized the different valences of the emotional sounds, which is a promising finding for future studies on empathy for positive emotional states in dogs.

Group behavioural responses of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L. to light, infrasound and sound stimuli.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samantha Bui

Full Text Available Understanding species-specific flight behaviours is essential in developing methods of guiding fish spatially, and requires knowledge on how groups of fish respond to aversive stimuli. By harnessing their natural behaviours, the use of physical manipulation or other potentially harmful procedures can be minimised. We examined the reactions of sea-caged groups of 50 salmon (1331 ± 364 g to short-term exposure to visual or acoustic stimuli. In light experiments, fish were exposed to one of three intensities of blue LED light (high, medium and low or no light (control. Sound experiments included exposure to infrasound (12 Hz, a surface disturbance event, the combination of infrasound and surface disturbance, or no stimuli. Groups that experienced light, infrasound, and the combination of infrasound and surface disturbance treatments, elicited a marked change in vertical distribution, where fish dived to the bottom of the sea-cage for the duration of the stimulus. Light treatments, but not sound, also reduced the total echo-signal strength (indicative of swim bladder volume after exposure to light, compared to pre-stimulus levels. Groups in infrasound and combination treatments showed increased swimming activity during stimulus application, with swimming speeds tripled compared to that of controls. In all light and sound treatments, fish returned to their pre-stimulus swimming depths and speeds once exposure had ceased. This work establishes consistent, short-term avoidance responses to these stimuli, and provides a basis for methods to guide fish for aquaculture applications, or create avoidance barriers for conservation purposes. In doing so, we can achieve the manipulation of group position with minimal welfare impacts, to create more sustainable practices.

Sound velocity profiles collected by NOAA's Navigation Response Team No. 4 in the Great Lakes, July 5 - September 25, 2007 (NODC Accession 0020370)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Physical oceanographic data were collected from NOAA Navigation Response Team-4 in the Great Lakes from 05 July 2007 to 25 September 2007. Sound velocity profiles...

Sensitivity of cortical auditory evoked potential detection for hearing-impaired infants in response to short speech sounds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bram Van Dun

2012-01-01

Full Text Available

Background: Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs are an emerging tool for hearing aid fitting evaluation in young children who cannot provide reliable behavioral feedback. It is therefore useful to determine the relationship between the sensation level of speech sounds and the detection sensitivity of CAEPs.

Design and methods: Twenty-five sensorineurally hearing impaired infants with an age range of 8 to 30 months were tested once, 18 aided and 7 unaided. First, behavioral thresholds of speech stimuli /m/, /g/, and /t/ were determined using visual reinforcement orientation audiometry (VROA. Afterwards, the same speech stimuli were presented at 55, 65, and 75 dB SPL, and CAEP recordings were made. An automatic statistical detection paradigm was used for CAEP detection.

Results: For sensation levels above 0, 10, and 20 dB respectively, detection sensitivities were equal to 72 ± 10, 75 ± 10, and 78 ± 12%. In 79% of the cases, automatic detection p-values became smaller when the sensation level was increased by 10 dB.

Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the presence or absence of CAEPs can provide some indication of the audibility of a speech sound for infants with sensorineural hearing loss. The detection of a CAEP provides confidence, to a degree commensurate with the detection probability, that the infant is detecting that sound at the level presented. When testing infants where the audibility of speech sounds has not been established behaviorally, the lack of a cortical response indicates the possibility, but by no means a certainty, that the sensation level is 10 dB or less.

Response of non-added solutes during nutrient addition experiments in streams

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez-Cardona, B.; Wymore, A.; Koenig, L.; Coble, A. A.; McDowell, W. H.

2015-12-01

Nutrient addition experiments, such as Tracer Additions for Spiraling Curve Characterization (TASCC), have become widely popular as a means to study nutrient uptake dynamics in stream ecosystems. However, the impact of these additions on ambient concentrations of non-added solutes is often overlooked. TASCC addition experiments are ideal for assessing interactions among solutes because it allows for the characterization of multiple solute concentrations across a broad range of added nutrient concentrations. TASCC additions also require the addition of a conservative tracer (NaCl) to track changes in conductivity during the experimental manipulation. Despite its use as a conservative tracer, chloride (Cl) and its associated sodium (Na) might change the concentrations of other ions and non-added nutrients through ion exchange or other processes. Similarly, additions of biologically active solutes might change the concentrations of other non-added solutes. These methodological issues in nutrient addition experiments have been poorly addressed in the literature. Here we examine the response of non-added solutes to pulse additions (i.e. TASCC) of NaCl plus nitrate (NO3-), ammonium, and phosphate across biomes including temperate and tropical forests, and arctic taiga. Preliminary results demonstrate that non-added solutes respond to changes in the concentration of these added nutrients. For example, concentrations of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in suburban headwater streams of New Hampshire both increase and decrease in response to NO3- additions, apparently due to biotic processes. Similarly, cations such as potassium, magnesium, and calcium also increase during TASCC experiments, likely due to cation exchange processes associated with Na addition. The response of non-added solutes to short-term pulses of added nutrients and tracers needs to be carefully assessed to ensure that nutrient uptake metrics are accurate, and to detect biotic interactions that may

Imagining Sound

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grimshaw, Mark; Garner, Tom Alexander

2014-01-01

We make the case in this essay that sound that is imagined is both a perception and as much a sound as that perceived through external stimulation. To argue this, we look at the evidence from auditory science, neuroscience, and philosophy, briefly present some new conceptual thinking on sound...... that accounts for this view, and then use this to look at what the future might hold in the context of imagining sound and developing technology....

Directivity of Spherical Polyhedron Sound Source Used in Near-Field HRTF Measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu Guang-Zheng; Xie Bo-Sun; Rao Dan

2010-01-01

The omnidirectional character is one of important requirements for the sound source used in near-field head-related transfer function (HRTF) measurements. Based on the analysis on the radiation sound pressure and directivity character of various spherical polyhedron sound sources, a spherical dodecahedral sound source with radius of 0.035m is proposed and manufactured. Theoretical and measured results indicate that the sound source is approximately omnidirectional below the frequency of 8 kHz. In addition, the sound source has reasonable magnitude response from 350Hz to 20kHz and linear phase characteristics. Therefore, it is suitable for the near-field HRTF measurements. (fundamental areas of phenomenology(including applications))

Universal formula for the holographic speed of sound

Science.gov (United States)

Anabalón, Andrés; Andrade, Tomás; Astefanesei, Dumitru; Mann, Robert

2018-06-01

We consider planar hairy black holes in five dimensions with a real scalar field in the Breitenlohner-Freedman window and derive a universal formula for the holographic speed of sound for any mixed boundary conditions of the scalar field. As an example, we numerically construct the most general class of planar black holes coupled to a single scalar field in the consistent truncation of type IIB supergravity that preserves the SO (3) × SO (3) R-symmetry group of the gauge theory. For this particular family of solutions, we find that the speed of sound exceeds the conformal value. From a phenomenological point of view, the fact that the conformal bound can be violated by choosing the right mixed boundary conditions is relevant for the existence of neutron stars with a certain mass-size relationship for which a large value of the speed of sound codifies a stiff equation of state. In the way, we also shed light on a puzzle regarding the appearance of the scalar charges in the first law. Finally, we generalize the formula of the speed of sound to arbitrary dimensional scalar-metric theories whose parameters lie within the Breitenlohner-Freedman window.

Dual Stimuli-Responsive P(NIPAAm-co-SPA Copolymers: Synthesis and Response in Solution and in Films

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Oliver Grimm

2018-06-01

Full Text Available We present the synthesis and solution properties of dual stimuli-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-spiropyran acrylate (P(NIPAAm-co-SPA copolymers of varying composition prepared via nitroxide-mediated copolymerization. The resulting copolymers feature molar masses from 40,000 to 100,000 g/mol according to static light scattering and an SPA content of up to 5.3%. The latter was determined by 1H NMR spectroscopy and UV–Vis spectroscopy. These materials exhibit reversible response upon irradiation in polymeric films for a minimum of three cycles; their response in solution to both light and temperature was also investigated in an aqueous TRIS buffer (pH 8. Irradiation was carried out using LED setups with wavelengths of 365 and 590 nm. In aqueous solution, a custom-made setup using a fiber-coupled 200 W Hg(Xe lamp with 340 and 540 nm filters was used and additional heating of the copolymer solutions during irradiation allowed to study influence of the presence of either the spiropyran or merocyanine form on the cloud point temperature. Hereby, it was found that increasing the SPA content leads to a more pronounced difference between both states and decreasing cloud points in general.

Time course of the influence of musical expertise on the processing of vocal and musical sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Rigoulot, S; Pell, M D; Armony, J L

2015-04-02

Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have suggested that different cerebral regions preferentially process human voice and music. Yet, little is known on the temporal course of the brain processes that decode the category of sounds and how the expertise in one sound category can impact these processes. To address this question, we recorded the electroencephalogram (EEG) of 15 musicians and 18 non-musicians while they were listening to short musical excerpts (piano and violin) and vocal stimuli (speech and non-linguistic vocalizations). The task of the participants was to detect noise targets embedded within the stream of sounds. Event-related potentials revealed an early differentiation of sound category, within the first 100 ms after the onset of the sound, with mostly increased responses to musical sounds. Importantly, this effect was modulated by the musical background of participants, as musicians were more responsive to music sounds than non-musicians, consistent with the notion that musical training increases sensitivity to music. In late temporal windows, brain responses were enhanced in response to vocal stimuli, but musicians were still more responsive to music. These results shed new light on the temporal course of neural dynamics of auditory processing and reveal how it is impacted by the stimulus category and the expertise of participants. Copyright © 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving Sound Systems by Electrical Means

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schneider, Henrik

to intelligent control and protection functionality and so on. In this work different strategies towards improvements of sound systems by electrical means was investigated considering the interfaces between each component and the performance of the full system. The strategies can be categorized by improvements...... reduction in the best case. This technology is very promising since it compensates for most distortion mechanisms of the transducer such as non-linearities, production variation, wear-n-tear, temperature changes and so on. Furthermore the accelerometer output can be used for protection purposes. The only...... of the bended copper foils to optimize the DC resistance. The DC resistance was reduced by 30 % compared to the starting point for a 10 turn toroidal inductor using this method. The combined work indicate that large sound system improvements are in reach by use of electrical means. Innovative solutions have...

Sound radiation contrast in MR phase images. Method for the representation of elasticity, sound damping, and sound impedance changes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radicke, Marcus

2009-01-01

The method presented in this thesis combines ultrasound techniques with the magnetic-resonance tomography (MRT). An ultrasonic wave generates in absorbing media a static force in sound-propagation direction. The force leads at sound intensities of some W/cm 2 and a sound frequency in the lower MHz range to a tissue shift in the micrometer range. This tissue shift depends on the sound power, the sound frequency, the sound absorption, and the elastic properties of the tissue. A MRT sequence of the Siemens Healthcare AG was modified so that it measures (indirectly) the tissue shift, codes as grey values, and presents as 2D picture. By means of the grey values the sound-beam slope in the tissue can be visualized, and so additionally sound obstacles (changes of the sound impedance) can be detected. By the MRT images token up spatial changes of the tissue parameters sound absorption and elasticity can be detected. In this thesis measurements are presented, which show the feasibility and future chances of this method especially for the mammary-cancer diagnostics. [de

L-type calcium channels refine the neural population code of sound level

Science.gov (United States)

Grimsley, Calum Alex; Green, David Brian

2016-01-01

The coding of sound level by ensembles of neurons improves the accuracy with which listeners identify how loud a sound is. In the auditory system, the rate at which neurons fire in response to changes in sound level is shaped by local networks. Voltage-gated conductances alter local output by regulating neuronal firing, but their role in modulating responses to sound level is unclear. We tested the effects of L-type calcium channels (CaL: CaV1.1–1.4) on sound-level coding in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC) in the auditory midbrain. We characterized the contribution of CaL to the total calcium current in brain slices and then examined its effects on rate-level functions (RLFs) in vivo using single-unit recordings in awake mice. CaL is a high-threshold current and comprises ∼50% of the total calcium current in ICC neurons. In vivo, CaL activates at sound levels that evoke high firing rates. In RLFs that increase monotonically with sound level, CaL boosts spike rates at high sound levels and increases the maximum firing rate achieved. In different populations of RLFs that change nonmonotonically with sound level, CaL either suppresses or enhances firing at sound levels that evoke maximum firing. CaL multiplies the gain of monotonic RLFs with dynamic range and divides the gain of nonmonotonic RLFs with the width of the RLF. These results suggest that a single broad class of calcium channels activates enhancing and suppressing local circuits to regulate the sensitivity of neuronal populations to sound level. PMID:27605536

Sound and heat revolutions in phononics

Science.gov (United States)

Maldovan, Martin

2013-11-01

The phonon is the physical particle representing mechanical vibration and is responsible for the transmission of everyday sound and heat. Understanding and controlling the phononic properties of materials provides opportunities to thermally insulate buildings, reduce environmental noise, transform waste heat into electricity and develop earthquake protection. Here I review recent progress and the development of new ideas and devices that make use of phononic properties to control both sound and heat. Advances in sonic and thermal diodes, optomechanical crystals, acoustic and thermal cloaking, hypersonic phononic crystals, thermoelectrics, and thermocrystals herald the next technological revolution in phononics.

Shelf-Life of Chlorine Solutions Recommended in Ebola Virus Disease Response.

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Qais Iqbal

Full Text Available In Ebola Virus Disease (EVD outbreaks, it is widely recommended to wash living things (handwashing with 0.05% (500 mg/L chlorine solution and non-living things (surfaces, personal protective equipment, dead bodies with 0.5% (5,000 mg/L chlorine solution. Chlorine solutions used in EVD response are primarily made from powdered calcium hypochlorite (HTH, granular sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC, and liquid sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl, and have a pH range of 5-11. Chlorine solutions degrade following a reaction highly dependent on, and unusually sensitive to, pH, temperature, and concentration. We determined the shelf-life of 0.05% and 0.5% chlorine solutions used in EVD response, including HTH, NaDCC, stabilized NaOCl, generated NaOCl, and neutralized NaOCl solutions. Solutions were stored for 30 days at 25, 30, and 35°C, and tested daily for chlorine concentration and pH. Maximum shelf-life was defined as days until initial concentration fell to 30 days. Models were developed for solutions with maximum shelf-lives between 1-30 days. Extrapolating to 40°C, the maximum predicted shelf-life for 0.05% and 0.5% NaDCC solutions were 0.38 and 0.82 hours, respectively; predicted shelf-life for 0.05% and 0.5% generated NaOCl solutions were >30 and 5.4 days, respectively. Each chlorine solution type offers advantages and disadvantages to responders, as: NaDCC is an easy-to-import high-concentration effervescent powder; HTH is similar, but forms a precipitate that may clog pipes; and, NaOCl solutions can be made locally, but are difficult to transport. We recommend responders chose the most appropriate source chlorine compound for their use, and ensure solutions are stored at appropriate temperatures and used or replaced before expiring.

A Mixed-Methods Trial of Broad Band Noise and Nature Sounds for Tinnitus Therapy: Group and Individual Responses Modeled under the Adaptation Level Theory of Tinnitus.

Science.gov (United States)

Durai, Mithila; Searchfield, Grant D

2017-01-01

for sound effectiveness. The different rates of adaptation to broadband noise and nature sound by the auditory system may explain the different tinnitus loudness level matches. In addition to group effects there also appears to be a great deal of individual variation. A sound therapy framework based on adaptation level theory is proposed that accounts for individual variation in preference and response to sound. Clinical Trial Registration: www.anzctr.org.au, identifier #12616000742471.

Shelf-Life of Chlorine Solutions Recommended in Ebola Virus Disease Response.

Science.gov (United States)

Iqbal, Qais; Lubeck-Schricker, Maya; Wells, Emma; Wolfe, Marlene K; Lantagne, Daniele

2016-01-01

In Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreaks, it is widely recommended to wash living things (handwashing) with 0.05% (500 mg/L) chlorine solution and non-living things (surfaces, personal protective equipment, dead bodies) with 0.5% (5,000 mg/L) chlorine solution. Chlorine solutions used in EVD response are primarily made from powdered calcium hypochlorite (HTH), granular sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC), and liquid sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), and have a pH range of 5-11. Chlorine solutions degrade following a reaction highly dependent on, and unusually sensitive to, pH, temperature, and concentration. We determined the shelf-life of 0.05% and 0.5% chlorine solutions used in EVD response, including HTH, NaDCC, stabilized NaOCl, generated NaOCl, and neutralized NaOCl solutions. Solutions were stored for 30 days at 25, 30, and 35°C, and tested daily for chlorine concentration and pH. Maximum shelf-life was defined as days until initial concentration fell to pH = 7) had a maximum shelf-life of a few hours, NaDCC solutions (pH = 6) 2 days, generated NaOCl solutions (pH = 9) 6 days, and HTH and stabilized NaOCl solutions (pH 9-11) >30 days. Models were developed for solutions with maximum shelf-lives between 1-30 days. Extrapolating to 40°C, the maximum predicted shelf-life for 0.05% and 0.5% NaDCC solutions were 0.38 and 0.82 hours, respectively; predicted shelf-life for 0.05% and 0.5% generated NaOCl solutions were >30 and 5.4 days, respectively. Each chlorine solution type offers advantages and disadvantages to responders, as: NaDCC is an easy-to-import high-concentration effervescent powder; HTH is similar, but forms a precipitate that may clog pipes; and, NaOCl solutions can be made locally, but are difficult to transport. We recommend responders chose the most appropriate source chlorine compound for their use, and ensure solutions are stored at appropriate temperatures and used or replaced before expiring.

Development of Prediction Tool for Sound Absorption and Sound Insulation for Sound Proof Properties

OpenAIRE

Yoshio Kurosawa; Takao Yamaguchi

2015-01-01

High frequency automotive interior noise above 500 Hz considerably affects automotive passenger comfort. To reduce this noise, sound insulation material is often laminated on body panels or interior trim panels. For a more effective noise reduction, the sound reduction properties of this laminated structure need to be estimated. We have developed a new calculate tool that can roughly calculate the sound absorption and insulation properties of laminate structure and handy ...

Parameterizing Sound: Design Considerations for an Environmental Sound Database

Science.gov (United States)

2015-04-01

associated with, or produced by, a physical event or human activity and 2) sound sources that are common in the environment. Reproductions or sound...Rogers S. Confrontation naming of environmental sounds. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology . 2000;22(6):830–864. 14 VanDerveer NJ

Evaluating signal-to-noise ratios, loudness, and related measures as indicators of airborne sound insulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, H K; Bradley, J S

2009-09-01

Subjective ratings of the audibility, annoyance, and loudness of music and speech sounds transmitted through 20 different simulated walls were used to identify better single number ratings of airborne sound insulation. The first part of this research considered standard measures such as the sound transmission class the weighted sound reduction index (R(w)) and variations of these measures [H. K. Park and J. S. Bradley, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 126, 208-219 (2009)]. This paper considers a number of other measures including signal-to-noise ratios related to the intelligibility of speech and measures related to the loudness of sounds. An exploration of the importance of the included frequencies showed that the optimum ranges of included frequencies were different for speech and music sounds. Measures related to speech intelligibility were useful indicators of responses to speech sounds but were not as successful for music sounds. A-weighted level differences, signal-to-noise ratios and an A-weighted sound transmission loss measure were good predictors of responses when the included frequencies were optimized for each type of sound. The addition of new spectrum adaptation terms to R(w) values were found to be the most practical approach for achieving more accurate predictions of subjective ratings of transmitted speech and music sounds.

Long-Lasting Sound-Evoked Afterdischarge in the Auditory Midbrain.

Science.gov (United States)

Ono, Munenori; Bishop, Deborah C; Oliver, Douglas L

2016-02-12

Different forms of plasticity are known to play a critical role in the processing of information about sound. Here, we report a novel neural plastic response in the inferior colliculus, an auditory center in the midbrain of the auditory pathway. A vigorous, long-lasting sound-evoked afterdischarge (LSA) is seen in a subpopulation of both glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus of normal hearing mice. These neurons were identified with single unit recordings and optogenetics in vivo. The LSA can continue for up to several minutes after the offset of the sound. LSA is induced by long-lasting, or repetitive short-duration, innocuous sounds. Neurons with LSA showed less adaptation than the neurons without LSA. The mechanisms that cause this neural behavior are unknown but may be a function of intrinsic mechanisms or the microcircuitry of the inferior colliculus. Since LSA produces long-lasting firing in the absence of sound, it may be relevant to temporary or chronic tinnitus or to some other aftereffect of long-duration sound.

Sound at the zoo: Using animal monitoring, sound measurement, and noise reduction in zoo animal management.

Science.gov (United States)

Orban, David A; Soltis, Joseph; Perkins, Lori; Mellen, Jill D

2017-05-01

A clear need for evidence-based animal management in zoos and aquariums has been expressed by industry leaders. Here, we show how individual animal welfare monitoring can be combined with measurement of environmental conditions to inform science-based animal management decisions. Over the last several years, Disney's Animal Kingdom® has been undergoing significant construction and exhibit renovation, warranting institution-wide animal welfare monitoring. Animal care and science staff developed a model that tracked animal keepers' daily assessments of an animal's physical health, behavior, and responses to husbandry activity; these data were matched to different external stimuli and environmental conditions, including sound levels. A case study of a female giant anteater and her environment is presented to illustrate how this process worked. Associated with this case, several sound-reducing barriers were tested for efficacy in mitigating sound. Integrating daily animal welfare assessment with environmental monitoring can lead to a better understanding of animals and their sensory environment and positively impact animal welfare. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Making fictions sound real - On film sound, perceptual realism and genre

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Birger Langkjær

2010-05-01

Full Text Available This article examines the role that sound plays in making fictions perceptually real to film audiences, whether these fictions are realist or non-realist in content and narrative form. I will argue that some aspects of film sound practices and the kind of experiences they trigger are related to basic rules of human perception, whereas others are more properly explained in relation to how aesthetic devices, including sound, are used to characterise the fiction and thereby make it perceptually real to its audience. Finally, I will argue that not all genres can be defined by a simple taxonomy of sounds. Apart from an account of the kinds of sounds that typically appear in a specific genre, a genre analysis of sound may also benefit from a functionalist approach that focuses on how sounds can make both realist and non-realist aspects of genres sound real to audiences.

Making fictions sound real - On film sound, perceptual realism and genre

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Birger Langkjær

2009-09-01

Full Text Available This article examines the role that sound plays in making fictions perceptually real to film audiences, whether these fictions are realist or non-realist in content and narrative form. I will argue that some aspects of film sound practices and the kind of experiences they trigger are related to basic rules of human perception, whereas others are more properly explained in relation to how aesthetic devices, including sound, are used to characterise the fiction and thereby make it perceptually real to its audience. Finally, I will argue that not all genres can be defined by a simple taxonomy of sounds. Apart from an account of the kinds of sounds that typically appear in a specific genre, a genre analysis of sound may also benefit from a functionalist approach that focuses on how sounds can make both realist and non-realist aspects of genres sound real to audiences.

A charged anisotropic well-behaved Adler-Finch-Skea solution satisfying Karmarkar condition

Science.gov (United States)

Bhar, Piyali; Singh, Ksh. Newton; Rahaman, Farook; Pant, Neeraj; Banerjee, Sumita

In the present paper, we discover a new well-behaved charged anisotropic solution of Einstein-Maxwell’s field equations. We ansatz the metric potential g00 of the form given by Maurya et al. (Eur. Phys. J. C 76(12) (2016) 693) with n = 2. In their paper, it is mentioned that for n = 2, the solution is not well-behaved for neutral configuration as the speed of sound is nondecreasing radially outward. However, the solution can represent a physically possible configuration with the inclusion of some net electric charge, i.e. the solution can become a well-behaved solution with decreasing sound speed radially outward for a charged configuration. Due to the inclusion of electric charge, the solution leads to a very stiff equation-of-state (EoS) with the velocity of sound at the center vr02 = 0.819, vt02 = 0.923 and the compactness parameter u = 0.823 is close to the Buchdahl limit 0.889. This stiff EoS support a compact star configuration of mass 5.418M⊙ and radius of 10.1km.

Understanding Animal Detection of Precursor Earthquake Sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Garstang, Michael; Kelley, Michael C

2017-08-31

We use recent research to provide an explanation of how animals might detect earthquakes before they occur. While the intrinsic value of such warnings is immense, we show that the complexity of the process may result in inconsistent responses of animals to the possible precursor signal. Using the results of our research, we describe a logical but complex sequence of geophysical events triggered by precursor earthquake crustal movements that ultimately result in a sound signal detectable by animals. The sound heard by animals occurs only when metal or other surfaces (glass) respond to vibrations produced by electric currents induced by distortions of the earth's electric fields caused by the crustal movements. A combination of existing measurement systems combined with more careful monitoring of animal response could nevertheless be of value, particularly in remote locations.

Sound field control with a circular double-layer array of loudspeakers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chang, Jiho; Jacobsen, Finn

2012-01-01

, and their performance is examined using computer simulations. Two performance indices are used in this work, (a) the level difference between the average sound energy density in the listening zone and that in the quiet zone (sometimes called “the acoustic contrast”), and (b) a normalized measure of the deviations...... between the desired and the generated sound field in the listening zone. It is concluded that the best compromise is obtained with a method that combines pure contrast maximization with a pressure matching technique.......This paper describes a method of generating a controlled sound field for listeners inside a circular array of loudspeakers without disturbing people outside the array appreciably. To achieve this objective, a double-layer array of loudspeakers is used. Several solution methods are suggested...

Sound Absorbers

Science.gov (United States)

Fuchs, H. V.; Möser, M.

Sound absorption indicates the transformation of sound energy into heat. It is, for instance, employed to design the acoustics in rooms. The noise emitted by machinery and plants shall be reduced before arriving at a workplace; auditoria such as lecture rooms or concert halls require a certain reverberation time. Such design goals are realised by installing absorbing components at the walls with well-defined absorption characteristics, which are adjusted for corresponding demands. Sound absorbers also play an important role in acoustic capsules, ducts and screens to avoid sound immission from noise intensive environments into the neighbourhood.

Improved methods for nightside time domain Lunar Electromagnetic Sounding

Science.gov (United States)

Fuqua-Haviland, H.; Poppe, A. R.; Fatemi, S.; Delory, G. T.; De Pater, I.

2017-12-01

Time Domain Electromagnetic (TDEM) Sounding isolates induced magnetic fields to remotely deduce material properties at depth. The first step of performing TDEM Sounding at the Moon is to fully characterize the dynamic plasma environment, and isolate geophysically induced currents from concurrently present plasma currents. The transfer function method requires a two-point measurement: an upstream reference measuring the pristine solar wind, and one downstream near the Moon. This method was last performed during Apollo assuming the induced fields on the nightside of the Moon expand as in an undisturbed vacuum within the wake cavity [1]. Here we present an approach to isolating induction and performing TDEM with any two point magnetometer measurement at or near the surface of the Moon. Our models include a plasma induction model capturing the kinetic plasma environment within the wake cavity around a conducting Moon, and a geophysical forward model capturing induction in a vacuum. The combination of these two models enable the analysis of magnetometer data within the wake cavity. Plasma hybrid models use the upstream plasma conditions and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) to capture the wake current systems formed around the Moon. The plasma kinetic equations are solved for ion particles with electrons as a charge-neutralizing fluid. These models accurately capture the large scale lunar wake dynamics for a variety of solar wind conditions: ion density, temperature, solar wind velocity, and IMF orientation [2]. Given the 3D orientation variability coupled with the large range of conditions seen within the lunar plasma environment, we characterize the environment one case at a time. The global electromagnetic induction response of the Moon in a vacuum has been solved numerically for a variety of electrical conductivity models using the finite-element method implemented within the COMSOL software. This model solves for the geophysically induced response in vacuum to

Making Sound Connections

Science.gov (United States)

Deal, Walter F., III

2007-01-01

Sound provides and offers amazing insights into the world. Sound waves may be defined as mechanical energy that moves through air or other medium as a longitudinal wave and consists of pressure fluctuations. Humans and animals alike use sound as a means of communication and a tool for survival. Mammals, such as bats, use ultrasonic sound waves to…

Numerical simulation of the effects of hanging sound absorbers on TABS cooling performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rage, Nils; Kazanci, Ongun Berk; Olesen, Bjarne W.

2016-01-01

simulating a two-person office of 20 m2, with a typical cooling load of 42 W/m2. The results show that covering 60% of the ceiling surface with sound absorbers hanging at 300 mm from the ceiling active deck is expected to reduce the cooling capacity coefficient of TABS by 15.8%. This drops to 25......Recently there has been a considerable increase in the use of Thermally-Active Building Systems (TABS) in Europe as an energy-efficient and economical cooling and heating solution for buildings. However, this widespread solution requires large uncovered hard surfaces indoors, which can lead...... to a degradation of the room acoustic comfort. Therefore, challenges arise when this system has to be combined with acoustic requirements. Soffit-hanging sound absorbers embody a promising solution. This study focuses on quantifying their impact on the cooling performance of TABS, assessed by means of the cooling...

Three-dimensional sound localisation with a lizard peripheral auditory model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjær Schmidt, Michael; Shaikh, Danish

the networks learned a transfer function that translated the three-dimensional non-linear mapping into estimated azimuth and elevation values for the acoustic target. The neural network with two hidden layers as expected performed better than that with only one hidden layer. Our approach assumes that for any...... location of an acoustic target in three dimensions. Our approach utilises a model of the peripheral auditory system of lizards [Christensen-Dalsgaard and Manley 2005] coupled with a multi-layer perceptron neural network. The peripheral auditory model’s response to sound input encodes sound direction...... information in a single plane which by itself is insufficient to localise the acoustic target in three dimensions. A multi-layer perceptron neural network is used to combine two independent responses of the model, corresponding to two rotational movements, into an estimate of the sound direction in terms...

Analysis of the HVAC system's sound quality using the design of experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Sang Gil; Sim, Hyun Jin; Yoon, Ji Hyun; Jeong, Jae Eun; Choi, Byoung Jae; Oh, Jae Eung

2009-01-01

Human hearing is very sensitive to sound, so a subjective index of sound quality is required. Each situation of sound evaluation is composed of Sound Quality (SQ) metrics. When substituting the level of one frequency band, we could not see the tendency of substitution at the whole frequency band during SQ evaluation. In this study, the Design of Experiments (DOE) is used to analyze noise from an automotive Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system. The frequency domain is divided into 12 equal parts, and each level of the domain is given an increase or decrease due to the change in frequency band based on the 'loud' and 'sharp' sound of the SQ analyzed. By using DOE, the number of tests is effectively reduced by the number of experiments, and the main result is a solution at each band. SQ in terms of the 'loud' and 'sharp' sound at each band, the change in band (increase or decrease in sound pressure) or no change in band will have the most effect on the identifiable characteristics of SQ. This will enable us to select the objective frequency band. Through the results obtained, the physical level changes in arbitrary frequency domain sensitivity can be determined

General analytical approach for sound transmission loss analysis through a thick metamaterial plate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oudich, Mourad; Zhou, Xiaoming; Badreddine Assouar, M.

2014-01-01

We report theoretically and numerically on the sound transmission loss performance through a thick plate-type acoustic metamaterial made of spring-mass resonators attached to the surface of a homogeneous elastic plate. Two general analytical approaches based on plane wave expansion were developed to calculate both the sound transmission loss through the metamaterial plate (thick and thin) and its band structure. The first one can be applied to thick plate systems to study the sound transmission for any normal or oblique incident sound pressure. The second approach gives the metamaterial dispersion behavior to describe the vibrational motions of the plate, which helps to understand the physics behind sound radiation through air by the structure. Computed results show that high sound transmission loss up to 72 dB at 2 kHz is reached with a thick metamaterial plate while only 23 dB can be obtained for a simple homogeneous plate with the same thickness. Such plate-type acoustic metamaterial can be a very effective solution for high performance sound insulation and structural vibration shielding in the very low-frequency range

General analytical approach for sound transmission loss analysis through a thick metamaterial plate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oudich, Mourad; Zhou, Xiaoming; Badreddine Assouar, M., E-mail: Badreddine.Assouar@univ-lorraine.fr [CNRS, Institut Jean Lamour, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy F-54506 (France); Institut Jean Lamour, University of Lorraine, Boulevard des Aiguillettes, BP: 70239, 54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy (France)

2014-11-21

We report theoretically and numerically on the sound transmission loss performance through a thick plate-type acoustic metamaterial made of spring-mass resonators attached to the surface of a homogeneous elastic plate. Two general analytical approaches based on plane wave expansion were developed to calculate both the sound transmission loss through the metamaterial plate (thick and thin) and its band structure. The first one can be applied to thick plate systems to study the sound transmission for any normal or oblique incident sound pressure. The second approach gives the metamaterial dispersion behavior to describe the vibrational motions of the plate, which helps to understand the physics behind sound radiation through air by the structure. Computed results show that high sound transmission loss up to 72 dB at 2 kHz is reached with a thick metamaterial plate while only 23 dB can be obtained for a simple homogeneous plate with the same thickness. Such plate-type acoustic metamaterial can be a very effective solution for high performance sound insulation and structural vibration shielding in the very low-frequency range.

Abnormal sound detection device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, Izumi; Matsui, Yuji.

1995-01-01

Only components synchronized with rotation of pumps are sampled from detected acoustic sounds, to judge the presence or absence of abnormality based on the magnitude of the synchronized components. A synchronized component sampling means can remove resonance sounds and other acoustic sounds generated at a synchronously with the rotation based on the knowledge that generated acoustic components in a normal state are a sort of resonance sounds and are not precisely synchronized with the number of rotation. On the other hand, abnormal sounds of a rotating body are often caused by compulsory force accompanying the rotation as a generation source, and the abnormal sounds can be detected by extracting only the rotation-synchronized components. Since components of normal acoustic sounds generated at present are discriminated from the detected sounds, reduction of the abnormal sounds due to a signal processing can be avoided and, as a result, abnormal sound detection sensitivity can be improved. Further, since it is adapted to discriminate the occurrence of the abnormal sound from the actually detected sounds, the other frequency components which are forecast but not generated actually are not removed, so that it is further effective for the improvement of detection sensitivity. (N.H.)

A model to predict the sound reflection from forests

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wunderli, J.M.; Salomons, E.M.

2009-01-01

A model is presented to predict the reflection of sound at forest edges. A single tree is modelled as a vertical cylinder. For the reflection at a cylinder an analytical solution is given based on the theory of scattering of spherical waves. The entire forest is represented by a line of cylinders

Introducing the Oxford Vocal (OxVoc Sounds Database: A validated set of non-acted affective sounds from human infants, adults and domestic animals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christine eParsons

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Sound moves us. Nowhere is this more apparent than in our responses to genuine emotional vocalisations, be they heartfelt distress cries or raucous laughter. Here, we present perceptual ratings and a description of a freely available, large database of natural affective vocal sounds from human infants, adults and domestic animals, the Oxford Vocal (OxVoc Sounds database. This database consists of 173 non-verbal sounds expressing a range of happy, sad and neutral emotional states. Ratings are presented for the sounds on a range of dimensions from a number of independent participant samples. Perceptions related to valence, including distress, vocaliser mood, and listener mood are presented in Study 1. Perceptions of the arousal of the sound, listener motivation to respond and valence (positive, negative are presented in Study 2. Perceptions of the emotional content of the stimuli in both Study 1 and Study 2 were consistent with the predefined categories (e.g., laugh stimuli perceived as positive. While the adult vocalisations received more extreme valence ratings, rated motivation to respond to the sounds was highest for the infant sounds. The major advantages of this database are the inclusion of vocalisations from naturalistic situations, which represent genuine expressions of emotion, and the inclusion of vocalisations from animals and infants, providing comparison stimuli for use in cross-species and developmental studies. The associated website provides a detailed description of the physical properties of the each sound stimulus along with cross-category descriptions.

Sound localization under perturbed binaural hearing.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wanrooij, M.M. van; Opstal, A.J. van

2007-01-01

This paper reports on the acute effects of a monaural plug on directional hearing in the horizontal (azimuth) and vertical (elevation) planes of human listeners. Sound localization behavior was tested with rapid head-orienting responses toward brief high-pass filtered (>3 kHz; HP) and broadband

Dynamic Assessment of Phonological Awareness for Children with Speech Sound Disorders

Science.gov (United States)

Gillam, Sandra Laing; Ford, Mikenzi Bentley

2012-01-01

The current study was designed to examine the relationships between performance on a nonverbal phoneme deletion task administered in a dynamic assessment format with performance on measures of phoneme deletion, word-level reading, and speech sound production that required verbal responses for school-age children with speech sound disorders (SSDs).…

Positive solutions for a nonlocal boundary-value problem with vector-valued response

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrzej Nowakowski

2002-05-01

Full Text Available Using variational methods, we study the existence of positive solutions for a nonlocal boundary-value problem with vector-valued response. We develop duality and variational principles for this problem and present a numerical version which enables the approximation of solutions and gives a measure of a duality gap between primal and dual functional for approximate solutions for this problem.

Sound Attenuation in Elliptic Mufflers Using a Regular Perturbation Method

OpenAIRE

Banerjee, Subhabrata; Jacobi, Anthony M.

2012-01-01

The study of sound attenuation in an elliptical chamber involves the solution of the Helmholtz equation in elliptic coordinate systems. The Eigen solutions for such problems involve the Mathieu and the modified Mathieu functions. The computation of such functions poses considerable challenge. An alternative method to solve such problems had been proposed in this paper. The elliptical cross-section of the muffler has been treated as a perturbed circle, enabling the use of a regular perturbatio...

Note: Nonpolar solute partial molar volume response to attractive interactions with water

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Williams, Steven M.; Ashbaugh, Henry S., E-mail: hanka@tulane.edu [Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118 (United States)

2014-01-07

The impact of attractive interactions on the partial molar volumes of methane-like solutes in water is characterized using molecular simulations. Attractions account for a significant 20% volume drop between a repulsive Weeks-Chandler-Andersen and full Lennard-Jones description of methane interactions. The response of the volume to interaction perturbations is characterized by linear fits to our simulations and a rigorous statistical thermodynamic expression for the derivative of the volume to increasing attractions. While a weak non-linear response is observed, an average effective slope accurately captures the volume decrease. This response, however, is anticipated to become more non-linear with increasing solute size.

Note: Nonpolar solute partial molar volume response to attractive interactions with water.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Steven M; Ashbaugh, Henry S

2014-01-07

The impact of attractive interactions on the partial molar volumes of methane-like solutes in water is characterized using molecular simulations. Attractions account for a significant 20% volume drop between a repulsive Weeks-Chandler-Andersen and full Lennard-Jones description of methane interactions. The response of the volume to interaction perturbations is characterized by linear fits to our simulations and a rigorous statistical thermodynamic expression for the derivative of the volume to increasing attractions. While a weak non-linear response is observed, an average effective slope accurately captures the volume decrease. This response, however, is anticipated to become more non-linear with increasing solute size.

Contributions in Radio Channel Sounding, Modeling, and Estimation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Troels

2009-01-01

This thesis spans over three strongly related topics in wireless communication: channel-sounding, -modeling, and -estimation. Three main problems are addressed: optimization of spatio-temporal apertures for channel sounding; estimation of per-path power spectral densities (psds); and modeling...... relies on a ``propagation graph'' where vertices  represent scatterers and edges represent the wave propagation conditions between scatterers.  The graph has a recursive structure, which permits modeling of the transfer function of the graph. We derive a closed-form expression of the infinite......-bounce impulse response. This expression is used for simulation of the impulse response of randomly generated propagation graphs. The obtained realizations exhibit the well-observed  exponential power decay versus delay and specular-to-diffuse transition....

Sound Search Engine Concept

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2006-01-01

Sound search is provided by the major search engines, however, indexing is text based, not sound based. We will establish a dedicated sound search services with based on sound feature indexing. The current demo shows the concept of the sound search engine. The first engine will be realased June...

The sound manifesto

Science.gov (United States)

O'Donnell, Michael J.; Bisnovatyi, Ilia

2000-11-01

Computing practice today depends on visual output to drive almost all user interaction. Other senses, such as audition, may be totally neglected, or used tangentially, or used in highly restricted specialized ways. We have excellent audio rendering through D-A conversion, but we lack rich general facilities for modeling and manipulating sound comparable in quality and flexibility to graphics. We need coordinated research in several disciplines to improve the use of sound as an interactive information channel. Incremental and separate improvements in synthesis, analysis, speech processing, audiology, acoustics, music, etc. will not alone produce the radical progress that we seek in sonic practice. We also need to create a new central topic of study in digital audio research. The new topic will assimilate the contributions of different disciplines on a common foundation. The key central concept that we lack is sound as a general-purpose information channel. We must investigate the structure of this information channel, which is driven by the cooperative development of auditory perception and physical sound production. Particular audible encodings, such as speech and music, illuminate sonic information by example, but they are no more sufficient for a characterization than typography is sufficient for characterization of visual information. To develop this new conceptual topic of sonic information structure, we need to integrate insights from a number of different disciplines that deal with sound. In particular, we need to coordinate central and foundational studies of the representational models of sound with specific applications that illuminate the good and bad qualities of these models. Each natural or artificial process that generates informative sound, and each perceptual mechanism that derives information from sound, will teach us something about the right structure to attribute to the sound itself. The new Sound topic will combine the work of computer

Songbirds and humans apply different strategies in a sound sequence discrimination task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yoshimasa eSeki

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The abilities of animals and humans to extract rules from sound sequences have previously been compared using observation of spontaneous responses and conditioning techniques. However, the results were inconsistently interpreted across studies possibly due to methodological and/or species differences. Therefore, we examined the strategies for discrimination of sound sequences in Bengalese finches and humans using the same protocol. Birds were trained on a GO/NOGO task to discriminate between two categories of sound stimulus generated based on an AAB or ABB rule. The sound elements used were taken from a variety of male (M and female (F calls, such that the sequences could be represented as MMF and MFF. In test sessions, FFM and FMM sequences, which were never presented in the training sessions but conformed to the rule, were presented as probe stimuli. The results suggested two discriminative strategies were being applied: 1 memorizing sound patterns of either GO or NOGO stimuli and generating the appropriate responses for only those sounds; and 2 using the repeated element as a cue. There was no evidence that the birds successfully extracted the abstract rule (i.e. AAB and ABB; MMF-GO subjects did not produce a GO response for FFM and vice versa. Next we examined whether those strategies were also applicable for human participants on the same task. The results and questionnaires revealed that participants extracted the abstract rule, and most of them employed it to discriminate the sequences. This strategy was never observed in bird subjects, although some participants used strategies similar to the birds when responding to the probe stimuli. Our results showed that the human participants applied the abstract rule in the task even without instruction but Bengalese finches did not, thereby reconfirming that humans have to extract abstract rules from sound sequences that is distinct from non-human animals.

Songbirds and humans apply different strategies in a sound sequence discrimination task.

Science.gov (United States)

Seki, Yoshimasa; Suzuki, Kenta; Osawa, Ayumi M; Okanoya, Kazuo

2013-01-01

The abilities of animals and humans to extract rules from sound sequences have previously been compared using observation of spontaneous responses and conditioning techniques. However, the results were inconsistently interpreted across studies possibly due to methodological and/or species differences. Therefore, we examined the strategies for discrimination of sound sequences in Bengalese finches and humans using the same protocol. Birds were trained on a GO/NOGO task to discriminate between two categories of sound stimulus generated based on an "AAB" or "ABB" rule. The sound elements used were taken from a variety of male (M) and female (F) calls, such that the sequences could be represented as MMF and MFF. In test sessions, FFM and FMM sequences, which were never presented in the training sessions but conformed to the rule, were presented as probe stimuli. The results suggested two discriminative strategies were being applied: (1) memorizing sound patterns of either GO or NOGO stimuli and generating the appropriate responses for only those sounds; and (2) using the repeated element as a cue. There was no evidence that the birds successfully extracted the abstract rule (i.e., AAB and ABB); MMF-GO subjects did not produce a GO response for FFM and vice versa. Next we examined whether those strategies were also applicable for human participants on the same task. The results and questionnaires revealed that participants extracted the abstract rule, and most of them employed it to discriminate the sequences. This strategy was never observed in bird subjects, although some participants used strategies similar to the birds when responding to the probe stimuli. Our results showed that the human participants applied the abstract rule in the task even without instruction but Bengalese finches did not, thereby reconfirming that humans have to extract abstract rules from sound sequences that is distinct from non-human animals.

Unsound Sound

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knakkergaard, Martin

2016-01-01

This article discusses the change in premise that digitally produced sound brings about and how digital technologies more generally have changed our relationship to the musical artifact, not simply in degree but in kind. It demonstrates how our acoustical conceptions are thoroughly challenged...... by the digital production of sound and, by questioning the ontological basis for digital sound, turns our understanding of the core term substance upside down....

Sounds and Noises. A Position Paper on Noise Pollution.

Science.gov (United States)

Chapman, Thomas L.

This position paper focuses on noise pollution and the problems and solutions associated with this form of pollution. The paper is divided into the following five sections: Noise and the Ear, Noise Measurement, III Effects of Noise, Acoustics and Action, and Programs and Activities. The first section identifies noise and sound, the beginnings of…

Hyperacusis Questionnaire as a Tool for Measuring Hypersensitivity to Sound in a Tinnitus Research Population.

Science.gov (United States)

Fackrell, Kathryn; Fearnley, Constance; Hoare, Derek J; Sereda, Magdalena

2015-01-01

Hypersensitivity to external sounds is often comorbid with tinnitus and may be significant for adherence to certain types of tinnitus management. Therefore, a clear measure of sensitivity to sound is important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Hyperacusis Questionnaire (HQ) for use as a measurement tool using data from a sample of 264 adults who took part in tinnitus research. We evaluated the HQ factor structure, internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity, and floor and ceiling effects. Internal consistency was high (Cronbach's alpha = 0.88) and moderate correlations were observed between the HQ, uncomfortable loudness levels, and other health questionnaires. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the original HQ three-factor solution and a one-factor solution were both a poor fit to the data. Four problematic items were removed and exploratory factor analysis identified a two-factor (attentional and social) solution. The original three-factor structure of the HQ was not confirmed. All fourteen items do not accurately assess hypersensitivity to sound in a tinnitus population. We propose a 10-item (2-factor) version of the HQ, which will need to be confirmed using a new tinnitus and perhaps nontinnitus population.

Automatic adventitious respiratory sound analysis: A systematic review.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renard Xaviero Adhi Pramono

(11.69% on rhonchi, and 18 (23.38% on other sounds such as pleural rub, squawk, as well as the pathology. Instrumentation used to collect data included microphones, stethoscopes, and accelerometers. Several references obtained data from online repositories or book audio CD companions. Detection or classification methods used varied from empirically determined thresholds to more complex machine learning techniques. Performance reported in the surveyed works were converted to accuracy measures for data synthesis.Direct comparison of the performance of surveyed works cannot be performed as the input data used by each was different. A standard validation method has not been established, resulting in different works using different methods and performance measure definitions.A review of the literature was performed to summarise different analysis approaches, features, and methods used for the analysis. The performance of recent studies showed a high agreement with conventional non-automatic identification. This suggests that automated adventitious sound detection or classification is a promising solution to overcome the limitations of conventional auscultation and to assist in the monitoring of relevant diseases.

Automatic adventitious respiratory sound analysis: A systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Pramono, Renard Xaviero Adhi; Bowyer, Stuart; Rodriguez-Villegas, Esther

2017-01-01

.69%) on rhonchi, and 18 (23.38%) on other sounds such as pleural rub, squawk, as well as the pathology. Instrumentation used to collect data included microphones, stethoscopes, and accelerometers. Several references obtained data from online repositories or book audio CD companions. Detection or classification methods used varied from empirically determined thresholds to more complex machine learning techniques. Performance reported in the surveyed works were converted to accuracy measures for data synthesis. Direct comparison of the performance of surveyed works cannot be performed as the input data used by each was different. A standard validation method has not been established, resulting in different works using different methods and performance measure definitions. A review of the literature was performed to summarise different analysis approaches, features, and methods used for the analysis. The performance of recent studies showed a high agreement with conventional non-automatic identification. This suggests that automated adventitious sound detection or classification is a promising solution to overcome the limitations of conventional auscultation and to assist in the monitoring of relevant diseases.

What the Toadfish Ear Tells the Toadfish Brain About Sound.

Science.gov (United States)

Edds-Walton, Peggy L

2016-01-01

Of the three, paired otolithic endorgans in the ear of teleost fishes, the saccule is the one most often demonstrated to have a major role in encoding frequencies of biologically relevant sounds. The toadfish saccule also encodes sound level and sound source direction in the phase-locked activity conveyed via auditory afferents to nuclei of the ipsilateral octaval column in the medulla. Although paired auditory receptors are present in teleost fishes, binaural processes were believed to be unimportant due to the speed of sound in water and the acoustic transparency of the tissues in water. In contrast, there are behavioral and anatomical data that support binaural processing in fishes. Studies in the toadfish combined anatomical tract-tracing and physiological recordings from identified sites along the ascending auditory pathway to document response characteristics at each level. Binaural computations in the medulla and midbrain sharpen the directional information provided by the saccule. Furthermore, physiological studies in the central nervous system indicated that encoding frequency, sound level, temporal pattern, and sound source direction are important components of what the toadfish ear tells the toadfish brain about sound.

Sustainable Acoustic Metasurfaces for Sound Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paola Gori

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Sound attenuation with conventional acoustic materials is subject to the mass law and requires massive and bulky structures at low frequencies. A possible alternative solution is provided by the use of metamaterials, which are artificial materials properly engineered to obtain properties and characteristics that it is not possible to find in natural materials. Theory and applications of metamaterials, already consolidated in electromagnetism, can be extended to acoustics; in particular, they can be applied to improve the properties of acoustical panels. The design of acoustic metasurfaces that could effectively control transmitted sound in unconventional ways appears a significant subject to be investigated, given its wide-ranging possible applications. In this contribution, we investigate the application of a metasurface-inspired technique to achieve the acoustical insulation of an environment. The designed surface has subwavelength thickness and structuring and could be realized with cheap, lightweight and sustainable materials. We present a few examples of such structures and analyze their acoustical behavior by means of full-wave simulations.

Early Sound Symbolism for Vowel Sounds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ferrinne Spector

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Children and adults consistently match some words (e.g., kiki to jagged shapes and other words (e.g., bouba to rounded shapes, providing evidence for non-arbitrary sound–shape mapping. In this study, we investigated the influence of vowels on sound–shape matching in toddlers, using four contrasting pairs of nonsense words differing in vowel sound (/i/ as in feet vs. /o/ as in boat and four rounded–jagged shape pairs. Crucially, we used reduplicated syllables (e.g., kiki vs. koko rather than confounding vowel sound with consonant context and syllable variability (e.g., kiki vs. bouba. Toddlers consistently matched words with /o/ to rounded shapes and words with /i/ to jagged shapes (p < 0.01. The results suggest that there may be naturally biased correspondences between vowel sound and shape.

Recursive solution for dynamic response of one-dimensional structures with time-dependent boundary conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abadi, Mohammad Tahaye [Aerospace Research Institute, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2015-10-15

A recursive solution method is derived for the transient response of one-dimensional structures subjected to the general form of time dependent boundary conditions. Unlike previous solution methods that assumed the separation of variables, the present method involves formulating and solving the dynamic problems using the summation of two single-argument functions satisfying the motion equation. Based on boundary and initial conditions, a recursive procedure is derived to determine the single-argument functions. Such a procedure is applied to the general form of boundary conditions, and an analytical solution is derived by solving the recursive equation. The present solution method is implemented for base excitation problems, and the results are compared with those of the previous analytical solution and the Finite element (FE) analysis. The FE results converge to the present analytical solution, although considerable error is found in predicting a solution method on the basis of the separation of variables. The present analytical solution predicts the transient response for wave propagation problems in broadband excitation frequencies.

Recursive solution for dynamic response of one-dimensional structures with time-dependent boundary conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abadi, Mohammad Tahaye

2015-01-01

A recursive solution method is derived for the transient response of one-dimensional structures subjected to the general form of time dependent boundary conditions. Unlike previous solution methods that assumed the separation of variables, the present method involves formulating and solving the dynamic problems using the summation of two single-argument functions satisfying the motion equation. Based on boundary and initial conditions, a recursive procedure is derived to determine the single-argument functions. Such a procedure is applied to the general form of boundary conditions, and an analytical solution is derived by solving the recursive equation. The present solution method is implemented for base excitation problems, and the results are compared with those of the previous analytical solution and the Finite element (FE) analysis. The FE results converge to the present analytical solution, although considerable error is found in predicting a solution method on the basis of the separation of variables. The present analytical solution predicts the transient response for wave propagation problems in broadband excitation frequencies.

Sound Art and Spatial Practices: Situating Sound Installation Art Since 1958

OpenAIRE

Ouzounian, Gascia

2008-01-01

This dissertation examines the emergence and development ofsound installation art, an under-recognized tradition that hasdeveloped between music, architecture, and media art practicessince the late 1950s. Unlike many musical works, which are concernedwith organizing sounds in time, sound installations organize sounds inspace; they thus necessitate new theoretical and analytical modelsthat take into consideration the spatial situated-ness of sound. Existingdiscourses on “spatial sound” privile...

Generalized analytic solutions and response characteristics of magnetotelluric fields on anisotropic infinite faults

Science.gov (United States)

Bing, Xue; Yicai, Ji

2018-06-01

In order to understand directly and analyze accurately the detected magnetotelluric (MT) data on anisotropic infinite faults, two-dimensional partial differential equations of MT fields are used to establish a model of anisotropic infinite faults using the Fourier transform method. A multi-fault model is developed to expand the one-fault model. The transverse electric mode and transverse magnetic mode analytic solutions are derived using two-infinite-fault models. The infinite integral terms of the quasi-analytic solutions are discussed. The dual-fault model is computed using the finite element method to verify the correctness of the solutions. The MT responses of isotropic and anisotropic media are calculated to analyze the response functions by different anisotropic conductivity structures. The thickness and conductivity of the media, influencing MT responses, are discussed. The analytic principles are also given. The analysis results are significant to how MT responses are perceived and to the data interpretation of the complex anisotropic infinite faults.

Cortical processing of dynamic sound envelope transitions.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yi; Wang, Xiaoqin

2010-12-08

Slow envelope fluctuations in the range of 2-20 Hz provide important segmental cues for processing communication sounds. For a successful segmentation, a neural processor must capture envelope features associated with the rise and fall of signal energy, a process that is often challenged by the interference of background noise. This study investigated the neural representations of slowly varying envelopes in quiet and in background noise in the primary auditory cortex (A1) of awake marmoset monkeys. We characterized envelope features based on the local average and rate of change of sound level in envelope waveforms and identified envelope features to which neurons were selective by reverse correlation. Our results showed that envelope feature selectivity of A1 neurons was correlated with the degree of nonmonotonicity in their static rate-level functions. Nonmonotonic neurons exhibited greater feature selectivity than monotonic neurons in quiet and in background noise. The diverse envelope feature selectivity decreased spike-timing correlation among A1 neurons in response to the same envelope waveforms. As a result, the variability, but not the average, of the ensemble responses of A1 neurons represented more faithfully the dynamic transitions in low-frequency sound envelopes both in quiet and in background noise.

SOUND LABOR RELATIONS AT ENTERPRISE LEVEL IN THAILAND

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vichai Thosuwonchinda

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The objective of this research was to study the pattern of sound labor relations in Thailand in order to reduce conflicts between employers and workers and create cooperation. The research was based on a qualitative approach, using in-depth interview with 10 stakeholder groups of Thai industrial relations system. They were employees of non unionized companies at the shop floor level, employees of non unionized companies at the supervisor level, trade union leaders at the company level, trade union leaders at the national level, employers of non-unionized companies, employers’ organization leaders, and human resource managers, members of tripartite bodies, government officials and labor academics. The findings were presented in a model identifying 5 characteristics that enhance sound relations in Thailand, i.e. recognition between employer and workers, good communication, trust, data revealing and workers’ participation. It was suggested that all parties, employers, workers and the government should take part in the promotion of sound labor relations. The employer have to acknowledge labor union with a positive attitude, have good communication with workers , create trust with workers, disclose information, create culture of mutual benefits as well as accept sincerely the system that include workers’ participation. Workers need a strong labor union, good and sincere representatives for clear communication, trust, mutual benefits and seek conflict solutions with employer by win-win strategy. The government has a supporting role in adjusting the existing laws in the appropriate way, by creating policy for sound labor relations, and putting the idea of sound labor relations into practice.

A generalized sound extrapolation method for turbulent flows

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Siyang; Zhang, Xin

2018-02-01

Sound extrapolation methods are often used to compute acoustic far-field directivities using near-field flow data in aeroacoustics applications. The results may be erroneous if the volume integrals are neglected (to save computational cost), while non-acoustic fluctuations are collected on the integration surfaces. In this work, we develop a new sound extrapolation method based on an acoustic analogy using Taylor's hypothesis (Taylor 1938 Proc. R. Soc. Lon. A 164, 476-490. (doi:10.1098/rspa.1938.0032)). Typically, a convection operator is used to filter out the acoustically inefficient components in the turbulent flows, and an acoustics dominant indirect variable Dcp‧ is solved. The sound pressure p' at the far field is computed from Dcp‧ based on the asymptotic properties of the Green's function. Validations results for benchmark problems with well-defined sources match well with the exact solutions. For aeroacoustics applications: the sound predictions by the aerofoil-gust interaction are close to those by an earlier method specially developed to remove the effect of vortical fluctuations (Zhong & Zhang 2017 J. Fluid Mech. 820, 424-450. (doi:10.1017/jfm.2017.219)); for the case of vortex shedding noise from a cylinder, the off-body predictions by the proposed method match well with the on-body Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings result; different integration surfaces yield close predictions (of both spectra and far-field directivities) for a co-flowing jet case using an established direct numerical simulation database. The results suggest that the method may be a potential candidate for sound projection in aeroacoustics applications.

Sound a very short introduction

CERN Document Server

Goldsmith, Mike

2015-01-01

Sound is integral to how we experience the world, in the form of noise as well as music. But what is sound? What is the physical basis of pitch and harmony? And how are sound waves exploited in musical instruments? Sound: A Very Short Introduction looks at the science of sound and the behaviour of sound waves with their different frequencies. It also explores sound in different contexts, covering the audible and inaudible, sound underground and underwater, acoustic and electronic sound, and hearing in humans and animals. It concludes with the problem of sound out of place—noise and its reduction.

Primate auditory recognition memory performance varies with sound type.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Chi-Wing; Plakke, Bethany; Poremba, Amy

2009-10-01

Neural correlates of auditory processing, including for species-specific vocalizations that convey biological and ethological significance (e.g., social status, kinship, environment), have been identified in a wide variety of areas including the temporal and frontal cortices. However, few studies elucidate how non-human primates interact with these vocalization signals when they are challenged by tasks requiring auditory discrimination, recognition and/or memory. The present study employs a delayed matching-to-sample task with auditory stimuli to examine auditory memory performance of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), wherein two sounds are determined to be the same or different. Rhesus macaques seem to have relatively poor short-term memory with auditory stimuli, and we examine if particular sound types are more favorable for memory performance. Experiment 1 suggests memory performance with vocalization sound types (particularly monkey), are significantly better than when using non-vocalization sound types, and male monkeys outperform female monkeys overall. Experiment 2, controlling for number of sound exemplars and presentation pairings across types, replicates Experiment 1, demonstrating better performance or decreased response latencies, depending on trial type, to species-specific monkey vocalizations. The findings cannot be explained by acoustic differences between monkey vocalizations and the other sound types, suggesting the biological, and/or ethological meaning of these sounds are more effective for auditory memory. 2009 Elsevier B.V.

Effects of incongruent auditory and visual room-related cues on sound externalization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Carvajal, Juan Camilo Gil; Santurette, Sébastien; Cubick, Jens

Sounds presented via headphones are typically perceived inside the head. However, the illusion of a sound source located out in space away from the listener’s head can be generated with binaural headphone-based auralization systems by convolving anechoic sound signals with a binaural room impulse...... response (BRIR) measured with miniature microphones placed in the listener’s ear canals. Sound externalization of such virtual sounds can be very convincing and robust but there have been reports that the illusion might break down when the listening environment differs from the room in which the BRIRs were...... recorded [1,2,3]. This may be due to incongruent auditory cues between the recording and playback room during sound reproduction [2]. Alternatively, an expectation effect caused by the visual impression of the room may affect the position of the perceived auditory image [3]. Here, we systematically...

Localizing semantic interference from distractor sounds in picture naming: A dual-task study.

Science.gov (United States)

Mädebach, Andreas; Kieseler, Marie-Luise; Jescheniak, Jörg D

2017-10-13

In this study we explored the locus of semantic interference in a novel picture-sound interference task in which participants name pictures while ignoring environmental distractor sounds. In a previous study using this task (Mädebach, Wöhner, Kieseler, & Jescheniak, in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 43, 1629-1646, 2017), we showed that semantically related distractor sounds (e.g., BARKING dog ) interfere with a picture-naming response (e.g., "horse") more strongly than unrelated distractor sounds do (e.g., DRUMMING drum ). In the experiment reported here, we employed the psychological refractory period (PRP) approach to explore the locus of this effect. We combined a geometric form classification task (square vs. circle; Task 1) with the picture-sound interference task (Task 2). The stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between the tasks was systematically varied (0 vs. 500 ms). There were three central findings. First, the semantic interference effect from distractor sounds was replicated. Second, picture naming (in Task 2) was slower with the short than with the long task SOA. Third, both effects were additive-that is, the semantic interference effects were of similar magnitude at both task SOAs. This suggests that the interference arises during response selection or later stages, not during early perceptual processing. This finding corroborates the theory that semantic interference from distractor sounds reflects a competitive selection mechanism in word production.

Tinnitus (Phantom Sound: Risk coming for future

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suresh Rewar

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The word 'tinnitus' comes from the Latin word tinnire, meaning “to ring” or “a ringing.” Tinnitus is the cognition of sound in the absence of any corresponding external sound. Tinnitus can take the form of continuous buzzing, hissing, or ringing, or a combination of these or other characteristics. Tinnitus affects 10% to 25% of the adult population. Tinnitus is classified as objective and subjective categories. Subjective tinnitus is meaningless sounds that are not associated with a physical sound and only the person who has the tinnitus can hear it. Objective tinnitus is the result of a sound that can be heard by the physician. Tinnitus is not a disease in itself but a common symptom, and because it involves the perception of sound or sounds, it is commonly associated with the hearing system. In fact, various parts of the hearing system, including the inner ear, are often responsible for this symptom. Tinnitus patients, which can lead to sleep disturbances, concentration problems, fatigue, depression, anxiety disorders, and sometimes even to suicide. The evaluation of tinnitus always begins with a thorough history and physical examination, with further testing performed when indicated. Diagnostic testing should include audiography, speech discrimination testing, computed tomography angiography, or magnetic resonance angiography should be performed. All patients with tinnitus can benefit from patient education and preventive measures, and oftentimes the physician's reassurance and assistance with the psychologic aftereffects of tinnitus can be the therapy most valuable to the patient. There are no specific medications for the treatment of tinnitus. Sedatives and some other medications may prove helpful in the early stages. The ultimate goal of neuro-imaging is to identify subtypes of tinnitus in order to better inform treatment strategies.

What is Sound?

OpenAIRE

Nelson, Peter

2014-01-01

What is sound? This question is posed in contradiction to the every-day understanding that sound is a phenomenon apart from us, to be heard, made, shaped and organised. Thinking through the history of computer music, and considering the current configuration of digital communi-cations, sound is reconfigured as a type of network. This network is envisaged as non-hierarchical, in keeping with currents of thought that refuse to prioritise the human in the world. The relationship of sound to musi...

Broadcast sound technology

CERN Document Server

Talbot-Smith, Michael

1990-01-01

Broadcast Sound Technology provides an explanation of the underlying principles of modern audio technology. Organized into 21 chapters, the book first describes the basic sound; behavior of sound waves; aspects of hearing, harming, and charming the ear; room acoustics; reverberation; microphones; phantom power; loudspeakers; basic stereo; and monitoring of audio signal. Subsequent chapters explore the processing of audio signal, sockets, sound desks, and digital audio. Analogue and digital tape recording and reproduction, as well as noise reduction, are also explained.

Propagation of sound

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wahlberg, Magnus; Larsen, Ole Næsbye

2017-01-01

properties can be modified by sound absorption, refraction, and interference from multi paths caused by reflections.The path from the source to the receiver may be bent due to refraction. Besides geometrical attenuation, the ground effect and turbulence are the most important mechanisms to influence...... communication sounds for airborne acoustics and bottom and surface effects for underwater sounds. Refraction becomes very important close to shadow zones. For echolocation signals, geometric attenuation and sound absorption have the largest effects on the signals....

Making fictions sound real

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Langkjær, Birger

2010-01-01

This article examines the role that sound plays in making fictions perceptually real to film audiences, whether these fictions are realist or non-realist in content and narrative form. I will argue that some aspects of film sound practices and the kind of experiences they trigger are related...... to basic rules of human perception, whereas others are more properly explained in relation to how aesthetic devices, including sound, are used to characterise the fiction and thereby make it perceptually real to its audience. Finally, I will argue that not all genres can be defined by a simple taxonomy...... of sounds. Apart from an account of the kinds of sounds that typically appear in a specific genre, a genre analysis of sound may also benefit from a functionalist approach that focuses on how sounds can make both realist and non-realist aspects of genres sound real to audiences....

Experiences with sound insulating open windows in traffic noise exposed housing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Birgit

2015-01-01

windows are open, not least to reduce sleep disturbance. Unfortunately, such window solutions are complicated and expensive and practical experience limited. Nevertheless, they have been included in some Danish projects. To support further development and use, experience from seven field cases......Sound insulating windows are widely used in traffic noise exposed residential areas to reduce indoor noise levels to acceptable levels. However, such windows are typically only designed to provide sound insulation in closed position, and many people prefer open windows parts of time for ventilation...... purposes, including during night, or simply because it’s a good feeling to have windows open to be in contact with the surroundings. High noise exposure can lead to adverse effects on comfort and health, and thus, there is a need for sound insulating open windows to reduce noise exposure in homes, when...

Emotional sounds modulate early neural processing of emotional pictures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antje B M Gerdes

2013-10-01

Full Text Available In our natural environment, emotional information is conveyed by converging visual and auditory information; multimodal integration is of utmost importance. In the laboratory, however, emotion researchers have mostly focused on the examination of unimodal stimuli. Few existing studies on multimodal emotion processing have focused on human communication such as the integration of facial and vocal expressions. Extending the concept of multimodality, the current study examines how the neural processing of emotional pictures is influenced by simultaneously presented sounds. Twenty pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral pictures of complex scenes were presented to 22 healthy participants. On the critical trials these pictures were paired with pleasant, unpleasant and neutral sounds. Sound presentation started 500 ms before picture onset and each stimulus presentation lasted for 2s. EEG was recorded from 64 channels and ERP analyses focused on the picture onset. In addition, valence, and arousal ratings were obtained. Previous findings for the neural processing of emotional pictures were replicated. Specifically, unpleasant compared to neutral pictures were associated with an increased parietal P200 and a more pronounced centroparietal late positive potential (LPP, independent of the accompanying sound valence. For audiovisual stimulation, increased parietal P100 and P200 were found in response to all pictures which were accompanied by unpleasant or pleasant sounds compared to pictures with neutral sounds. Most importantly, incongruent audiovisual pairs of unpleasant pictures and pleasant sounds enhanced parietal P100 and P200 compared to pairings with congruent sounds. Taken together, the present findings indicate that emotional sounds modulate early stages of visual processing and, therefore, provide an avenue by which multimodal experience may enhance perception.

Deflection of resilient materials for reduction of floor impact sound.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jung-Yoon; Kim, Jong-Mun

2014-01-01

Recently, many residents living in apartment buildings in Korea have been bothered by noise coming from the houses above. In order to reduce noise pollution, communities are increasingly imposing bylaws, including the limitation of floor impact sound, minimum thickness of floors, and floor soundproofing solutions. This research effort focused specifically on the deflection of resilient materials in the floor sound insulation systems of apartment houses. The experimental program involved conducting twenty-seven material tests and ten sound insulation floating concrete floor specimens. Two main parameters were considered in the experimental investigation: the seven types of resilient materials and the location of the loading point. The structural behavior of sound insulation floor floating was predicted using the Winkler method. The experimental and analytical results indicated that the cracking strength of the floating concrete floor significantly increased with increasing the tangent modulus of resilient material. The deflection of the floating concrete floor loaded at the side of the specimen was much greater than that of the floating concrete floor loaded at the center of the specimen. The Winkler model considering the effect of modulus of resilient materials was able to accurately predict the cracking strength of the floating concrete floor.

Investigations on spatial sound design based on measured room impulse responses

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Melchior, F.

2011-01-01

Developments in the area of spatial sound reproduction have led to a large variety of established audio systems. Systems based on stereophonic principles are extended and growing from two channels via the ITU-R BS.775 surround setup to larger systems with more channels including elevated

An objective measure for the sensitivity of room impulse response and its link to a diffuse sound field

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Prislan, Rok; Brunskog, Jonas; Jacobsen, Finn

2014-01-01

This study is relevant to acoustic measurements in reverberation rooms such as measurements of sound transmission, sound absorption, and sound power levels of noise sources. The study presents a quantitative measure for the diffuseness in a room, which is first introduced theoretically and sub...

Introduction to the Special Issue on Sounding Rockets and Instrumentation

OpenAIRE

Christe, Steven; Zeiger, Ben; Pfaff, Rob; Garcia, Michael

2016-01-01

Rocket technology, originally developed for military applications, has provided a low-cost observing platform to carry critical and rapid-response scientific investigations for over 70 years. Even with the development of launch vehicles that could put satellites into orbit, high altitude sounding rockets have remained relevant. In addition to science observations, sounding rockets provide a unique technology test platform and a valuable training ground for scientists and engineers. Most impor...

Responses of male sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) to killer whale sounds: implications for anti-predator strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Curé, Charlotte; Antunes, Ricardo; Alves, Ana Catarina; Visser, Fleur; Kvadsheim, Petter H; Miller, Patrick J O

2013-01-01

Interactions between individuals of different cetacean species are often observed in the wild. Killer whales (Orcinus orca) can be potential predators of many other cetaceans, and the interception of their vocalizations by unintended cetacean receivers may trigger anti-predator behavior that could mediate predator-prey interactions. We explored the anti-predator behaviour of five typically-solitary male sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the Norwegian Sea by playing sounds of mammal-feeding killer whales and monitoring behavioural responses using multi-sensor tags. Our results suggest that, rather than taking advantage of their large aerobic capacities to dive away from the perceived predator, sperm whales responded to killer whale playbacks by interrupting their foraging or resting dives and returning to the surface, changing their vocal production, and initiating a surprising degree of social behaviour in these mostly solitary animals. Thus, the interception of predator vocalizations by male sperm whales disrupted functional behaviours and mediated previously unrecognized anti-predator responses.

Sound Synthesis and Evaluation of Interactive Footsteps for Virtual Reality Applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nordahl, Rolf; Serafin, Stefania; Turchet, Luca

2010-01-01

A system to synthesize in real-time the sound of footsteps on different materials is presented. The system is based on microphones which allow the user to interact with his own footwear. This solution distinguishes our system from previous efforts that require specific shoes enhanced with sensors...

The NASA Sounding Rocket Program and space sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Gurkin, L. W.

1992-01-01

High altitude suborbital rockets (sounding rockets) have been extensively used for space science research in the post-World War II period; the NASA Sounding Rocket Program has been on-going since the inception of the Agency and supports all space science disciplines. In recent years, sounding rockets have been utilized to provide a low gravity environment for materials processing research, particularly in the commercial sector. Sounding rockets offer unique features as a low gravity flight platform. Quick response and low cost combine to provide more frequent spaceflight opportunities. Suborbital spacecraft design practice has achieved a high level of sophistication which optimizes the limited available flight times. High data-rate telemetry, real-time ground up-link command and down-link video data are routinely used in sounding rocket payloads. Standard, off-the-shelf, active control systems are available which limit payload body rates such that the gravitational environment remains less than 10(-4) g during the control period. Operational launch vehicles are available which can provide up to 7 minutes of experiment time for experiment weights up to 270 kg. Standard payload recovery systems allow soft impact retrieval of payloads. When launched from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, payloads can be retrieved and returned to the launch site within hours.

Study of physical and sound absorbing property of epoxy blended coir dust biocomposite

Science.gov (United States)

Nath, G.; Mishra, S. P.

2016-09-01

Reinforcement biocomposite has gained more attention recently due to its low cost, abundantly availability, low density, specific properties, easy method of separation, enhanced energy recovery, CO2 neutrality, biodegradability and recyclable in nature. As a waste product of coconut fruit, the coconut coir dust (CCD) obtained from the coconut husk. The biocomposite material prepared from the CCD modified with the proper blended solution with the help of ultrasonic technique. The study of adiabatic compressibility of acetone / water (70/30) worth its blending property for bleaching of CCD. The biocomposite material of CCD was prepared with epoxy resin. The different physical properties such as sound absorption coefficient, thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity were measured. The morphological study of biocomposite and measurement of sound absorption coefficient shows good evidence of sound absorbing characteristics of biocomposite of CCD. The sound absorption property of composite material shows a significant result where as the thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity executes a weak result. Thus biocomposite of CCD can acts as a good sound absorber and band conductor of heat and electric current.

Memory for product sounds: the effect of sound and label type.

Science.gov (United States)

Ozcan, Elif; van Egmond, René

2007-11-01

The (mnemonic) interactions between auditory, visual, and the semantic systems have been investigated using structurally complex auditory stimuli (i.e., product sounds). Six types of product sounds (air, alarm, cyclic, impact, liquid, mechanical) that vary in spectral-temporal structure were presented in four label type conditions: self-generated text, text, image, and pictogram. A memory paradigm that incorporated free recall, recognition, and matching tasks was employed. The results for the sound type suggest that the amount of spectral-temporal structure in a sound can be indicative for memory performance. Findings related to label type suggest that 'self' creates a strong bias for the retrieval and the recognition of sounds that were self-labeled; the density and the complexity of the visual information (i.e., pictograms) hinders the memory performance ('visual' overshadowing effect); and image labeling has an additive effect on the recall and matching tasks (dual coding). Thus, the findings suggest that the memory performances for product sounds are task-dependent.

Horizontal sound localization in cochlear implant users with a contralateral hearing aid.

Science.gov (United States)

Veugen, Lidwien C E; Hendrikse, Maartje M E; van Wanrooij, Marc M; Agterberg, Martijn J H; Chalupper, Josef; Mens, Lucas H M; Snik, Ad F M; John van Opstal, A

2016-06-01

Interaural differences in sound arrival time (ITD) and in level (ILD) enable us to localize sounds in the horizontal plane, and can support source segregation and speech understanding in noisy environments. It is uncertain whether these cues are also available to hearing-impaired listeners who are bimodally fitted, i.e. with a cochlear implant (CI) and a contralateral hearing aid (HA). Here, we assessed sound localization behavior of fourteen bimodal listeners, all using the same Phonak HA and an Advanced Bionics CI processor, matched with respect to loudness growth. We aimed to determine the availability and contribution of binaural (ILDs, temporal fine structure and envelope ITDs) and monaural (loudness, spectral) cues to horizontal sound localization in bimodal listeners, by systematically varying the frequency band, level and envelope of the stimuli. The sound bandwidth had a strong effect on the localization bias of bimodal listeners, although localization performance was typically poor for all conditions. Responses could be systematically changed by adjusting the frequency range of the stimulus, or by simply switching the HA and CI on and off. Localization responses were largely biased to one side, typically the CI side for broadband and high-pass filtered sounds, and occasionally to the HA side for low-pass filtered sounds. HA-aided thresholds better than 45 dB HL in the frequency range of the stimulus appeared to be a prerequisite, but not a guarantee, for the ability to indicate sound source direction. We argue that bimodal sound localization is likely based on ILD cues, even at frequencies below 1500 Hz for which the natural ILDs are small. These cues are typically perturbed in bimodal listeners, leading to a biased localization percept of sounds. The high accuracy of some listeners could result from a combination of sufficient spectral overlap and loudness balance in bimodal hearing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

33 CFR 167.1702 - In Prince William Sound: Prince William Sound Traffic Separation Scheme.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false In Prince William Sound: Prince William Sound Traffic Separation Scheme. 167.1702 Section 167.1702 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST....1702 In Prince William Sound: Prince William Sound Traffic Separation Scheme. The Prince William Sound...

Background noise exerts diverse effects on the cortical encoding of foreground sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Malone, B J; Heiser, Marc A; Beitel, Ralph E; Schreiner, Christoph E

2017-08-01

In natural listening conditions, many sounds must be detected and identified in the context of competing sound sources, which function as background noise. Traditionally, noise is thought to degrade the cortical representation of sounds by suppressing responses and increasing response variability. However, recent studies of neural network models and brain slices have shown that background synaptic noise can improve the detection of signals. Because acoustic noise affects the synaptic background activity of cortical networks, it may improve the cortical responses to signals. We used spike train decoding techniques to determine the functional effects of a continuous white noise background on the responses of clusters of neurons in auditory cortex to foreground signals, specifically frequency-modulated sweeps (FMs) of different velocities, directions, and amplitudes. Whereas the addition of noise progressively suppressed the FM responses of some cortical sites in the core fields with decreasing signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), the stimulus representation remained robust or was even significantly enhanced at specific SNRs in many others. Even though the background noise level was typically not explicitly encoded in cortical responses, significant information about noise context could be decoded from cortical responses on the basis of how the neural representation of the foreground sweeps was affected. These findings demonstrate significant diversity in signal in noise processing even within the core auditory fields that could support noise-robust hearing across a wide range of listening conditions. NEW & NOTEWORTHY The ability to detect and discriminate sounds in background noise is critical for our ability to communicate. The neural basis of robust perceptual performance in noise is not well understood. We identified neuronal populations in core auditory cortex of squirrel monkeys that differ in how they process foreground signals in background noise and that may

Sounds Exaggerate Visual Shape

Science.gov (United States)

Sweeny, Timothy D.; Guzman-Martinez, Emmanuel; Ortega, Laura; Grabowecky, Marcia; Suzuki, Satoru

2012-01-01

While perceiving speech, people see mouth shapes that are systematically associated with sounds. In particular, a vertically stretched mouth produces a /woo/ sound, whereas a horizontally stretched mouth produces a /wee/ sound. We demonstrate that hearing these speech sounds alters how we see aspect ratio, a basic visual feature that contributes…

Perceptual sensitivity to spectral properties of earlier sounds during speech categorization.

Science.gov (United States)

Stilp, Christian E; Assgari, Ashley A

2018-02-28

Speech perception is heavily influenced by surrounding sounds. When spectral properties differ between earlier (context) and later (target) sounds, this can produce spectral contrast effects (SCEs) that bias perception of later sounds. For example, when context sounds have more energy in low-F 1 frequency regions, listeners report more high-F 1 responses to a target vowel, and vice versa. SCEs have been reported using various approaches for a wide range of stimuli, but most often, large spectral peaks were added to the context to bias speech categorization. This obscures the lower limit of perceptual sensitivity to spectral properties of earlier sounds, i.e., when SCEs begin to bias speech categorization. Listeners categorized vowels (/ɪ/-/ɛ/, Experiment 1) or consonants (/d/-/g/, Experiment 2) following a context sentence with little spectral amplification (+1 to +4 dB) in frequency regions known to produce SCEs. In both experiments, +3 and +4 dB amplification in key frequency regions of the context produced SCEs, but lesser amplification was insufficient to bias performance. This establishes a lower limit of perceptual sensitivity where spectral differences across sounds can bias subsequent speech categorization. These results are consistent with proposed adaptation-based mechanisms that potentially underlie SCEs in auditory perception. Recent sounds can change what speech sounds we hear later. This can occur when the average frequency composition of earlier sounds differs from that of later sounds, biasing how they are perceived. These "spectral contrast effects" are widely observed when sounds' frequency compositions differ substantially. We reveal the lower limit of these effects, as +3 dB amplification of key frequency regions in earlier sounds was enough to bias categorization of the following vowel or consonant sound. Speech categorization being biased by very small spectral differences across sounds suggests that spectral contrast effects occur

Time domain acoustic contrast control implementation of sound zones for low-frequency input signals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schellekens, Daan H. M.; Møller, Martin Bo; Olsen, Martin

2016-01-01

Sound zones are two or more regions within a listening space where listeners are provided with personal audio. Acoustic contrast control (ACC) is a sound zoning method that maximizes the average squared sound pressure in one zone constrained to constant pressure in other zones. State......-of-the-art time domain broadband acoustic contrast control (BACC) methods are designed for anechoic environments. These methods are not able to realize a flat frequency response in a limited frequency range within a reverberant environment. Sound field control in a limited frequency range is a requirement...... to accommodate the effective working range of the loudspeakers. In this paper, a new BACC method is proposed which results in an implementation realizing a flat frequency response in the target zone. This method is applied in a bandlimited low-frequency scenario where the loudspeaker layout surrounds two...

Hyperacusis Questionnaire as a Tool for Measuring Hypersensitivity to Sound in a Tinnitus Research Population

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathryn Fackrell

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Hypersensitivity to external sounds is often comorbid with tinnitus and may be significant for adherence to certain types of tinnitus management. Therefore, a clear measure of sensitivity to sound is important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Hyperacusis Questionnaire (HQ for use as a measurement tool using data from a sample of 264 adults who took part in tinnitus research. We evaluated the HQ factor structure, internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity, and floor and ceiling effects. Internal consistency was high (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88 and moderate correlations were observed between the HQ, uncomfortable loudness levels, and other health questionnaires. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the original HQ three-factor solution and a one-factor solution were both a poor fit to the data. Four problematic items were removed and exploratory factor analysis identified a two-factor (attentional and social solution. The original three-factor structure of the HQ was not confirmed. All fourteen items do not accurately assess hypersensitivity to sound in a tinnitus population. We propose a 10-item (2-factor version of the HQ, which will need to be confirmed using a new tinnitus and perhaps nontinnitus population.

Auditory stimuli elicit hippocampal neuronal responses during sleep

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ekaterina eVinnik

2012-06-01

Full Text Available To investigate how hippocampal neurons code behaviorally salient stimuli, we recorded from neurons in the CA1 region of hippocampus in rats while they learned to associate the presence of sound with water reward. Rats learned to alternate between two reward ports at which, in 50 percent of the trials, sound stimuli were presented followed by water reward after a 3-second delay. Sound at the water port predicted subsequent reward delivery in 100 percent of the trials and the absence of sound predicted reward omission. During this task, 40% of recorded neurons fired differently according to which of the 2 reward ports the rat was visiting. A smaller fraction of neurons demonstrated onset response to sound/nosepoke (19% and reward delivery (24%. When the sounds were played during passive wakefulness, 8% of neurons responded with short latency onset responses; 25% of neurons responded to sounds when they were played during sleep. Based on the current findings and the results of previous experiments we propose the existence of two types of hippocampal neuronal responses to sounds: sound-onset responses with very short latency and longer-lasting sound-specific responses that are likely to be present when the animal is actively engaged in the task. During sleep the short-latency responses in hippocampus are intermingled with sustained activity which in the current experiment was detected for 1-2 seconds.

Decoding the neural signatures of emotions expressed through sound.

Science.gov (United States)

Sachs, Matthew E; Habibi, Assal; Damasio, Antonio; Kaplan, Jonas T

2018-03-01

Effective social functioning relies in part on the ability to identify emotions from auditory stimuli and respond appropriately. Previous studies have uncovered brain regions engaged by the affective information conveyed by sound. But some of the acoustical properties of sounds that express certain emotions vary remarkably with the instrument used to produce them, for example the human voice or a violin. Do these brain regions respond in the same way to different emotions regardless of the sound source? To address this question, we had participants (N = 38, 20 females) listen to brief audio excerpts produced by the violin, clarinet, and human voice, each conveying one of three target emotions-happiness, sadness, and fear-while brain activity was measured with fMRI. We used multivoxel pattern analysis to test whether emotion-specific neural responses to the voice could predict emotion-specific neural responses to musical instruments and vice-versa. A whole-brain searchlight analysis revealed that patterns of activity within the primary and secondary auditory cortex, posterior insula, and parietal operculum were predictive of the affective content of sound both within and across instruments. Furthermore, classification accuracy within the anterior insula was correlated with behavioral measures of empathy. The findings suggest that these brain regions carry emotion-specific patterns that generalize across sounds with different acoustical properties. Also, individuals with greater empathic ability have more distinct neural patterns related to perceiving emotions. These results extend previous knowledge regarding how the human brain extracts emotional meaning from auditory stimuli and enables us to understand and connect with others effectively. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Aging affects hemispheric asymmetry in the neural representation of speech sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Bellis, T J; Nicol, T; Kraus, N

2000-01-15

Hemispheric asymmetries in the processing of elemental speech sounds appear to be critical for normal speech perception. This study investigated the effects of age on hemispheric asymmetry observed in the neurophysiological responses to speech stimuli in three groups of normal hearing, right-handed subjects: children (ages, 8-11 years), young adults (ages, 20-25 years), and older adults (ages > 55 years). Peak-to-peak response amplitudes of the auditory cortical P1-N1 complex obtained over right and left temporal lobes were examined to determine the degree of left/right asymmetry in the neurophysiological responses elicited by synthetic speech syllables in each of the three subject groups. In addition, mismatch negativity (MMN) responses, which are elicited by acoustic change, were obtained. Whereas children and young adults demonstrated larger P1-N1-evoked response amplitudes over the left temporal lobe than over the right, responses from elderly subjects were symmetrical. In contrast, MMN responses, which reflect an echoic memory process, were symmetrical in all subject groups. The differences observed in the neurophysiological responses were accompanied by a finding of significantly poorer ability to discriminate speech syllables involving rapid spectrotemporal changes in the older adult group. This study demonstrates a biological, age-related change in the neural representation of basic speech sounds and suggests one possible underlying mechanism for the speech perception difficulties exhibited by aging adults. Furthermore, results of this study support previous findings suggesting a dissociation between neural mechanisms underlying those processes that reflect the basic representation of sound structure and those that represent auditory echoic memory and stimulus change.

Melodic multi-feature paradigm reveals auditory profiles in music-sound encoding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mari eTervaniemi

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Musical expertise modulates preattentive neural sound discrimination. However, this evidence up to great extent originates from paradigms using very simple stimulation. Here we use a novel melody paradigm (revealing the auditory profile for six sound parameters in parallel to compare memory-related MMN and attention-related P3a responses recorded from non-musicians and Finnish Folk musicians. MMN emerged in both groups of participants for all sound changes (except for rhythmic changes in non-musicians. In Folk musicians, the MMN was enlarged for mistuned sounds when compared with non-musicians. This is taken to reflect their familiarity with pitch information which is in key position in Finnish folk music when compared with e.g., rhythmic information. The MMN was followed by P3a after timbre changes, rhythm changes, and melody transposition. The MMN and P3a topographies differentiated the groups for all sound changes. Thus, the melody paradigm offers a fast and cost-effective means for determining the auditory profile for music-sound encoding and also, importantly, for probing the effects of musical expertise on it.

Melodic multi-feature paradigm reveals auditory profiles in music-sound encoding.

Science.gov (United States)

Tervaniemi, Mari; Huotilainen, Minna; Brattico, Elvira

2014-01-01

Musical expertise modulates preattentive neural sound discrimination. However, this evidence up to great extent originates from paradigms using very simple stimulation. Here we use a novel melody paradigm (revealing the auditory profile for six sound parameters in parallel) to compare memory-related mismatch negativity (MMN) and attention-related P3a responses recorded from non-musicians and Finnish Folk musicians. MMN emerged in both groups of participants for all sound changes (except for rhythmic changes in non-musicians). In Folk musicians, the MMN was enlarged for mistuned sounds when compared with non-musicians. This is taken to reflect their familiarity with pitch information which is in key position in Finnish folk music when compared with e.g., rhythmic information. The MMN was followed by P3a after timbre changes, rhythm changes, and melody transposition. The MMN and P3a topographies differentiated the groups for all sound changes. Thus, the melody paradigm offers a fast and cost-effective means for determining the auditory profile for music-sound encoding and also, importantly, for probing the effects of musical expertise on it.

Tipping point analysis of a large ocean ambient sound record

Science.gov (United States)

Livina, Valerie N.; Harris, Peter; Brower, Albert; Wang, Lian; Sotirakopoulos, Kostas; Robinson, Stephen

2017-04-01

We study a long (2003-2015) high-resolution (250Hz) sound pressure record provided by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) from the hydro-acoustic station Cape Leeuwin (Australia). We transform the hydrophone waveforms into five bands of 10-min-average sound pressure levels (including the third-octave band) and apply tipping point analysis techniques [1-3]. We report the results of the analysis of fluctuations and trends in the data and discuss the BigData challenges in processing this record, including handling data segments of large size and possible HPC solutions. References: [1] Livina et al, GRL 2007, [2] Livina et al, Climate of the Past 2010, [3] Livina et al, Chaos 2015.

InfoSound

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sonnenwald, Diane H.; Gopinath, B.; Haberman, Gary O.

1990-01-01

The authors explore ways to enhance users' comprehension of complex applications using music and sound effects to present application-program events that are difficult to detect visually. A prototype system, Infosound, allows developers to create and store musical sequences and sound effects with...

The Sound of Science

Science.gov (United States)

Merwade, Venkatesh; Eichinger, David; Harriger, Bradley; Doherty, Erin; Habben, Ryan

2014-01-01

While the science of sound can be taught by explaining the concept of sound waves and vibrations, the authors of this article focused their efforts on creating a more engaging way to teach the science of sound--through engineering design. In this article they share the experience of teaching sound to third graders through an engineering challenge…

Knockdown of Dyslexia-Gene Dcdc2 Interferes with Speech Sound Discrimination in Continuous Streams.

Science.gov (United States)

Centanni, Tracy Michelle; Booker, Anne B; Chen, Fuyi; Sloan, Andrew M; Carraway, Ryan S; Rennaker, Robert L; LoTurco, Joseph J; Kilgard, Michael P

2016-04-27

Dyslexia is the most common developmental language disorder and is marked by deficits in reading and phonological awareness. One theory of dyslexia suggests that the phonological awareness deficit is due to abnormal auditory processing of speech sounds. Variants in DCDC2 and several other neural migration genes are associated with dyslexia and may contribute to auditory processing deficits. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that RNAi suppression of Dcdc2 in rats causes abnormal cortical responses to sound and impaired speech sound discrimination. In the current study, rats were subjected in utero to RNA interference targeting of the gene Dcdc2 or a scrambled sequence. Primary auditory cortex (A1) responses were acquired from 11 rats (5 with Dcdc2 RNAi; DC-) before any behavioral training. A separate group of 8 rats (3 DC-) were trained on a variety of speech sound discrimination tasks, and auditory cortex responses were acquired following training. Dcdc2 RNAi nearly eliminated the ability of rats to identify specific speech sounds from a continuous train of speech sounds but did not impair performance during discrimination of isolated speech sounds. The neural responses to speech sounds in A1 were not degraded as a function of presentation rate before training. These results suggest that A1 is not directly involved in the impaired speech discrimination caused by Dcdc2 RNAi. This result contrasts earlier results using Kiaa0319 RNAi and suggests that different dyslexia genes may cause different deficits in the speech processing circuitry, which may explain differential responses to therapy. Although dyslexia is diagnosed through reading difficulty, there is a great deal of variation in the phenotypes of these individuals. The underlying neural and genetic mechanisms causing these differences are still widely debated. In the current study, we demonstrate that suppression of a candidate-dyslexia gene causes deficits on tasks of rapid stimulus processing

Analytical solution for beam with time-dependent boundary conditions versus response spectrum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gou, P.F.; Panahi, K.K.

2001-01-01

This paper studies the responses of a uniform simple beam for which the supports are subjected to time-dependent conditions. Analytical solution in terms of series was presented for two cases: (1) Two supports of a simple beam are subjected to a harmonic motion, and (2) One of the two supports is stationary while the other is subjected to a harmonic motion. The results of the analytical solution were investigated and compared with the results of conventional response spectrum method using the beam finite element model. One of the applications of the results presented in this paper can be used to assess the adequacy and accuracy of the engineering approaches such as response spectra methods. It has been found that, when the excitation frequency equals the fundamental frequency of the beam, the results from response spectrum method are in good agreement with the exact calculation. The effects of initial conditions on the responses are also examined. It seems that the non-zero initial velocity has pronounced effects on the displacement time histories but it has no effect on the maximum accelerations. (author)

Stage separation study of Nike-Black Brant V Sounding Rocket System

Science.gov (United States)

Ferragut, N. J.

1976-01-01

A new Sounding Rocket System has been developed. It consists of a Nike Booster and a Black Brant V Sustainer with slanted fins which extend beyond its nozzle exit plane. A cursory look was taken at different factors which must be considered when studying a passive separation system. That is, one separation system without mechanical constraints in the axial direction and which will allow separation due to drag differential accelerations between the Booster and the Sustainer. The equations of motion were derived for rigid body motions and exact solutions were obtained. The analysis developed could be applied to any other staging problem of a Sounding Rocket System.

Stridulatory sound-production and its function in females of the cicada Subpsaltria yangi.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Changqing Luo

Full Text Available Acoustic behavior plays a crucial role in many aspects of cicada biology, such as reproduction and intrasexual competition. Although female sound production has been reported in some cicada species, acoustic behavior of female cicadas has received little attention. In cicada Subpsaltria yangi, the females possess a pair of unusually well-developed stridulatory organs. Here, sound production and its function in females of this remarkable cicada species were investigated. We revealed that the females could produce sounds by stridulatory mechanism during pair formation, and the sounds were able to elicit both acoustic and phonotactic responses from males. In addition, the forewings would strike the body during performing stridulatory sound-producing movements, which generated impact sounds. Acoustic playback experiments indicated that the impact sounds played no role in the behavioral context of pair formation. This study provides the first experimental evidence that females of a cicada species can generate sounds by stridulatory mechanism. We anticipate that our results will promote acoustic studies on females of other cicada species which also possess stridulatory system.

The Use of an Open Field Model to Assess Sound-Induced Fear and Anxiety Associated Behaviors in Labrador Retrievers.

Science.gov (United States)

Gruen, Margaret E; Case, Beth C; Foster, Melanie L; Lazarowski, Lucia; Fish, Richard E; Landsberg, Gary; DePuy, Venita; Dorman, David C; Sherman, Barbara L

2015-01-01

Previous studies have shown that the playing of thunderstorm recordings during an open-field task elicits fearful or anxious responses in adult beagles. The goal of our study was to apply this open field test to assess sound-induced behaviors in Labrador retrievers drawn from a pool of candidate improvised explosive devices (IED)-detection dogs. Being robust to fear-inducing sounds and recovering quickly is a critical requirement of these military working dogs. This study presented male and female dogs, with 3 minutes of either ambient noise (Days 1, 3 and 5), recorded thunderstorm (Day 2), or gunfire (Day 4) sounds in an open field arena. Behavioral and physiological responses were assessed and compared to control (ambient noise) periods. An observer blinded to sound treatment analyzed video records of the 9-minute daily test sessions. Additional assessments included measurement of distance traveled (activity), heart rate, body temperature, and salivary cortisol concentrations. Overall, there was a decline in distance traveled and heart rate within each day and over the five-day test period, suggesting that dogs habituated to the open field arena. Behavioral postures and expressions were assessed using a standardized rubric to score behaviors linked to canine fear and anxiety. These fear/anxiety scores were used to evaluate changes in behaviors following exposure to a sound stressor. Compared to control periods, there was an overall increase in fear/anxiety scores during thunderstorm and gunfire sound stimuli treatment periods. Fear/anxiety scores were correlated with distance traveled, and heart rate. Fear/anxiety scores in response to thunderstorm and gunfire were correlated. Dogs showed higher fear/anxiety scores during periods after the sound stimuli compared to control periods. In general, candidate IED-detection Labrador retrievers responded to sound stimuli and recovered quickly, although dogs stratified in their response to sound stimuli. Some dogs were

Light and Sound

CERN Document Server

Karam, P Andrew

2010-01-01

Our world is largely defined by what we see and hear-but our uses for light and sound go far beyond simply seeing a photo or hearing a song. A concentrated beam of light, lasers are powerful tools used in industry, research, and medicine, as well as in everyday electronics like DVD and CD players. Ultrasound, sound emitted at a high frequency, helps create images of a developing baby, cleans teeth, and much more. Light and Sound teaches how light and sound work, how they are used in our day-to-day lives, and how they can be used to learn about the universe at large.

Sound Transmission in a Duct with Sudden Area Expansion, Extended Inlet, and Lined Walls in Overlapping Region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmet Demir

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The transmission of sound in a duct with sudden area expansion and extended inlet is investigated in the case where the walls of the duct lie in the finite overlapping region lined with acoustically absorbent materials. By using the series expansion in the overlap region and using the Fourier transform technique elsewhere we obtain a Wiener-Hopf equation whose solution involves a set of infinitely many unknown expansion coefficients satisfying a system of linear algebraic equations. Numerical solution of this system is obtained for various values of the problem parameters, whereby the effects of these parameters on the sound transmission are studied.

The Textile Form of Sound

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bendixen, Cecilie

Sound is a part of architecture, and sound is complex. Upon this, sound is invisible. How is it then possible to design visual objects that interact with the sound? This paper addresses the problem of how to get access to the complexity of sound and how to make textile material revealing the form...... goemetry by analysing the sound pattern at a specific spot. This analysis is done theoretically with algorithmic systems and practical with waves in water. The paper describes the experiments and the findings, and explains how an analysis of sound can be catched in a textile form....

The sound-induced phosphene illusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Bolognini, Nadia; Convento, Silvia; Fusaro, Martina; Vallar, Giuseppe

2013-12-01

Crossmodal illusions clearly show how perception, rather than being a modular and self-contained function, can be dramatically altered by interactions between senses. Here, we provide evidence for a novel crossmodal "physiological" illusion, showing that sounds can boost visual cortical responses in such a way to give rise to a striking illusory visual percept. In healthy participants, a single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (sTMS) delivered to the occipital cortex evoked a visual percept, i.e., a phosphene. When sTMS is accompanied by two auditory beeps, the second beep induces in neurologically unimpaired participants the perception of an illusory second phosphene, namely the sound-induced phosphene illusion. This perceptual "fission" of a single phosphene, due to multiple beeps, is not matched by a "fusion" of double phosphenes due to a single beep, and it is characterized by an early auditory modulation of the TMS-induced visual responses (~80 ms). Multiple beeps also induce an illusory feeling of multiple TMS pulses on the participants' scalp, consistent with an audio-tactile fission illusion. In conclusion, an auditory stimulation may bring about a phenomenological change in the conscious visual experience produced by the transcranial stimulation of the occipital cortex, which reveals crossmodal binding mechanisms within early stages of visual processing.

Reduction of heart sound interference from lung sound signals using empirical mode decomposition technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Mondal, Ashok; Bhattacharya, P S; Saha, Goutam

2011-01-01

During the recording time of lung sound (LS) signals from the chest wall of a subject, there is always heart sound (HS) signal interfering with it. This obscures the features of lung sound signals and creates confusion on pathological states, if any, of the lungs. A novel method based on empirical mode decomposition (EMD) technique is proposed in this paper for reducing the undesired heart sound interference from the desired lung sound signals. In this, the mixed signal is split into several components. Some of these components contain larger proportions of interfering signals like heart sound, environmental noise etc. and are filtered out. Experiments have been conducted on simulated and real-time recorded mixed signals of heart sound and lung sound. The proposed method is found to be superior in terms of time domain, frequency domain, and time-frequency domain representations and also in listening test performed by pulmonologist.

Sparse representation of sounds in the unanesthetized auditory cortex.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomás Hromádka

2008-01-01

Full Text Available How do neuronal populations in the auditory cortex represent acoustic stimuli? Although sound-evoked neural responses in the anesthetized auditory cortex are mainly transient, recent experiments in the unanesthetized preparation have emphasized subpopulations with other response properties. To quantify the relative contributions of these different subpopulations in the awake preparation, we have estimated the representation of sounds across the neuronal population using a representative ensemble of stimuli. We used cell-attached recording with a glass electrode, a method for which single-unit isolation does not depend on neuronal activity, to quantify the fraction of neurons engaged by acoustic stimuli (tones, frequency modulated sweeps, white-noise bursts, and natural stimuli in the primary auditory cortex of awake head-fixed rats. We find that the population response is sparse, with stimuli typically eliciting high firing rates (>20 spikes/second in less than 5% of neurons at any instant. Some neurons had very low spontaneous firing rates (<0.01 spikes/second. At the other extreme, some neurons had driven rates in excess of 50 spikes/second. Interestingly, the overall population response was well described by a lognormal distribution, rather than the exponential distribution that is often reported. Our results represent, to our knowledge, the first quantitative evidence for sparse representations of sounds in the unanesthetized auditory cortex. Our results are compatible with a model in which most neurons are silent much of the time, and in which representations are composed of small dynamic subsets of highly active neurons.

Turbine sound may influence the metamorphosis behaviour of estuarine crab megalopae.

Science.gov (United States)

Pine, Matthew K; Jeffs, Andrew G; Radford, Craig A

2012-01-01

It is now widely accepted that a shift towards renewable energy production is needed in order to avoid further anthropogenically induced climate change. The ocean provides a largely untapped source of renewable energy. As a result, harvesting electrical power from the wind and tides has sparked immense government and commercial interest but with relatively little detailed understanding of the potential environmental impacts. This study investigated how the sound emitted from an underwater tidal turbine and an offshore wind turbine would influence the settlement and metamorphosis of the pelagic larvae of estuarine brachyuran crabs which are ubiquitous in most coastal habitats. In a laboratory experiment the median time to metamorphosis (TTM) for the megalopae of the crabs Austrohelice crassa and Hemigrapsus crenulatus was significantly increased by at least 18 h when exposed to either tidal turbine or sea-based wind turbine sound, compared to silent control treatments. Contrastingly, when either species were subjected to natural habitat sound, observed median TTM decreased by approximately 21-31% compared to silent control treatments, 38-47% compared to tidal turbine sound treatments, and 46-60% compared to wind turbine sound treatments. A lack of difference in median TTM in A. crassa between two different source levels of tidal turbine sound suggests the frequency composition of turbine sound is more relevant in explaining such responses rather than sound intensity. These results show that estuarine mudflat sound mediates natural metamorphosis behaviour in two common species of estuarine crabs, and that exposure to continuous turbine sound interferes with this natural process. These results raise concerns about the potential ecological impacts of sound generated by renewable energy generation systems placed in the nearshore environment.

Turbine sound may influence the metamorphosis behaviour of estuarine crab megalopae.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew K Pine

Full Text Available It is now widely accepted that a shift towards renewable energy production is needed in order to avoid further anthropogenically induced climate change. The ocean provides a largely untapped source of renewable energy. As a result, harvesting electrical power from the wind and tides has sparked immense government and commercial interest but with relatively little detailed understanding of the potential environmental impacts. This study investigated how the sound emitted from an underwater tidal turbine and an offshore wind turbine would influence the settlement and metamorphosis of the pelagic larvae of estuarine brachyuran crabs which are ubiquitous in most coastal habitats. In a laboratory experiment the median time to metamorphosis (TTM for the megalopae of the crabs Austrohelice crassa and Hemigrapsus crenulatus was significantly increased by at least 18 h when exposed to either tidal turbine or sea-based wind turbine sound, compared to silent control treatments. Contrastingly, when either species were subjected to natural habitat sound, observed median TTM decreased by approximately 21-31% compared to silent control treatments, 38-47% compared to tidal turbine sound treatments, and 46-60% compared to wind turbine sound treatments. A lack of difference in median TTM in A. crassa between two different source levels of tidal turbine sound suggests the frequency composition of turbine sound is more relevant in explaining such responses rather than sound intensity. These results show that estuarine mudflat sound mediates natural metamorphosis behaviour in two common species of estuarine crabs, and that exposure to continuous turbine sound interferes with this natural process. These results raise concerns about the potential ecological impacts of sound generated by renewable energy generation systems placed in the nearshore environment.

Sound generator

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berkhoff, Arthur P.

2008-01-01

A sound generator, particularly a loudspeaker, configured to emit sound, comprising a rigid element (2) enclosing a plurality of air compartments (3), wherein the rigid element (2) has a back side (B) comprising apertures (4), and a front side (F) that is closed, wherein the generator is provided

Sound generator

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berkhoff, Arthur P.

2010-01-01

A sound generator, particularly a loudspeaker, configured to emit sound, comprising a rigid element (2) enclosing a plurality of air compartments (3), wherein the rigid element (2) has a back side (B) comprising apertures (4), and a front side (F) that is closed, wherein the generator is provided

Sound generator

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berkhoff, Arthur P.

2007-01-01

A sound generator, particularly a loudspeaker, configured to emit sound, comprising a rigid element (2) enclosing a plurality of air compartments (3), wherein the rigid element (2) has a back side (B) comprising apertures (4), and a front side (F) that is closed, wherein the generator is provided

Embedded class solutions compatible for physical compact stars in general relativity

Science.gov (United States)

Newton Singh, Ksh.; Pant, Neeraj; Tewari, Neeraj; Aria, Anil K.

2018-05-01

We have explored a family of new solutions satisfying Einstein's field equations and Karmarkar condition. We have assumed an anisotropic stress-tensor with no net electric charge. Interestingly, the new solutions yield zero values of all the physical quantities for all even integer n > 0. However, for all n >0 (n ≠ even numbers) they yield physically possible solutions. We have tuned the solution for neutron star Vela X-1 so that the solutions matches the observed mass and radius. For the same star we have extensively discussed the behavior of the solutions. The solutions yield a stiffer equation of state for larger values of n since the adiabatic index increases and speed of sound approaches the speed of light. It is also found that the solution is physically possible for Vela X-1 if 1.8 ≤ n < 7 (with n≠ 2,4,6). All the solutions for n ≥ 7 violates the causality condition and all the solutions with 0 < n < 1.8 lead to complex values of transverse sound speed vt. The range of well-behaved n depends on the mass and radius of compact stars.

NASA Space Sounds API

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — NASA has released a series of space sounds via sound cloud. We have abstracted away some of the hassle in accessing these sounds, so that developers can play with...

Active acoustic leak detection for LMFBR steam generator. Sound attenuation due to bubbles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumagai, Hiromichi; Sakuma, Toshio

1995-01-01

In the steam generators (SG) of LMFBR, it is necessary to detect the leakage of water from tubes of heat exchangers as soon as it occurs. The active acoustic detection method has drawn general interest owing to its short response time and reduction of the influence of background noise. In this paper, the application of the active acoustic detection method for SG is proposed, and sound attenuation by bubbles is investigated experimentally. Furthermore, using the SG sector model, sound field characteristics and sound attenuation characteristics due to injection of bubbles are studied. It is clarified that the sound attenuation depends upon bubble size as well as void fraction, that the distance attenuation of sound in the SG model containing heat transfer tubes is 6dB for each two-fold increase of distance, and that emitted sound attenuates immediately upon injection of bubbles. (author)

Reconstruction of the forehead acoustic properties in an Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis), with investigation on the responses of soft tissue sound velocity to temperature.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Zhongchang; Zhang, Yu; Berggren, Per; Wei, Chong

2017-02-01

Computed tomography (CT) imaging and ultrasound experimental measurements were combined to reconstruct the acoustic properties (density, velocity, and impedance) of the head from a deceased Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis). The authors extracted 42 soft forehead tissue samples to estimate the sound velocity and density properties at room temperature, 25.0  °C. Hounsfield Units (HUs) of the samples were read from CT scans. Linear relationships between the tissues' HUs and velocity, and HUs and density were revealed through regression analyses. The distributions of the head acoustic properties at axial, coronal, and sagittal cross sections were reconstructed, suggesting that the forehead soft tissues were characterized by low-velocity in the melon, high-velocity in the muscle and connective tissues. Further, the sound velocities of melon, muscle, and connective tissue pieces were measured under different temperatures to investigate tissues' velocity response to temperature. The results demonstrated nonlinear relationships between tissues' sound velocity and temperature. This study represents a first attempt to provide general information on acoustic properties of this species. The results could provide meaningful information for understanding the species' bioacoustic characteristics and for further investigation on sound beam formation of the dolphin.

Sound Insulation between Dwellings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Birgit

2011-01-01

Regulatory sound insulation requirements for dwellings exist in more than 30 countries in Europe. In some countries, requirements have existed since the 1950s. Findings from comparative studies show that sound insulation descriptors and requirements represent a high degree of diversity...... and initiate – where needed – improvement of sound insulation of new and existing dwellings in Europe to the benefit of the inhabitants and the society. A European COST Action TU0901 "Integrating and Harmonizing Sound Insulation Aspects in Sustainable Urban Housing Constructions", has been established and runs...... 2009-2013. The main objectives of TU0901 are to prepare proposals for harmonized sound insulation descriptors and for a European sound classification scheme with a number of quality classes for dwellings. Findings from the studies provide input for the discussions in COST TU0901. Data collected from 24...

What’s in a name? The effects of sound symbolism and package shape on consumer responses to food products

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fenko, Anna; Lotterman, Henriët; Galetzka, Mirjam

2016-01-01

In the global market, consumers are exposed to multiple brand names in unfamiliar languages. Even meaningless words can trigger certain semantic associations. This phenomenon is known as sound symbolism, i.e., the direct link between a sound and a meaning. Sound symbolism helps consumers to form

Nonlinear frequency compression: effects on sound quality ratings of speech and music.

Science.gov (United States)

Parsa, Vijay; Scollie, Susan; Glista, Danielle; Seelisch, Andreas

2013-03-01

Frequency lowering technologies offer an alternative amplification solution for severe to profound high frequency hearing losses. While frequency lowering technologies may improve audibility of high frequency sounds, the very nature of this processing can affect the perceived sound quality. This article reports the results from two studies that investigated the impact of a nonlinear frequency compression (NFC) algorithm on perceived sound quality. In the first study, the cutoff frequency and compression ratio parameters of the NFC algorithm were varied, and their effect on the speech quality was measured subjectively with 12 normal hearing adults, 12 normal hearing children, 13 hearing impaired adults, and 9 hearing impaired children. In the second study, 12 normal hearing and 8 hearing impaired adult listeners rated the quality of speech in quiet, speech in noise, and music after processing with a different set of NFC parameters. Results showed that the cutoff frequency parameter had more impact on sound quality ratings than the compression ratio, and that the hearing impaired adults were more tolerant to increased frequency compression than normal hearing adults. No statistically significant differences were found in the sound quality ratings of speech-in-noise and music stimuli processed through various NFC settings by hearing impaired listeners. These findings suggest that there may be an acceptable range of NFC settings for hearing impaired individuals where sound quality is not adversely affected. These results may assist an Audiologist in clinical NFC hearing aid fittings for achieving a balance between high frequency audibility and sound quality.

Remembering that big things sound big: Sound symbolism and associative memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Preziosi, Melissa A; Coane, Jennifer H

2017-01-01

According to sound symbolism theory, individual sounds or clusters of sounds can convey meaning. To examine the role of sound symbolic effects on processing and memory for nonwords, we developed a novel set of 100 nonwords to convey largeness (nonwords containing plosive consonants and back vowels) and smallness (nonwords containing fricative consonants and front vowels). In Experiments 1A and 1B, participants rated the size of the 100 nonwords and provided definitions to them as if they were products. Nonwords composed of fricative/front vowels were rated as smaller than those composed of plosive/back vowels. In Experiment 2, participants studied sound symbolic congruent and incongruent nonword and participant-generated definition pairings. Definitions paired with nonwords that matched the size and participant-generated meanings were recalled better than those that did not match. When the participant-generated definitions were re-paired with other nonwords, this mnemonic advantage was reduced, although still reliable. In a final free association study, the possibility that plosive/back vowel and fricative/front vowel nonwords elicit sound symbolic size effects due to mediation from word neighbors was ruled out. Together, these results suggest that definitions that are sound symbolically congruent with a nonword are more memorable than incongruent definition-nonword pairings. This work has implications for the creation of brand names and how to create brand names that not only convey desired product characteristics, but also are memorable for consumers.

An Antropologist of Sound

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Groth, Sanne Krogh

2015-01-01

PROFESSOR PORTRAIT: Sanne Krogh Groth met Holger Schulze, newly appointed professor in Musicology at the Department for Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen, to a talk about anthropology of sound, sound studies, musical canons and ideology.......PROFESSOR PORTRAIT: Sanne Krogh Groth met Holger Schulze, newly appointed professor in Musicology at the Department for Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen, to a talk about anthropology of sound, sound studies, musical canons and ideology....

Melodic multi-feature paradigm reveals auditory profiles in music-sound encoding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tervaniemi, Mari; Huotilainen, Minna; Brattico, Elvira

2014-01-01

Musical expertise modulates preattentive neural sound discrimination. However, this evidence up to great extent originates from paradigms using very simple stimulation. Here we use a novel melody paradigm (revealing the auditory profile for six sound parameters in parallel) to compare memory......-related mismatch negativity (MMN) and attention-related P3a responses recorded from non-musicians and Finnish Folk musicians. MMN emerged in both groups of participants for all sound changes (except for rhythmic changes in non-musicians). In Folk musicians, the MMN was enlarged for mistuned sounds when compared...... with non-musicians. This is taken to reflect their familiarity with pitch information which is in key position in Finnish folk music when compared with e.g., rhythmic information. The MMN was followed by P3a after timbre changes, rhythm changes, and melody transposition. The MMN and P3a topographies...

Management implications of broadband sound in modulating wild silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Vetter, Brooke J.; Calfee, Robin D.; Mensinger, Allen F.

2017-01-01

Invasive silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) dominate large regions of the Mississippi River drainage, outcompete native species, and are notorious for their prolific and unusual jumping behavior. High densities of juvenile and adult (~25 kg) carp are known to jump up to 3 m above the water surface in response to moving watercraft. Broadband sound recorded from an outboard motor (100 hp at 32 km/hr) can modulate their behavior in captivity; however, the response of wild silver carp to broadband sound has yet to be determined. In this experiment, broadband sound (0.06–10 kHz) elicited jumping behavior from silver carp in the Spoon River near Havana, IL independent of boat movement, indicating acoustic stimulus alone is sufficient to induce jumping. Furthermore, the number of jumping fish decreased with subsequent sound exposures. Understanding silver carp jumping is not only important from a behavioral standpoint, it is also critical to determine effective techniques for controlling this harmful species, such as herding fish into a net for removal.

Mapping symbols to sounds: electrophysiological correlates of the impaired reading process in dyslexia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreas eWidmann

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Dyslexic and control first grade school children were compared in a Symbol-to-Sound matching test based on a nonlinguistic audiovisual training which is known to have a remediating effect on dyslexia. Visual symbol patterns had to be matched with predicted sound patterns. Sounds incongruent with the corresponding visual symbol (thus not matching the prediction elicited the N2b and P3a event-related potential (ERP components relative to congruent sounds in control children. Their ERPs resembled the ERP effects previously reported for healthy adults with this paradigm. In dyslexic children, N2b onset latency was delayed and its amplitude significantly reduced over left hemisphere whereas P3a was absent. Moreover, N2b amplitudes significantly correlated with the reading skills. ERPs to sound changes in a control condition were unaffected. In addition, correctly predicted sounds, that is, sounds that are congruent with the visual symbol, elicited an early induced auditory gamma band response (GBR reflecting synchronization of brain activity in normal-reading children as previously observed in healthy adults. However, dyslexic children showed no GBR. This indicates that visual symbolic and auditory sensory information are not integrated into a unitary audiovisual object representation in them. Finally, incongruent sounds were followed by a later desynchronization of brain activity in the gamma band in both groups. This desynchronization was significantly larger in dyslexic children. Although both groups accomplished the task successfully remarkable group differences in brain responses suggest that normal-reading children and dyslexic children recruit (partly different brain mechanisms when solving the task. We propose that abnormal ERPs and GBRs in dyslexic readers indicate a deficit resulting in a widespread impairment in processing and integrating auditory and visual information and contributing to the reading impairment in dyslexia.

Airfoil gust response and the sound produced by airifoil-vortex interaction

Science.gov (United States)

Amiet, R. K.

1986-01-01

This paper contributes to the understanding of the noise generation process of an airfoil encountering an unsteady upwash. By using a fast Fourier transform together with accurate airfoil response functions, the lift-time waveform for an airfoil encountering a delta function gust (the indicial function) is calculated for a flat plate airfoil in a compressible flow. This shows the interesting property that the lift is constant until the generated acoustic wave reaches the trailing edge. Expressions are given for the magnitude of this constant and for the pressure distribution on the airfoil during this time interval. The case of an airfoil cutting through a line vortex is also analyzed. The pressure-time waveform in the far field is closely related to the left-time waveform for the above problem of an airfoil entering a delta function gust. The effects of varying the relevant parameters in the problem are studied, including the observed position, the core diameter of the vortex, the vortex orientation and the airfoil span. The far field sound varies significantly with observer position, illustrating the importance of non-compactness effects. Increasing the viscous core diameter tends to smooth the pressure-time waveform. For small viscous core radius and infinite span, changing the vortex orientation changes only the amplitude of the pressure-time waveform, and not the shape.

Turbine Sound May Influence the Metamorphosis Behaviour of Estuarine Crab Megalopae

Science.gov (United States)

Pine, Matthew K.; Jeffs, Andrew G.; Radford, Craig A.

2012-01-01

It is now widely accepted that a shift towards renewable energy production is needed in order to avoid further anthropogenically induced climate change. The ocean provides a largely untapped source of renewable energy. As a result, harvesting electrical power from the wind and tides has sparked immense government and commercial interest but with relatively little detailed understanding of the potential environmental impacts. This study investigated how the sound emitted from an underwater tidal turbine and an offshore wind turbine would influence the settlement and metamorphosis of the pelagic larvae of estuarine brachyuran crabs which are ubiquitous in most coastal habitats. In a laboratory experiment the median time to metamorphosis (TTM) for the megalopae of the crabs Austrohelice crassa and Hemigrapsus crenulatus was significantly increased by at least 18 h when exposed to either tidal turbine or sea-based wind turbine sound, compared to silent control treatments. Contrastingly, when either species were subjected to natural habitat sound, observed median TTM decreased by approximately 21–31% compared to silent control treatments, 38–47% compared to tidal turbine sound treatments, and 46–60% compared to wind turbine sound treatments. A lack of difference in median TTM in A. crassa between two different source levels of tidal turbine sound suggests the frequency composition of turbine sound is more relevant in explaining such responses rather than sound intensity. These results show that estuarine mudflat sound mediates natural metamorphosis behaviour in two common species of estuarine crabs, and that exposure to continuous turbine sound interferes with this natural process. These results raise concerns about the potential ecological impacts of sound generated by renewable energy generation systems placed in the nearshore environment. PMID:23240063

Sound specificity effects in spoken word recognition: The effect of integrality between words and sounds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Strori, Dorina; Zaar, Johannes; Cooke, Martin

2017-01-01

Recent evidence has shown that nonlinguistic sounds co-occurring with spoken words may be retained in memory and affect later retrieval of the words. This sound-specificity effect shares many characteristics with the classic voice-specificity effect. In this study, we argue that the sound......-specificity effect is conditional upon the context in which the word and sound coexist. Specifically, we argue that, besides co-occurrence, integrality between words and sounds is a crucial factor in the emergence of the effect. In two recognition-memory experiments, we compared the emergence of voice and sound...... from a mere co-occurrence context effect by removing the intensity modulation. The absence of integrality led to the disappearance of the sound-specificity effect. Taken together, the results suggest that the assimilation of background sounds into memory cannot be reduced to a simple context effect...

Active sound reduction system and method

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2016-01-01

The present invention refers to an active sound reduction system and method for attenuation of sound emitted by a primary sound source, especially for attenuation of snoring sounds emitted by a human being. This system comprises a primary sound source, at least one speaker as a secondary sound

Acoustic behavior of a fibrous bulk material. [Kevlar 29 sound absorber

Science.gov (United States)

Hersh, A. S.; Walker, B.

1979-01-01

A semiempirical model is presented describing the acoustic behavior of Kevlar 29, a bulk absorbing material. The model is based on an approximate solution to the one-dimensional equations representing conservation of fluctuating mass, momentum and energy. By treating the material as a momentum sink, theoretical expressions of the material complex propagation constants and characteristic impedance were derived in terms of a single constant. Evaluating the constant at a single frequency for a particular specimen, excellent agreement between prediction and measurement was achieved for a large range of sound frequencies and material porosities and thicknesses. Results show that Kevlar 29 absorbs sound efficiently even at low frequencies. This is explained in terms of a frequency dependent material phase speed.

Analysis of the Multiple-Solution Response of a Flexible Rotor Supported on Non-Linear Squeeze Film Dampers

Science.gov (United States)

ZHU, C. S.; ROBB, D. A.; EWINS, D. J.

2002-05-01

The multiple-solution response of rotors supported on squeeze film dampers is a typical non-linear phenomenon. The behaviour of the multiple-solution response in a flexible rotor supported on two identical squeeze film dampers with centralizing springs is studied by three methods: synchronous circular centred-orbit motion solution, numerical integration method and slow acceleration method using the assumption of a short bearing and cavitated oil film; the differences of computational results obtained by the three different methods are compared in this paper. It is shown that there are three basic forms for the multiple-solution response in the flexible rotor system supported on the squeeze film dampers, which are the resonant, isolated bifurcation and swallowtail bifurcation multiple solutions. In the multiple-solution speed regions, the rotor motion may be subsynchronous, super-subsynchronous, almost-periodic and even chaotic, besides synchronous circular centred, even if the gravity effect is not considered. The assumption of synchronous circular centred-orbit motion for the journal and rotor around the static deflection line can be used only in some special cases; the steady state numerical integration method is very useful, but time consuming. Using the slow acceleration method, not only can the multiple-solution speed regions be detected, but also the non-synchronous response regions.

3D modelling of the electromagnetic response of geophysical targets using the FDTD method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Debroux, P.S. [Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States). Mining and Geological Engineering Dept.

1996-05-01

A publicly available and maintained electromagnetic finite-difference time domain (FDTD) code has been applied to the forward modelling of the response of 1D, 2D and 3D geophysical targets to a vertical magnetic dipole excitation. The FDTD method is used to analyze target responses in the 1 MHz to 100 MHz range, where either conduction or displacement currents may have the controlling role. The response of the geophysical target to the excitation is presented as changes in the magnetic field ellipticity. The results of the FDTD code compare favorably with previously published integral equation solutions of the response of 1D targets, and FDTD models calculated with different finite-difference cell sizes are compared to find the effect of model discretization on the solution. The discretization errors, calculated as absolute error in ellipticity, are presented for the different ground geometry models considered, and are, for the most part, below 10% of the integral equation solutions. Finally, the FDTD code is used to calculate the magnetic ellipticity response of a 2D survey and a 3D sounding of complicated geophysical targets. The response of these 2D and 3D targets are too complicated to be verified with integral equation solutions, but show the proper low- and high-frequency responses.

Sound Symbolism in Basic Vocabulary

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Søren Wichmann

2010-04-01

Full Text Available The relationship between meanings of words and their sound shapes is to a large extent arbitrary, but it is well known that languages exhibit sound symbolism effects violating arbitrariness. Evidence for sound symbolism is typically anecdotal, however. Here we present a systematic approach. Using a selection of basic vocabulary in nearly one half of the world’s languages we find commonalities among sound shapes for words referring to same concepts. These are interpreted as due to sound symbolism. Studying the effects of sound symbolism cross-linguistically is of key importance for the understanding of language evolution.

In vivo breast sound-speed imaging with ultrasound tomography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huang, Lianjie [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Li, Cuiping [KARMANOS CANCER INSTITUTE; Duric, Neb [KARMANOS CANCER INSTITUTE; Littrup, Peter [KARMONOS CANCER INSTITUTE

2009-01-01

We discuss a bent-ray ultrasound tomography algorithm with total-variation (TV) regularization. We have applied this algorithm to 61 in vivo breast datasets collected with our in-house clinical prototype for imaging sound-speed distributions in the breast. Our analysis showed that TV regularization could preserve sharper lesion edges than the classic Tikhonov regularization. Furthermore, the image quality of our TV bent-ray sound-speed tomograms was superior to that of the straight-ray counterparts for all types of breasts within BI-RADS density categories 1-4. For all four breast types from fatty to dense, the improvements for average sharpness (in the unit of (m{center_dot} s) {sup -1}) of lesion edges in our TV bent-ray tomograms are between 2.1 to 3.4 fold compared to the straight ray tomograms. Reconstructed sound-speed tomograms illustrated that our algorithm could successfully image fatty and glandular tissues within the breast. We calculated the mean sound-speed values for fatty tissue and breast parenchyma as 1422 {+-} 9 mls (mean{+-} SD) and1487 {+-} 21 mls, respectively. Based on 32 lesions in a cohort of 61 patients, we also found that the mean sound-speed for malignant breast lesions (1548{+-}17 mls) was higher, on average, than that of benign ones (1513{+-}27 mls) (one-sided psound-speed tomograms can be used to assess breast density (, and therefore, breast cancer risk), as well as detect and help differentiate breast lesions. Finally, our sound-speed tomograms may also be a useful tool to monitor clinical response of breast cancer patients to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy.

Lack of physiological responses to hydrocarbon accumulation by Mytilus trossulus after 3-4 years chronic exposure to spilled Exxon Valdez crude oil in Prince William Sound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, R.E.; Brodersen, C.; Carls, M.G.; Babcock, M.; Rice, S.D.

1999-01-01

Mussels, Mytilus trossulus, were sampled in 1992 and 1993 from beaches in Prince William Sound that had been oiled by the Exxon Valdez spill of March, 1989. At some of the oiled beaches, mussels were collected from beds overlying oiled sediments, and from bedrock adjacent to these beds. Mussels were also collected from beaches within the Sound that had not been impacted by the spill. Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations in mussel tissue, physiological responses (byssal thread production, condition index, clearance rate, and glycogen content), were determined for each group of mussels. Total PAH concentrations in mussel tissue ranged from 0 to 6 μg g -1 , and were significantly greater in mussels from oiled beds than those from reference beds. No significant differences were noted in byssal thread production, condition index, clearance rate, or glycogen content between oiled sample sites and reference sites. The lack of physiological response was surprising because mussels in this study were chronically exposed to PAH for 3-4 years, and none of the physiological responses measured appeared to be affected by that exposure. The lack of a physiological response suggests that chronically exposed mussels may develop a physiological tolerance to PAH, but we recognize that these measures may not have been sensitive enough to discriminate response from background noise. (Copyright (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

Sounding the Alarm: An Introduction to Ecological Sound Art

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan Gilmurray

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In recent years, a number of sound artists have begun engaging with ecological issues through their work, forming a growing movement of ˝ecological sound art˝. This paper traces its development, examines its influences, and provides examples of the artists whose work is currently defining this important and timely new field.

Sound stream segregation: a neuromorphic approach to solve the "cocktail party problem" in real-time.

Science.gov (United States)

Thakur, Chetan Singh; Wang, Runchun M; Afshar, Saeed; Hamilton, Tara J; Tapson, Jonathan C; Shamma, Shihab A; van Schaik, André

2015-01-01

The human auditory system has the ability to segregate complex auditory scenes into a foreground component and a background, allowing us to listen to specific speech sounds from a mixture of sounds. Selective attention plays a crucial role in this process, colloquially known as the "cocktail party effect." It has not been possible to build a machine that can emulate this human ability in real-time. Here, we have developed a framework for the implementation of a neuromorphic sound segregation algorithm in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). This algorithm is based on the principles of temporal coherence and uses an attention signal to separate a target sound stream from background noise. Temporal coherence implies that auditory features belonging to the same sound source are coherently modulated and evoke highly correlated neural response patterns. The basis for this form of sound segregation is that responses from pairs of channels that are strongly positively correlated belong to the same stream, while channels that are uncorrelated or anti-correlated belong to different streams. In our framework, we have used a neuromorphic cochlea as a frontend sound analyser to extract spatial information of the sound input, which then passes through band pass filters that extract the sound envelope at various modulation rates. Further stages include feature extraction and mask generation, which is finally used to reconstruct the targeted sound. Using sample tonal and speech mixtures, we show that our FPGA architecture is able to segregate sound sources in real-time. The accuracy of segregation is indicated by the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the segregated stream (90, 77, and 55 dB for simple tone, complex tone, and speech, respectively) as compared to the SNR of the mixture waveform (0 dB). This system may be easily extended for the segregation of complex speech signals, and may thus find various applications in electronic devices such as for sound segregation and

Sound Stuff? Naïve materialism in middle-school students' conceptions of sound

Science.gov (United States)

Eshach, Haim; Schwartz, Judah L.

2006-06-01

Few studies have dealt with students’ preconceptions of sounds. The current research employs Reiner et al. (2000) substance schema to reveal new insights about students’ difficulties in understanding this fundamental topic. It aims not only to detect whether the substance schema is present in middle school students’ thinking, but also examines how students use the schema’s properties. It asks, moreover, whether the substance schema properties are used as islands of local consistency or whether one can identify more global coherent consistencies among the properties that the students use to explain the sound phenomena. In-depth standardized open-ended interviews were conducted with ten middle school students. Consistent with the substance schema, sound was perceived by our participants as being pushable, frictional, containable, or transitional. However, sound was also viewed as a substance different from the ordinary with respect to its stability, corpuscular nature, additive properties, and inertial characteristics. In other words, students’ conceptions of sound do not seem to fit Reiner et al.’s schema in all respects. Our results also indicate that students’ conceptualization of sound lack internal consistency. Analyzing our results with respect to local and global coherence, we found students’ conception of sound is close to diSessa’s “loosely connected, fragmented collection of ideas.” The notion that sound is perceived only as a “sort of a material,” we believe, requires some revision of the substance schema as it applies to sound. The article closes with a discussion concerning the implications of the results for instruction.

Sound symbolism: the role of word sound in meaning.

Science.gov (United States)

Svantesson, Jan-Olof

2017-09-01

The question whether there is a natural connection between sound and meaning or if they are related only by convention has been debated since antiquity. In linguistics, it is usually taken for granted that 'the linguistic sign is arbitrary,' and exceptions like onomatopoeia have been regarded as marginal phenomena. However, it is becoming more and more clear that motivated relations between sound and meaning are more common and important than has been thought. There is now a large and rapidly growing literature on subjects as ideophones (or expressives), words that describe how a speaker perceives a situation with the senses, and phonaesthemes, units like English gl-, which occur in many words that share a meaning component (in this case 'light': gleam, glitter, etc.). Furthermore, psychological experiments have shown that sound symbolism in one language can be understood by speakers of other languages, suggesting that some kinds of sound symbolism are universal. WIREs Cogn Sci 2017, 8:e1441. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1441 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Spatial avoidance to experimental increase of intermittent and continuous sound in two captive harbour porpoises.

Science.gov (United States)

Kok, Annebelle C M; Engelberts, J Pamela; Kastelein, Ronald A; Helder-Hoek, Lean; Van de Voorde, Shirley; Visser, Fleur; Slabbekoorn, Hans

2018-02-01

The continuing rise in underwater sound levels in the oceans leads to disturbance of marine life. It is thought that one of the main impacts of sound exposure is the alteration of foraging behaviour of marine species, for example by deterring animals from a prey location, or by distracting them while they are trying to catch prey. So far, only limited knowledge is available on both mechanisms in the same species. The harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) is a relatively small marine mammal that could quickly suffer fitness consequences from a reduction of foraging success. To investigate effects of anthropogenic sound on their foraging efficiency, we tested whether experimentally elevated sound levels would deter two captive harbour porpoises from a noisy pool into a quiet pool (Experiment 1) and reduce their prey-search performance, measured as prey-search time in the noisy pool (Experiment 2). Furthermore, we tested the influence of the temporal structure and amplitude of the sound on the avoidance response of both animals. Both individuals avoided the pool with elevated sound levels, but they did not show a change in search time for prey when trying to find a fish hidden in one of three cages. The combination of temporal structure and SPL caused variable patterns. When the sound was intermittent, increased SPL caused increased avoidance times. When the sound was continuous, avoidance was equal for all SPLs above a threshold of 100 dB re 1 μPa. Hence, we found no evidence for an effect of sound exposure on search efficiency, but sounds of different temporal patterns did cause spatial avoidance with distinct dose-response patterns. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sound-by-sound thalamic stimulation modulates midbrain auditory excitability and relative binaural sensitivity in frogs.

Science.gov (United States)

Ponnath, Abhilash; Farris, Hamilton E

2014-01-01

Descending circuitry can modulate auditory processing, biasing sensitivity to particular stimulus parameters and locations. Using awake in vivo single unit recordings, this study tested whether electrical stimulation of the thalamus modulates auditory excitability and relative binaural sensitivity in neurons of the amphibian midbrain. In addition, by using electrical stimuli that were either longer than the acoustic stimuli (i.e., seconds) or presented on a sound-by-sound basis (ms), experiments addressed whether the form of modulation depended on the temporal structure of the electrical stimulus. Following long duration electrical stimulation (3-10 s of 20 Hz square pulses), excitability (spikes/acoustic stimulus) to free-field noise stimuli decreased by 32%, but returned over 600 s. In contrast, sound-by-sound electrical stimulation using a single 2 ms duration electrical pulse 25 ms before each noise stimulus caused faster and varied forms of modulation: modulation lasted sound-by-sound electrical stimulation varied between different acoustic stimuli, including for different male calls, suggesting modulation is specific to certain stimulus attributes. For binaural units, modulation depended on the ear of input, as sound-by-sound electrical stimulation preceding dichotic acoustic stimulation caused asymmetric modulatory effects: sensitivity shifted for sounds at only one ear, or by different relative amounts for both ears. This caused a change in the relative difference in binaural sensitivity. Thus, sound-by-sound electrical stimulation revealed fast and ear-specific (i.e., lateralized) auditory modulation that is potentially suited to shifts in auditory attention during sound segregation in the auditory scene.

Sound specificity effects in spoken word recognition: The effect of integrality between words and sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Strori, Dorina; Zaar, Johannes; Cooke, Martin; Mattys, Sven L

2018-01-01

Recent evidence has shown that nonlinguistic sounds co-occurring with spoken words may be retained in memory and affect later retrieval of the words. This sound-specificity effect shares many characteristics with the classic voice-specificity effect. In this study, we argue that the sound-specificity effect is conditional upon the context in which the word and sound coexist. Specifically, we argue that, besides co-occurrence, integrality between words and sounds is a crucial factor in the emergence of the effect. In two recognition-memory experiments, we compared the emergence of voice and sound specificity effects. In Experiment 1 , we examined two conditions where integrality is high. Namely, the classic voice-specificity effect (Exp. 1a) was compared with a condition in which the intensity envelope of a background sound was modulated along the intensity envelope of the accompanying spoken word (Exp. 1b). Results revealed a robust voice-specificity effect and, critically, a comparable sound-specificity effect: A change in the paired sound from exposure to test led to a decrease in word-recognition performance. In the second experiment, we sought to disentangle the contribution of integrality from a mere co-occurrence context effect by removing the intensity modulation. The absence of integrality led to the disappearance of the sound-specificity effect. Taken together, the results suggest that the assimilation of background sounds into memory cannot be reduced to a simple context effect. Rather, it is conditioned by the extent to which words and sounds are perceived as integral as opposed to distinct auditory objects.

Analysis, Synthesis, and Perception of Musical Sounds The Sound of Music

CERN Document Server

Beauchamp, James W

2007-01-01

Analysis, Synthesis, and Perception of Musical Sounds contains a detailed treatment of basic methods for analysis and synthesis of musical sounds, including the phase vocoder method, the McAulay-Quatieri frequency-tracking method, the constant-Q transform, and methods for pitch tracking with several examples shown. Various aspects of musical sound spectra such as spectral envelope, spectral centroid, spectral flux, and spectral irregularity are defined and discussed. One chapter is devoted to the control and synthesis of spectral envelopes. Two advanced methods of analysis/synthesis are given: "Sines Plus Transients Plus Noise" and "Spectrotemporal Reassignment" are covered. Methods for timbre morphing are given. The last two chapters discuss the perception of musical sounds based on discrimination and multidimensional scaling timbre models.

Michael Jackson's Sound Stages

OpenAIRE

Morten Michelsen

2012-01-01

In order to discuss analytically spatial aspects of recorded sound William Moylan’s concept of ‘sound stage’ is developed within a musicological framework as part of a sound paradigm which includes timbre, texture and sound stage. Two Michael Jackson songs (‘The Lady in My Life’ from 1982 and ‘Scream’ from 1995) are used to: a) demonstrate the value of such a conceptualisation, and b) demonstrate that the model has its limits, as record producers in the 1990s began ignoring the conventions of...

Heart sounds analysis using probability assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Plesinger, F; Viscor, I; Halamek, J; Jurco, J; Jurak, P

2017-07-31

This paper describes a method for automated discrimination of heart sounds recordings according to the Physionet Challenge 2016. The goal was to decide if the recording refers to normal or abnormal heart sounds or if it is not possible to decide (i.e. 'unsure' recordings). Heart sounds S1 and S2 are detected using amplitude envelopes in the band 15-90 Hz. The averaged shape of the S1/S2 pair is computed from amplitude envelopes in five different bands (15-90 Hz; 55-150 Hz; 100-250 Hz; 200-450 Hz; 400-800 Hz). A total of 53 features are extracted from the data. The largest group of features is extracted from the statistical properties of the averaged shapes; other features are extracted from the symmetry of averaged shapes, and the last group of features is independent of S1 and S2 detection. Generated features are processed using logical rules and probability assessment, a prototype of a new machine-learning method. The method was trained using 3155 records and tested on 1277 hidden records. It resulted in a training score of 0.903 (sensitivity 0.869, specificity 0.937) and a testing score of 0.841 (sensitivity 0.770, specificity 0.913). The revised method led to a test score of 0.853 in the follow-up phase of the challenge. The presented solution achieved 7th place out of 48 competing entries in the Physionet Challenge 2016 (official phase). In addition, the PROBAfind software for probability assessment was introduced.

Linear theory of sound waves with evaporation and condensation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inaba, Masashi; Watanabe, Masao; Yano, Takeru

2012-01-01

An asymptotic analysis of a boundary-value problem of the Boltzmann equation for small Knudsen number is carried out for the case when an unsteady flow of polyatomic vapour induces reciprocal evaporation and condensation at the interface between the vapour and its liquid phase. The polyatomic version of the Boltzmann equation of the ellipsoidal statistical Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook (ES-BGK) model is used and the asymptotic expansions for small Knudsen numbers are applied on the assumptions that the Mach number is sufficiently small compared with the Knudsen number and the characteristic length scale divided by the characteristic time scale is comparable with the speed of sound in a reference state, as in the case of sound waves. In the leading order of approximation, we derive a set of the linearized Euler equations for the entire flow field and a set of the boundary-layer equations near the boundaries (the vapour–liquid interface and simple solid boundary). The boundary conditions for the Euler and boundary-layer equations are obtained at the same time when the solutions of the Knudsen layers on the boundaries are determined. The slip coefficients in the boundary conditions are evaluated for water vapour. A simple example of the standing sound wave in water vapour bounded by a liquid water film and an oscillating piston is demonstrated and the effect of evaporation and condensation on the sound wave is discussed. (paper)

Brain regions for sound processing and song release in a small grasshopper.

Science.gov (United States)

Balvantray Bhavsar, Mit; Stumpner, Andreas; Heinrich, Ralf

2017-05-01

We investigated brain regions - mostly neuropils - that process auditory information relevant for the initiation of response songs of female grasshoppers Chorthippus biguttulus during bidirectional intraspecific acoustic communication. Male-female acoustic duets in the species Ch. biguttulus require the perception of sounds, their recognition as a species- and gender-specific signal and the initiation of commands that activate thoracic pattern generating circuits to drive the sound-producing stridulatory movements of the hind legs. To study sensory-to-motor processing during acoustic communication we used multielectrodes that allowed simultaneous recordings of acoustically stimulated electrical activity from several ascending auditory interneurons or local brain neurons and subsequent electrical stimulation of the recording site. Auditory activity was detected in the lateral protocerebrum (where most of the described ascending auditory interneurons terminate), in the superior medial protocerebrum and in the central complex, that has previously been implicated in the control of sound production. Neural responses to behaviorally attractive sound stimuli showed no or only poor correlation with behavioral responses. Current injections into the lateral protocerebrum, the central complex and the deuto-/tritocerebrum (close to the cerebro-cervical fascicles), but not into the superior medial protocerebrum, elicited species-typical stridulation with high success rate. Latencies and numbers of phrases produced by electrical stimulation were different between these brain regions. Our results indicate three brain regions (likely neuropils) where auditory activity can be detected with two of these regions being potentially involved in song initiation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ABOUT SOUNDS IN VIDEO GAMES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Denikin Anton A.

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The article considers the aesthetical and practical possibilities for sounds (sound design in video games and interactive applications. Outlines the key features of the game sound, such as simulation, representativeness, interactivity, immersion, randomization, and audio-visuality. The author defines the basic terminology in study of game audio, as well as identifies significant aesthetic differences between film sounds and sounds in video game projects. It is an attempt to determine the techniques of art analysis for the approaches in study of video games including aesthetics of their sounds. The article offers a range of research methods, considering the video game scoring as a contemporary creative practice.

Instrument Identification in Polyphonic Music: Feature Weighting to Minimize Influence of Sound Overlaps

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goto Masataka

2007-01-01

Full Text Available We provide a new solution to the problem of feature variations caused by the overlapping of sounds in instrument identification in polyphonic music. When multiple instruments simultaneously play, partials (harmonic components of their sounds overlap and interfere, which makes the acoustic features different from those of monophonic sounds. To cope with this, we weight features based on how much they are affected by overlapping. First, we quantitatively evaluate the influence of overlapping on each feature as the ratio of the within-class variance to the between-class variance in the distribution of training data obtained from polyphonic sounds. Then, we generate feature axes using a weighted mixture that minimizes the influence via linear discriminant analysis. In addition, we improve instrument identification using musical context. Experimental results showed that the recognition rates using both feature weighting and musical context were 84.1 for duo, 77.6 for trio, and 72.3 for quartet; those without using either were 53.4, 49.6, and 46.5 , respectively.

Existence, Multiplicity, and Stability of Positive Solutions of a Predator-Prey Model with Dinosaur Functional Response

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaozhou Feng

2017-01-01

Full Text Available We investigate the property of positive solutions of a predator-prey model with Dinosaur functional response under Dirichlet boundary conditions. Firstly, using the comparison principle and fixed point index theory, the sufficient conditions and necessary conditions on coexistence of positive solutions of a predator-prey model with Dinosaur functional response are established. Secondly, by virtue of bifurcation theory, perturbation theory of eigenvalues, and the fixed point index theory, we establish the bifurcation of positive solutions of the model and obtain the stability and multiplicity of the positive solution under certain conditions. Furthermore, the local uniqueness result is studied when b and d are small enough. Finally, we investigate the multiplicity, uniqueness, and stability of positive solutions when k>0 is sufficiently large.

”Sound [signal] noise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjørnsten, Thomas

2012-01-01

The article discusses the intricate relationship between sound and signification through notions of noise. The emergence of new fields of sonic artistic practices has generated several questions of how to approach sound as aesthetic form and material. During the past decade an increased attention...... has been paid to, for instance, a category such as ‘sound art’ together with an equally strengthened interest in phenomena and concepts that fall outside the accepted aesthetic procedures and constructions of what we traditionally would term as musical sound – a recurring example being ‘noise’....

The French, German, and Spanish sound of eating fresh fruits and vegetables.

Science.gov (United States)

Arboleda, Ana M; Arce-Lopera, Carlos

2017-12-01

A set of onomatopoeic expressions for eating fruits and vegetables is compared across subjects whose native language is Spanish, French, or German. Subjects chose the onomatopoeia that best represented the sound of eating a fruit or vegetable (celery, banana, strawberry, passion fruit, mango, apple, orange, and tomato). Results show there are onomatopoeias that have a higher frequency of response in one language compared to the others. Thus, it is possible to assume that depending on the language there is a better way to express haptic and auditory information associated to fruit and vegetable consumption. Moreover, and considering the three languages, results show there are three categories of responses based on the relative strength of the material (strong and medium strength, and soft). Thus, there is some consistency in the onomatopoeias that represent the sound of eating a fruit or a vegetable. To conclude, results differ by language, but they are consistent within a category of sound. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Beneath sci-fi sound: primer, science fiction sound design, and American independent cinema

OpenAIRE

Johnston, Nessa

2012-01-01

Primer is a very low budget science-fiction film that deals with the subject of time travel; however, it looks and sounds quite distinctively different from other films associated with the genre. While Hollywood blockbuster sci-fi relies on “sound spectacle” as a key attraction, in contrast Primer sounds “lo-fi” and screen-centred, mixed to two channel stereo rather than the now industry-standard 5.1 surround sound. Although this is partly a consequence of the economics of its production, the...

Sound classification of dwellings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Birgit

2012-01-01

National schemes for sound classification of dwellings exist in more than ten countries in Europe, typically published as national standards. The schemes define quality classes reflecting different levels of acoustical comfort. Main criteria concern airborne and impact sound insulation between...... dwellings, facade sound insulation and installation noise. The schemes have been developed, implemented and revised gradually since the early 1990s. However, due to lack of coordination between countries, there are significant discrepancies, and new standards and revisions continue to increase the diversity...... is needed, and a European COST Action TU0901 "Integrating and Harmonizing Sound Insulation Aspects in Sustainable Urban Housing Constructions", has been established and runs 2009-2013, one of the main objectives being to prepare a proposal for a European sound classification scheme with a number of quality...

An asymptotic inversion method of inferring the sound velocity distribution in the sun from the spectrum of p-mode oscillations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sekii, Takashi; Shibahashi, Hiromoto

1989-01-01

We present an inversion method of inferring the sound velocity distribution in the Sun from its oscillation data of p-modes. The equation governing the p-mode oscillations is reduced to a form similar to the Schroedinger equation in quantum mechanics. By using a quantization rule based on the KWBJ asymptotic method, we derive an integral equation of which solution provides the 'acoustic potential' of the wave equation. The acoustic potential consists of two parts: One of them is related with the squared sound velocity and is dependent on the degree of the mode l, while the other term is independent of l and dominates in the outer part of the Sun. By examining the l-dependence of the acoustic potential obtained as the solution of the integral equation, we separate these two components of the potential and eventually obtain the sound velocity distribution from a set of eigenfrequencies of p-modes. In order to evaluate prospects of this inversion method, we perform numerical simulations in which eigenfrequencies of a theoretical solar model are used to reproduce the sound velocity distribution of the model. The error of thus inferred sound velocity relative to the true values is estimated to be less than a few percent. (author)

A neurally inspired musical instrument classification system based upon the sound onset.

Science.gov (United States)

Newton, Michael J; Smith, Leslie S

2012-06-01

Physiological evidence suggests that sound onset detection in the auditory system may be performed by specialized neurons as early as the cochlear nucleus. Psychoacoustic evidence shows that the sound onset can be important for the recognition of musical sounds. Here the sound onset is used in isolation to form tone descriptors for a musical instrument classification task. The task involves 2085 isolated musical tones from the McGill dataset across five instrument categories. A neurally inspired tone descriptor is created using a model of the auditory system's response to sound onset. A gammatone filterbank and spiking onset detectors, built from dynamic synapses and leaky integrate-and-fire neurons, create parallel spike trains that emphasize the sound onset. These are coded as a descriptor called the onset fingerprint. Classification uses a time-domain neural network, the echo state network. Reference strategies, based upon mel-frequency cepstral coefficients, evaluated either over the whole tone or only during the sound onset, provide context to the method. Classification success rates for the neurally-inspired method are around 75%. The cepstral methods perform between 73% and 76%. Further testing with tones from the Iowa MIS collection shows that the neurally inspired method is considerably more robust when tested with data from an unrelated dataset.

Vocal Imitations of Non-Vocal Sounds

Science.gov (United States)

Houix, Olivier; Voisin, Frédéric; Misdariis, Nicolas; Susini, Patrick

2016-01-01

Imitative behaviors are widespread in humans, in particular whenever two persons communicate and interact. Several tokens of spoken languages (onomatopoeias, ideophones, and phonesthemes) also display different degrees of iconicity between the sound of a word and what it refers to. Thus, it probably comes at no surprise that human speakers use a lot of imitative vocalizations and gestures when they communicate about sounds, as sounds are notably difficult to describe. What is more surprising is that vocal imitations of non-vocal everyday sounds (e.g. the sound of a car passing by) are in practice very effective: listeners identify sounds better with vocal imitations than with verbal descriptions, despite the fact that vocal imitations are inaccurate reproductions of a sound created by a particular mechanical system (e.g. a car driving by) through a different system (the voice apparatus). The present study investigated the semantic representations evoked by vocal imitations of sounds by experimentally quantifying how well listeners could match sounds to category labels. The experiment used three different types of sounds: recordings of easily identifiable sounds (sounds of human actions and manufactured products), human vocal imitations, and computational “auditory sketches” (created by algorithmic computations). The results show that performance with the best vocal imitations was similar to the best auditory sketches for most categories of sounds, and even to the referent sounds themselves in some cases. More detailed analyses showed that the acoustic distance between a vocal imitation and a referent sound is not sufficient to account for such performance. Analyses suggested that instead of trying to reproduce the referent sound as accurately as vocally possible, vocal imitations focus on a few important features, which depend on each particular sound category. These results offer perspectives for understanding how human listeners store and access long

Investigation of genesis of gallop sounds in dogs by quantitative phonocardiography and digital frequency analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Aubert, A E; Denys, B G; Meno, F; Reddy, P S

1985-05-01

Several investigators have noted external gallop sounds to be of higher amplitude than their corresponding internal sounds (S3 and S4). In this study we hoped to determine if S3 and S4 are transmitted in the same manner as S1. In 11 closed-chest dogs, external (apical) and left ventricular pressures and sounds were recorded simultaneously with transducers with identical sensitivity and frequency responses. Volume and pressure overload and positive and negative inotropic drugs were used to generate gallop sounds. Recordings were made in the control state and after the various interventions. S3 and S4 were recorded in 17 experiments each. The amplitude of the external S1 was uniformly higher than that of internal S1 and internal gallop sounds were inconspicuous. With use of Fourier transforms, the gain function was determined by comparing internal to external S1. By inverse transform, the amplitude of the internal gallop sounds was predicted from external sounds. The internal sounds of significant amplitude were predicted in many instances, but the actual recordings showed no conspicuous sounds. The absence of internal gallop sounds of expected amplitude as calculated from the external gallop sounds and the gain function derived from the comparison of internal and external S1 make it very unlikely that external gallop sounds are derived from internal sounds.

Sound Art Situations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krogh Groth, Sanne; Samson, Kristine

2017-01-01

and combine theories from several fields. Aspects of sound art studies, performance studies and contemporary art studies are presented in order to theoretically explore the very diverse dimensions of the two sound art pieces: Visual, auditory, performative, social, spatial and durational dimensions become......This article is an analysis of two sound art performances that took place June 2015 in outdoor public spaces in the social housing area Urbanplanen in Copenhagen, Denmark. The two performances were On the production of a poor acoustics by Brandon LaBelle and Green Interactive Biofeedback...... Environments (GIBE) by Jeremy Woodruff. In order to investigate the complex situation that arises when sound art is staged in such contexts, the authors of this article suggest exploring the events through approaching them as ‘situations’ (Doherty 2009). With this approach it becomes possible to engage...

Characteristic sounds facilitate visual search.

Science.gov (United States)

Iordanescu, Lucica; Guzman-Martinez, Emmanuel; Grabowecky, Marcia; Suzuki, Satoru

2008-06-01

In a natural environment, objects that we look for often make characteristic sounds. A hiding cat may meow, or the keys in the cluttered drawer may jingle when moved. Using a visual search paradigm, we demonstrated that characteristic sounds facilitated visual localization of objects, even when the sounds carried no location information. For example, finding a cat was faster when participants heard a meow sound. In contrast, sounds had no effect when participants searched for names rather than pictures of objects. For example, hearing "meow" did not facilitate localization of the word cat. These results suggest that characteristic sounds cross-modally enhance visual (rather than conceptual) processing of the corresponding objects. Our behavioral demonstration of object-based cross-modal enhancement complements the extensive literature on space-based cross-modal interactions. When looking for your keys next time, you might want to play jingling sounds.

Determining the speed of sound in the air by sound wave interference

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Abel A.

2017-07-01

Mechanical waves propagate through material media. Sound is an example of a mechanical wave. In fluids like air, sound waves propagate through successive longitudinal perturbations of compression and decompression. Audible sound frequencies for human ears range from 20 to 20 000 Hz. In this study, the speed of sound v in the air is determined using the identification of maxima of interference from two synchronous waves at frequency f. The values of v were correct to 0 °C. The experimental average value of {\\bar{ν }}\\exp =336 +/- 4 {{m}} {{{s}}}-1 was found. It is 1.5% larger than the reference value. The standard deviation of 4 m s-1 (1.2% of {\\bar{ν }}\\exp ) is an improved value by the use of the concept of the central limit theorem. The proposed procedure to determine the speed of sound in the air aims to be an academic activity for physics classes of scientific and technological courses in college.

Fluid Sounds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Explorations and analysis of soundscapes have, since Canadian R. Murray Schafer's work during the early 1970's, developed into various established research - and artistic disciplines. The interest in sonic environments is today present within a broad range of contemporary art projects and in arch......Explorations and analysis of soundscapes have, since Canadian R. Murray Schafer's work during the early 1970's, developed into various established research - and artistic disciplines. The interest in sonic environments is today present within a broad range of contemporary art projects...... and in architectural design. Aesthetics, psychoacoustics, perception, and cognition are all present in this expanding field embracing such categories as soundscape composition, sound art, sonic art, sound design, sound studies and auditory culture. Of greatest significance to the overall field is the investigation...

The influence of environmental sound training on the perception of spectrally degraded speech and environmental sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Shafiro, Valeriy; Sheft, Stanley; Gygi, Brian; Ho, Kim Thien N

2012-06-01

Perceptual training with spectrally degraded environmental sounds results in improved environmental sound identification, with benefits shown to extend to untrained speech perception as well. The present study extended those findings to examine longer-term training effects as well as effects of mere repeated exposure to sounds over time. Participants received two pretests (1 week apart) prior to a week-long environmental sound training regimen, which was followed by two posttest sessions, separated by another week without training. Spectrally degraded stimuli, processed with a four-channel vocoder, consisted of a 160-item environmental sound test, word and sentence tests, and a battery of basic auditory abilities and cognitive tests. Results indicated significant improvements in all speech and environmental sound scores between the initial pretest and the last posttest with performance increments following both exposure and training. For environmental sounds (the stimulus class that was trained), the magnitude of positive change that accompanied training was much greater than that due to exposure alone, with improvement for untrained sounds roughly comparable to the speech benefit from exposure. Additional tests of auditory and cognitive abilities showed that speech and environmental sound performance were differentially correlated with tests of spectral and temporal-fine-structure processing, whereas working memory and executive function were correlated with speech, but not environmental sound perception. These findings indicate generalizability of environmental sound training and provide a basis for implementing environmental sound training programs for cochlear implant (CI) patients.

Sound Surfing Network (SSN): Mobile Phone-based Sound Spatialization with Audience Collaboration

OpenAIRE

Park, Saebyul; Ban, Seonghoon; Hong, Dae Ryong; Yeo, Woon Seung

2013-01-01

SSN (Sound Surfing Network) is a performance system that provides a new musicalexperience by incorporating mobile phone-based spatial sound control tocollaborative music performance. SSN enables both the performer and theaudience to manipulate the spatial distribution of sound using the smartphonesof the audience as distributed speaker system. Proposing a new perspective tothe social aspect music appreciation, SSN will provide a new possibility tomobile music performances in the context of in...

Sound Exposure of Symphony Orchestra Musicians

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Jesper Hvass; Pedersen, Ellen Raben; Juhl, Peter Møller

2011-01-01

dBA and their left ear was exposed 4.6 dB more than the right ear. Percussionists were exposed to high sound peaks >115 dBC but less continuous sound exposure was observed in this group. Musicians were exposed up to LAeq8h of 92 dB and a majority of musicians were exposed to sound levels exceeding......Background: Assessment of sound exposure by noise dosimetry can be challenging especially when measuring the exposure of classical orchestra musicians where sound originate from many different instruments. A new measurement method of bilateral sound exposure of classical musicians was developed...... and used to characterize sound exposure of the left and right ear simultaneously in two different symphony orchestras.Objectives: To measure binaural sound exposure of professional classical musicians and to identify possible exposure risk factors of specific musicians.Methods: Sound exposure was measured...

Letter-Sound Reading: Teaching Preschool Children Print-to-Sound Processing

Science.gov (United States)

Wolf, Gail Marie

2016-01-01

This intervention study investigated the growth of letter sound reading and growth of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) word decoding abilities for a representative sample of 41 US children in preschool settings. Specifically, the study evaluated the effectiveness of a 3-step letter-sound teaching intervention in teaching preschool children to…

Calculation and reduction of the sound emissions of overhead power lines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Straumann, U.

2007-01-01

In this dissertation, Ulrich Straumann of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, discusses the reduction of sound emissions from overhead power lines. Corona-discharges occur during wet weather or when foggy or icing conditions prevail. Apart from these wide-band crackling noises, low-frequency, tonal emissions also occur. The CONOR (Corona Noise Reduction) project examined these emissions at a frequency of twice the mains frequency and looked for economically feasible solutions to the problems caused by them. The source of these emissions and the mechanisms causing them are discussed. Also, ways of calculating their strength are presented. The effects of varying cable geometry and construction are discussed, as are hydrophilic coatings that could be used to reduce sound emissions.

New numerical solutions of three-dimensional compressible hydrodynamic convection. [in stars

Science.gov (United States)

Hossain, Murshed; Mullan, D. J.

1990-01-01

Numerical solutions of three-dimensional compressible hydrodynamics (including sound waves) in a stratified medium with open boundaries are presented. Convergent/divergent points play a controlling role in the flows, which are dominated by a single frequency related to the mean sound crossing time. Superposed on these rapid compressive flows, slower eddy-like flows eventually create convective transport. The solutions contain small structures stacked on top of larger ones, with vertical scales equal to the local pressure scale heights, H sub p. Although convective transport starts later in the evolution, vertical scales of H sub p are apparently selected at much earlier times by nonlinear compressive effects.

The influence of ski helmets on sound perception and sound localisation on the ski slope

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lana Ružić

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate whether a ski helmet interferes with the sound localization and the time of sound perception in the frontal plane. Material and Methods: Twenty-three participants (age 30.7±10.2 were tested on the slope in 2 conditions, with and without wearing the ski helmet, by 6 different spatially distributed sound stimuli per each condition. Each of the subjects had to react when hearing the sound as soon as possible and to signalize the correct side of the sound arrival. Results: The results showed a significant difference in the ability to localize the specific ski sounds; 72.5±15.6% of correct answers without a helmet vs. 61.3±16.2% with a helmet (p < 0.01. However, the performance on this test did not depend on whether they were used to wearing a helmet (p = 0.89. In identifying the timing, at which the sound was firstly perceived, the results were also in favor of the subjects not wearing a helmet. The subjects reported hearing the ski sound clues at 73.4±5.56 m without a helmet vs. 60.29±6.34 m with a helmet (p < 0.001. In that case the results did depend on previously used helmets (p < 0.05, meaning that that regular usage of helmets might help to diminish the attenuation of the sound identification that occurs because of the helmets. Conclusions: Ski helmets might limit the ability of a skier to localize the direction of the sounds of danger and might interfere with the moment, in which the sound is firstly heard.

Sound stream segregation: a neuromorphic approach to solve the “cocktail party problem” in real-time

Science.gov (United States)

Thakur, Chetan Singh; Wang, Runchun M.; Afshar, Saeed; Hamilton, Tara J.; Tapson, Jonathan C.; Shamma, Shihab A.; van Schaik, André

2015-01-01

The human auditory system has the ability to segregate complex auditory scenes into a foreground component and a background, allowing us to listen to specific speech sounds from a mixture of sounds. Selective attention plays a crucial role in this process, colloquially known as the “cocktail party effect.” It has not been possible to build a machine that can emulate this human ability in real-time. Here, we have developed a framework for the implementation of a neuromorphic sound segregation algorithm in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). This algorithm is based on the principles of temporal coherence and uses an attention signal to separate a target sound stream from background noise. Temporal coherence implies that auditory features belonging to the same sound source are coherently modulated and evoke highly correlated neural response patterns. The basis for this form of sound segregation is that responses from pairs of channels that are strongly positively correlated belong to the same stream, while channels that are uncorrelated or anti-correlated belong to different streams. In our framework, we have used a neuromorphic cochlea as a frontend sound analyser to extract spatial information of the sound input, which then passes through band pass filters that extract the sound envelope at various modulation rates. Further stages include feature extraction and mask generation, which is finally used to reconstruct the targeted sound. Using sample tonal and speech mixtures, we show that our FPGA architecture is able to segregate sound sources in real-time. The accuracy of segregation is indicated by the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the segregated stream (90, 77, and 55 dB for simple tone, complex tone, and speech, respectively) as compared to the SNR of the mixture waveform (0 dB). This system may be easily extended for the segregation of complex speech signals, and may thus find various applications in electronic devices such as for sound segregation

Sound stream segregation: a neuromorphic approach to solve the ‘cocktail party problem’ in real-time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chetan Singh Thakur

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The human auditory system has the ability to segregate complex auditory scenes into a foreground component and a background, allowing us to listen to specific speech sounds from a mixture of sounds. Selective attention plays a crucial role in this process, colloquially known as the ‘cocktail party effect’. It has not been possible to build a machine that can emulate this human ability in real-time. Here, we have developed a framework for the implementation of a neuromorphic sound segregation algorithm in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA. This algorithm is based on the principles of temporal coherence and uses an attention signal to separate a target sound stream from background noise. Temporal coherence implies that auditory features belonging to the same sound source are coherently modulated and evoke highly correlated neural response patterns. The basis for this form of sound segregation is that responses from pairs of channels that are strongly positively correlated belong to the same stream, while channels that are uncorrelated or anti-correlated belong to different streams. In our framework, we have used a neuromorphic cochlea as a frontend sound analyser to extract spatial information of the sound input, which then passes through band pass filters that extract the sound envelope at various modulation rates. Further stages include feature extraction and mask generation, which is finally used to reconstruct the targeted sound. Using sample tonal and speech mixtures, we show that our FPGA architecture is able to segregate sound sources in real-time. The accuracy of segregation is indicated by the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR of the segregated stream (90, 77 and 55 dB for simple tone, complex tone and speech, respectively as compared to the SNR of the mixture waveform (0 dB. This system may be easily extended for the segregation of complex speech signals, and may thus find various applications in electronic devices such as for

77 FR 37318 - Eighth Coast Guard District Annual Safety Zones; Sound of Independence; Santa Rosa Sound; Fort...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-21

...-AA00 Eighth Coast Guard District Annual Safety Zones; Sound of Independence; Santa Rosa Sound; Fort... Coast Guard will enforce a Safety Zone for the Sound of Independence event in the Santa Rosa Sound, Fort... during the Sound of Independence. During the enforcement period, entry into, transiting or anchoring in...

Coupling of Rayleigh-like waves with zero-sound modes in normal 3He

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bogacz, S.A.; Ketterson, J.B.

1985-01-01

The Landau kinetic equation is solved in the collisionless regime for a sample of normal 3 He excited by a surface perturbation of arbitrary ω and k. The boundary condition for the nonequilibrium particle distribution is determined for the case of specular reflection of the elementary excitations at the interface. Using the above solution, the energy flux through the boundary is obtained as a function of the surface wave velocity ω/k. The absorption spectrum and its frequency derivative are calculated numerically for typical values of temperature and pressure. The spectrum displays a sharp, resonant-like maximum concentrated at the longitudinal sound velocity and a sharp maximum of the derivative concentrated at the transverse sound velocity. The energy transfer is cut off discontinuously below the Fermi velocity. An experimental measurement of the energy transfer spectrum would permit a determination of both zero-sound velocities and the Fermi velocity with spectroscopic precision

Material sound source localization through headphones

Science.gov (United States)

Dunai, Larisa; Peris-Fajarnes, Guillermo; Lengua, Ismael Lengua; Montaña, Ignacio Tortajada

2012-09-01

In the present paper a study of sound localization is carried out, considering two different sounds emitted from different hit materials (wood and bongo) as well as a Delta sound. The motivation of this research is to study how humans localize sounds coming from different materials, with the purpose of a future implementation of the acoustic sounds with better localization features in navigation aid systems or training audio-games suited for blind people. Wood and bongo sounds are recorded after hitting two objects made of these materials. Afterwards, they are analysed and processed. On the other hand, the Delta sound (click) is generated by using the Adobe Audition software, considering a frequency of 44.1 kHz. All sounds are analysed and convolved with previously measured non-individual Head-Related Transfer Functions both for an anechoic environment and for an environment with reverberation. The First Choice method is used in this experiment. Subjects are asked to localize the source position of the sound listened through the headphones, by using a graphic user interface. The analyses of the recorded data reveal that no significant differences are obtained either when considering the nature of the sounds (wood, bongo, Delta) or their environmental context (with or without reverberation). The localization accuracies for the anechoic sounds are: wood 90.19%, bongo 92.96% and Delta sound 89.59%, whereas for the sounds with reverberation the results are: wood 90.59%, bongo 92.63% and Delta sound 90.91%. According to these data, we can conclude that even when considering the reverberation effect, the localization accuracy does not significantly increase.

The response of soil solution chemistry in European forests to decreasing acid deposition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johnson, James; Pannatier, Elisabeth Graf; Carnicelli, Stefano

2018-01-01

to emissions controls. In this study, we assessed the response of soil solution chemistry in mineral horizons of European forests to these changes. Trends in pH, acid neutralizing capacity (ANC), major ions, total aluminium (Altot) and dissolved organic carbon were determined for the period 1995–2012. Plots...... with at least 10 years of observations from the ICP Forests monitoring network were used. Trends were assessed for the upper mineral soil (10–20 cm, 104 plots) and subsoil (40–80 cm, 162 plots). There was a large decrease in the concentration of sulphate () in soil solution; over a 10‐year period (2000...... over the entire dataset. The response of soil solution acidity was nonuniform. At 10–20 cm, ANC increased in acid‐sensitive soils (base saturation ≤10%) indicating a recovery, but ANC decreased in soils with base saturation >10%. At 40–80 cm, ANC remained unchanged in acid‐sensitive soils (base...

Waveform analysis of sound

CERN Document Server

Tohyama, Mikio

2015-01-01

What is this sound? What does that sound indicate? These are two questions frequently heard in daily conversation. Sound results from the vibrations of elastic media and in daily life provides informative signals of events happening in the surrounding environment. In interpreting auditory sensations, the human ear seems particularly good at extracting the signal signatures from sound waves. Although exploring auditory processing schemes may be beyond our capabilities, source signature analysis is a very attractive area in which signal-processing schemes can be developed using mathematical expressions. This book is inspired by such processing schemes and is oriented to signature analysis of waveforms. Most of the examples in the book are taken from data of sound and vibrations; however, the methods and theories are mostly formulated using mathematical expressions rather than by acoustical interpretation. This book might therefore be attractive and informative for scientists, engineers, researchers, and graduat...

Solution of Large Systems of Linear Equations with Quadratic or Non-Quadratic Matrices and Deconvoiution of Spectra

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nygaard, K

1967-12-15

The numerical deconvolution of spectra is equivalent to the solution of a (large) system of linear equations with a matrix which is not necessarily a square matrix. The demand that the square sum of the residual errors shall be minimum is not in general sufficient to ensure a unique or 'sound' solution. Therefore other demands which may include the demand for minimum square errors are introduced which lead to 'sound' and 'non-oscillatory' solutions irrespective of the shape of the original matrix and of the determinant of the matrix of the normal equations.

Sound Settlements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mortensen, Peder Duelund; Hornyanszky, Elisabeth Dalholm; Larsen, Jacob Norvig

2013-01-01

Præsentation af projektresultater fra Interreg forskningen Sound Settlements om udvikling af bæredygtighed i det almene boligbyggerier i København, Malmø, Helsingborg og Lund samt europæiske eksempler på best practice......Præsentation af projektresultater fra Interreg forskningen Sound Settlements om udvikling af bæredygtighed i det almene boligbyggerier i København, Malmø, Helsingborg og Lund samt europæiske eksempler på best practice...

The response matrix discrete ordinates solution to the 1D radiative transfer equation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ganapol, Barry D.

2015-01-01

The discrete ordinates method (DOM) of solution to the 1D radiative transfer equation has been an effective method of solution for nearly 70 years. During that time, the method has experienced numerous improvements as numerical and computational techniques have become more powerful and efficient. Here, we again consider the analytical solution to the discrete radiative transfer equation in a homogeneous medium by proposing a new, and consistent, form of solution that improves upon previous forms. Aided by a Wynn-epsilon convergence acceleration, its numerical evaluation can achieve extreme precision as demonstrated by comparison with published benchmarks. Finally, we readily extend the solution to a heterogeneous medium through the star product formulation producing a novel benchmark for closed form Henyey–Greenstein scattering as an example. - Highlights: • Presents a new solution to the RTE called the response matrix DOM (RM/DOM). • Solution representations avoid the instability common in exponential solutions. • Explicit form in terms of matrix hyperbolic functions. • Extreme accuracy through Wynn-epsilon acceleration checked by published benchmarks. • Provides a more transparent numerical evaluation than found previously

Sounds of silence: How to animate virtual worlds with sound

Science.gov (United States)

Astheimer, Peter

1993-01-01

Sounds are an integral and sometimes annoying part of our daily life. Virtual worlds which imitate natural environments gain a lot of authenticity from fast, high quality visualization combined with sound effects. Sounds help to increase the degree of immersion for human dwellers in imaginary worlds significantly. The virtual reality toolkit of IGD (Institute for Computer Graphics) features a broad range of standard visual and advanced real-time audio components which interpret an object-oriented definition of the scene. The virtual reality system 'Virtual Design' realized with the toolkit enables the designer of virtual worlds to create a true audiovisual environment. Several examples on video demonstrate the usage of the audio features in Virtual Design.

Linear models for sound from supersonic reacting mixing layers

Science.gov (United States)

Chary, P. Shivakanth; Samanta, Arnab

2016-12-01

We perform a linearized reduced-order modeling of the aeroacoustic sound sources in supersonic reacting mixing layers to explore their sensitivities to some of the flow parameters in radiating sound. Specifically, we investigate the role of outer modes as the effective flow compressibility is raised, when some of these are expected to dominate over the traditional Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) -type central mode. Although the outer modes are known to be of lesser importance in the near-field mixing, how these radiate to the far-field is uncertain, on which we focus. On keeping the flow compressibility fixed, the outer modes are realized via biasing the respective mean densities of the fast (oxidizer) or slow (fuel) side. Here the mean flows are laminar solutions of two-dimensional compressible boundary layers with an imposed composite (turbulent) spreading rate, which we show to significantly alter the growth of instability waves by saturating them earlier, similar to in nonlinear calculations, achieved here via solving the linear parabolized stability equations. As the flow parameters are varied, instability of the slow modes is shown to be more sensitive to heat release, potentially exceeding equivalent central modes, as these modes yield relatively compact sound sources with lesser spreading of the mixing layer, when compared to the corresponding fast modes. In contrast, the radiated sound seems to be relatively unaffected when the mixture equivalence ratio is varied, except for a lean mixture which is shown to yield a pronounced effect on the slow mode radiation by reducing its modal growth.

How Pleasant Sounds Promote and Annoying Sounds Impede Health: A Cognitive Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tjeerd C. Andringa

2013-04-01

Full Text Available This theoretical paper addresses the cognitive functions via which quiet and in general pleasurable sounds promote and annoying sounds impede health. The article comprises a literature analysis and an interpretation of how the bidirectional influence of appraising the environment and the feelings of the perceiver can be understood in terms of core affect and motivation. This conceptual basis allows the formulation of a detailed cognitive model describing how sonic content, related to indicators of safety and danger, either allows full freedom over mind-states or forces the activation of a vigilance function with associated arousal. The model leads to a number of detailed predictions that can be used to provide existing soundscape approaches with a solid cognitive science foundation that may lead to novel approaches to soundscape design. These will take into account that louder sounds typically contribute to distal situational awareness while subtle environmental sounds provide proximal situational awareness. The role of safety indicators, mediated by proximal situational awareness and subtle sounds, should become more important in future soundscape research.

Sound synthesis and evaluation of interactive footsteps and environmental sounds rendering for virtual reality applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Nordahl, Rolf; Turchet, Luca; Serafin, Stefania

2011-09-01

We propose a system that affords real-time sound synthesis of footsteps on different materials. The system is based on microphones, which detect real footstep sounds from subjects, from which the ground reaction force (GRF) is estimated. Such GRF is used to control a sound synthesis engine based on physical models. Two experiments were conducted. In the first experiment, the ability of subjects to recognize the surface they were exposed to was assessed. In the second experiment, the sound synthesis engine was enhanced with environmental sounds. Results show that, in some conditions, adding a soundscape significantly improves the recognition of the simulated environment.

Cognitive and Neural Determinants of Response Strategy in the Dual-Solution Plus-Maze Task

Science.gov (United States)

De Leonibus, Elvira; Costantini, Vivian J. A.; Massaro, Antonio; Mandolesi, Georgia; Vanni, Valentina; Luvisetto, Siro; Pavone, Flaminia; Oliverio, Alberto; Mele, Andrea

2011-01-01

Response strategy in the dual-solution plus maze is regarded as a form of stimulus-response learning. In this study, by using an outcome devaluation procedure, we show that it can be based on both action-outcome and stimulus-response habit learning, depending on the amount of training that the animals receive. Furthermore, we show that…

It sounds good!

CERN Multimedia

CERN Bulletin

2010-01-01

Both the atmosphere and we ourselves are hit by hundreds of particles every second and yet nobody has ever heard a sound coming from these processes. Like cosmic rays, particles interacting inside the detectors at the LHC do not make any noise…unless you've decided to use the ‘sonification’ technique, in which case you might even hear the Higgs boson sound like music. Screenshot of the first page of the "LHC sound" site. A group of particle physicists, composers, software developers and artists recently got involved in the ‘LHC sound’ project to make the particles at the LHC produce music. Yes…music! The ‘sonification’ technique converts data into sound. “In this way, if you implement the right software you can get really nice music out of the particle tracks”, says Lily Asquith, a member of the ATLAS collaboration and one of the initiators of the project. The ‘LHC...

Musical Sound, Instruments, and Equipment

Science.gov (United States)

Photinos, Panos

2017-12-01

'Musical Sound, Instruments, and Equipment' offers a basic understanding of sound, musical instruments and music equipment, geared towards a general audience and non-science majors. The book begins with an introduction of the fundamental properties of sound waves, and the perception of the characteristics of sound. The relation between intensity and loudness, and the relation between frequency and pitch are discussed. The basics of propagation of sound waves, and the interaction of sound waves with objects and structures of various sizes are introduced. Standing waves, harmonics and resonance are explained in simple terms, using graphics that provide a visual understanding. The development is focused on musical instruments and acoustics. The construction of musical scales and the frequency relations are reviewed and applied in the description of musical instruments. The frequency spectrum of selected instruments is explored using freely available sound analysis software. Sound amplification and sound recording, including analog and digital approaches, are discussed in two separate chapters. The book concludes with a chapter on acoustics, the physical factors that affect the quality of the music experience, and practical ways to improve the acoustics at home or small recording studios. A brief technical section is provided at the end of each chapter, where the interested reader can find the relevant physics and sample calculations. These quantitative sections can be skipped without affecting the comprehension of the basic material. Questions are provided to test the reader's understanding of the material. Answers are given in the appendix.

Long-term exposure to noise impairs cortical sound processing and attention control.

Science.gov (United States)

Kujala, Teija; Shtyrov, Yury; Winkler, Istvan; Saher, Marieke; Tervaniemi, Mari; Sallinen, Mikael; Teder-Sälejärvi, Wolfgang; Alho, Kimmo; Reinikainen, Kalevi; Näätänen, Risto

2004-11-01

Long-term exposure to noise impairs human health, causing pathological changes in the inner ear as well as other anatomical and physiological deficits. Numerous individuals are daily exposed to excessive noise. However, there is a lack of systematic research on the effects of noise on cortical function. Here we report data showing that long-term exposure to noise has a persistent effect on central auditory processing and leads to concurrent behavioral deficits. We found that speech-sound discrimination was impaired in noise-exposed individuals, as indicated by behavioral responses and the mismatch negativity brain response. Furthermore, irrelevant sounds increased the distractibility of the noise-exposed subjects, which was shown by increased interference in task performance and aberrant brain responses. These results demonstrate that long-term exposure to noise has long-lasting detrimental effects on central auditory processing and attention control.

OMNIDIRECTIONAL SOUND SOURCE

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

1996-01-01

A sound source comprising a loudspeaker (6) and a hollow coupler (4) with an open inlet which communicates with and is closed by the loudspeaker (6) and an open outlet, said coupler (4) comprising rigid walls which cannot respond to the sound pressures produced by the loudspeaker (6). According...

The velocity of sound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beyer, R.T.

1985-01-01

The paper reviews the work carried out on the velocity of sound in liquid alkali metals. The experimental methods to determine the velocity measurements are described. Tables are presented of reported data on the velocity of sound in lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium and caesium. A formula is given for alkali metals, in which the sound velocity is a function of shear viscosity, atomic mass and atomic volume. (U.K.)

Emergence of category-level sensitivities in non-native speech sound learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emily eMyers

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Over the course of development, speech sounds that are contrastive in one’s native language tend to become perceived categorically: that is, listeners are unaware of variation within phonetic categories while showing excellent sensitivity to speech sounds that span linguistically meaningful phonetic category boundaries. The end stage of this developmental process is that the perceptual systems that handle acoustic-phonetic information show special tuning to native language contrasts, and as such, category-level information appears to be present at even fairly low levels of the neural processing stream. Research on adults acquiring non-native speech categories offers an avenue for investigating the interplay of category-level information and perceptual sensitivities to these sounds as speech categories emerge. In particular, one can observe the neural changes that unfold as listeners learn not only to perceive acoustic distinctions that mark non-native speech sound contrasts, but also to map these distinctions onto category-level representations. An emergent literature on the neural basis of novel and non-native speech sound learning offers new insight into this question. In this review, I will examine this literature in order to answer two key questions. First, where in the neural pathway does sensitivity to category-level phonetic information first emerge over the trajectory of speech sound learning? Second, how do frontal and temporal brain areas work in concert over the course of non-native speech sound learning? Finally, in the context of this literature I will describe a model of speech sound learning in which rapidly-adapting access to categorical information in the frontal lobes modulates the sensitivity of stable, slowly-adapting responses in the temporal lobes.

Product sounds : Fundamentals and application

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ozcan-Vieira, E.

2008-01-01

Products are ubiquitous, so are the sounds emitted by products. Product sounds influence our reasoning, emotional state, purchase decisions, preference, and expectations regarding the product and the product's performance. Thus, auditory experience elicited by product sounds may not be just about

Suppression of sound radiation to far field of near-field acoustic communication system using evanescent sound field

Science.gov (United States)

Fujii, Ayaka; Wakatsuki, Naoto; Mizutani, Koichi

2016-01-01

A method of suppressing sound radiation to the far field of a near-field acoustic communication system using an evanescent sound field is proposed. The amplitude of the evanescent sound field generated from an infinite vibrating plate attenuates exponentially with increasing a distance from the surface of the vibrating plate. However, a discontinuity of the sound field exists at the edge of the finite vibrating plate in practice, which broadens the wavenumber spectrum. A sound wave radiates over the evanescent sound field because of broadening of the wavenumber spectrum. Therefore, we calculated the optimum distribution of the particle velocity on the vibrating plate to reduce the broadening of the wavenumber spectrum. We focused on a window function that is utilized in the field of signal analysis for reducing the broadening of the frequency spectrum. The optimization calculation is necessary for the design of window function suitable for suppressing sound radiation and securing a spatial area for data communication. In addition, a wide frequency bandwidth is required to increase the data transmission speed. Therefore, we investigated a suitable method for calculating the sound pressure level at the far field to confirm the variation of the distribution of sound pressure level determined on the basis of the window shape and frequency. The distribution of the sound pressure level at a finite distance was in good agreement with that obtained at an infinite far field under the condition generating the evanescent sound field. Consequently, the window function was optimized by the method used to calculate the distribution of the sound pressure level at an infinite far field using the wavenumber spectrum on the vibrating plate. According to the result of comparing the distributions of the sound pressure level in the cases with and without the window function, it was confirmed that the area whose sound pressure level was reduced from the maximum level to -50 dB was

Neural dynamics of learning sound-action associations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adam McNamara

Full Text Available A motor component is pre-requisite to any communicative act as one must inherently move to communicate. To learn to make a communicative act, the brain must be able to dynamically associate arbitrary percepts to the neural substrate underlying the pre-requisite motor activity. We aimed to investigate whether brain regions involved in complex gestures (ventral pre-motor cortex, Brodmann Area 44 were involved in mediating association between novel abstract auditory stimuli and novel gestural movements. In a functional resonance imaging (fMRI study we asked participants to learn associations between previously unrelated novel sounds and meaningless gestures inside the scanner. We use functional connectivity analysis to eliminate the often present confound of 'strategic covert naming' when dealing with BA44 and to rule out effects of non-specific reductions in signal. Brodmann Area 44, a region incorporating Broca's region showed strong, bilateral, negative correlation of BOLD (blood oxygen level dependent response with learning of sound-action associations during data acquisition. Left-inferior-parietal-lobule (l-IPL and bilateral loci in and around visual area V5, right-orbital-frontal-gyrus, right-hippocampus, left-para-hippocampus, right-head-of-caudate, right-insula and left-lingual-gyrus also showed decreases in BOLD response with learning. Concurrent with these decreases in BOLD response, an increasing connectivity between areas of the imaged network as well as the right-middle-frontal-gyrus with rising learning performance was revealed by a psychophysiological interaction (PPI analysis. The increasing connectivity therefore occurs within an increasingly energy efficient network as learning proceeds. Strongest learning related connectivity between regions was found when analysing BA44 and l-IPL seeds. The results clearly show that BA44 and l-IPL is dynamically involved in linking gesture and sound and therefore provides evidence that one of

33 CFR 334.410 - Albemarle Sound, Pamlico Sound, and adjacent waters, NC; danger zones for naval aircraft operations.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Albemarle Sound, Pamlico Sound... AND RESTRICTED AREA REGULATIONS § 334.410 Albemarle Sound, Pamlico Sound, and adjacent waters, NC; danger zones for naval aircraft operations. (a) Target areas—(1) North Landing River (Currituck Sound...

Active control of turbulent boundary layer sound transmission into a vehicle interior

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caiazzo, A; Alujević, N; Pluymers, B; Desmet, W

2016-01-01

In high speed automotive, aerospace, and railway transportation, the turbulent boundary layer (TBL) is one of the most important sources of interior noise. The stochastic pressure distribution associated with the turbulence is able to excite significantly structural vibration of vehicle exterior panels. They radiate sound into the vehicle through the interior panels. Therefore, the air flow noise becomes very influential when it comes to the noise vibration and harshness assessment of a vehicle, in particular at low frequencies. Normally, passive solutions, such as sound absorbing materials, are used for reducing the TBL-induced noise transmission into a vehicle interior, which generally improve the structure sound isolation performance. These can achieve excellent isolation performance at higher frequencies, but are unable to deal with the low-frequency interior noise components. In this paper, active control of TBL noise transmission through an acoustically coupled double panel system into a rectangular cavity is examined theoretically. The Corcos model of the TBL pressure distribution is used to model the disturbance. The disturbance is rejected by an active vibration isolation unit reacting between the exterior and the interior panels. Significant reductions of the low-frequency vibrations of the interior panel and the sound pressure in the cavity are observed. (paper)

Evaluating standard airborne sound insulation measures in terms of annoyance, loudness, and audibility ratings.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, H K; Bradley, J S

2009-07-01

This paper reports the results of an evaluation of the merits of standard airborne sound insulation measures with respect to subjective ratings of the annoyance and loudness of transmitted sounds. Subjects listened to speech and music sounds modified to represent transmission through 20 different walls with sound transmission class (STC) ratings from 34 to 58. A number of variations in the standard measures were also considered. These included variations in the 8-dB rule for the maximum allowed deficiency in the STC measure as well as variations in the standard 32-dB total allowed deficiency. Several spectrum adaptation terms were considered in combination with weighted sound reduction index (R(w)) values as well as modifications to the range of included frequencies in the standard rating contour. A STC measure without an 8-dB rule and an R(w) rating with a new spectrum adaptation term were better predictors of annoyance and loudness ratings of speech sounds. R(w) ratings with one of two modified C(tr) spectrum adaptation terms were better predictors of annoyance and loudness ratings of transmitted music sounds. Although some measures were much better predictors of responses to one type of sound than were the standard STC and R(w) values, no measure was remarkably improved for predicting annoyance and loudness ratings of both music and speech sounds.

Low frequency sound field control for loudspeakers in rectangular rooms using CABS (Controlled Acoustical Bass System)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Sofus Birkedal; Celestinos, Adrian

2010-01-01

Rectangular rooms are the most common shape for sound reproduction, but at low frequencies the reflections from the boundaries of the room cause large spatial variations in the sound pressure level.  Variations up to 30 dB are normal, not only at the room modes, but basically at all frequencies....... As sound propagates in time, it seems natural that the problems can best be analyzed and solved in the time domain. A time based room correction system named CABS (Controlled Acoustical Bass System) has been developed for sound reproduction in rectangular listening rooms. It can control the sound...... sound field in the whole room, and short impulse response.  In a standard listening room (180 m3) only 4 loudspeakers are needed, 2 more than a traditional stereo setup. CABS is controlled by a developed DSP system. The time based approached might help with the understanding of sound field control...

Sound propagation in narrow tubes including effects of viscothermal and turbulent damping with application to charge air coolers

Science.gov (United States)

Knutsson, Magnus; Åbom, Mats

2009-02-01

Charge air coolers (CACs) are used on turbocharged internal combustion engines to enhance the overall gas-exchange performance. The cooling of the charged air results in higher density and thus volumetric efficiency. It is also important for petrol engines that the knock margin increases with reduced charge air temperature. A property that is still not very well investigated is the sound transmission through a CAC. The losses, due to viscous and thermal boundary layers as well as turbulence, in the narrow cooling tubes result in frequency dependent attenuation of the transmitted sound that is significant and dependent on the flow conditions. Normally, the cross-sections of the cooling tubes are neither circular nor rectangular, which is why no analytical solution accounting for a superimposed mean flow exists. The cross-dimensions of the connecting tanks, located on each side of the cooling tubes, are large compared to the diameters of the inlet and outlet ducts. Three-dimensional effects will therefore be important at frequencies significantly lower than the cut-on frequencies of the inlet/outlet ducts. In this study the two-dimensional finite element solution scheme for sound propagation in narrow tubes, including the effect of viscous and thermal boundary layers, originally derived by Astley and Cummings [Wave propagation in catalytic converters: Formulation of the problem and finite element scheme, Journal of Sound and Vibration 188 (5) (1995) 635-657] is used to extract two-ports to represent the cooling tubes. The approximate solutions for sound propagation, accounting for viscothermal and turbulent boundary layers derived by Dokumaci [Sound transmission in narrow pipes with superimposed uniform mean flow and acoustic modelling of automobile catalytic converters, Journal of Sound and Vibration 182 (5) (1995) 799-808] and Howe [The damping of sound by wall turbulent shear layers, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 98 (3) (1995) 1723-1730], are

Sound Radiation from a Loudspeaker Cabinet using the Boundary Element Method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fernandez Grande, Efren

had been reported, based on subjective testing. This study aims to detect the reported problem. The radiation from the cabinet is calculated using the Boundary Element Method. The analysis examines both the frequency domain and the time domain characteristics (in other words, the steady state response......, in some cases becoming clearly audible. The aim of this study is to provide a tool that can evaluate the contribution from the cabinet to the overall sound radiated by a loudspeaker. The specific case of a B&O Beolab 9 early prototype has been investigated. An influence by the cabinet of this prototype...... and the impulse response) of the loudspeaker and the cabinet. A significant influence of the cabinet has been detected, which becomes especially apparent in the time domain, during the sound decay process....

Sounding out the logo shot

OpenAIRE

Nicolai Jørgensgaard Graakjær

2013-01-01

This article focuses on how sound in combination with visuals (i.e. ‘branding by’) may possibly affect the signifying potentials (i.e. ‘branding effect’) of products and corporate brands (i.e. ‘branding of’) during logo shots in television commercials (i.e. ‘branding through’). This particular focus adds both to the understanding of sound in television commercials and to the understanding of sound brands. The article firstly presents a typology of sounds. Secondly, this typology is applied...

Sound intensity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Crocker, Malcolm J.; Jacobsen, Finn

1998-01-01

This chapter is an overview, intended for readers with no special knowledge about this particular topic. The chapter deals with all aspects of sound intensity and its measurement from the fundamental theoretical background to practical applications of the measurement technique.......This chapter is an overview, intended for readers with no special knowledge about this particular topic. The chapter deals with all aspects of sound intensity and its measurement from the fundamental theoretical background to practical applications of the measurement technique....

Sound Intensity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Crocker, M.J.; Jacobsen, Finn

1997-01-01

This chapter is an overview, intended for readers with no special knowledge about this particular topic. The chapter deals with all aspects of sound intensity and its measurement from the fundamental theoretical background to practical applications of the measurement technique.......This chapter is an overview, intended for readers with no special knowledge about this particular topic. The chapter deals with all aspects of sound intensity and its measurement from the fundamental theoretical background to practical applications of the measurement technique....

SoleSound

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zanotto, Damiano; Turchet, Luca; Boggs, Emily Marie

2014-01-01

This paper introduces the design of SoleSound, a wearable system designed to deliver ecological, audio-tactile, underfoot feedback. The device, which primarily targets clinical applications, uses an audio-tactile footstep synthesis engine informed by the readings of pressure and inertial sensors...... embedded in the footwear to integrate enhanced feedback modalities into the authors' previously developed instrumented footwear. The synthesis models currently implemented in the SoleSound simulate different ground surface interactions. Unlike similar devices, the system presented here is fully portable...

Sound engineering for diesel engines; Sound Engineering an Dieselmotoren

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Enderich, A.; Fischer, R. [MAHLE Filtersysteme GmbH, Stuttgart (Germany)

2006-07-01

The strong acceptance for vehicles powered by turbo-charged diesel engines encourages several manufacturers to think about sportive diesel concepts. The approach of suppressing unpleasant noise by the application of distinctive insulation steps is not adequate to satisfy sportive needs. The acoustics cannot follow the engine's performance. This report documents, that it is possible to give diesel-powered vehicles a sportive sound characteristic by using an advanced MAHLE motor-sound-system with a pressure-resistant membrane and an integrated load controlled flap. With this the specific acoustic disadvantages of the diesel engine, like the ''diesel knock'' or a rough engine running can be masked. However, by the application of a motor-sound-system you must not negate the original character of the diesel engine concept, but accentuate its strong torque characteristic in the middle engine speed range. (orig.)

Sonic mediations: body, sound, technology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Birdsall, C.; Enns, A.

2008-01-01

Sonic Mediations: Body, Sound, Technology is a collection of original essays that represents an invaluable contribution to the burgeoning field of sound studies. While sound is often posited as having a bridging function, as a passive in-between, this volume invites readers to rethink the concept of

System for actively reducing sound

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berkhoff, Arthur P.

2005-01-01

A system for actively reducing sound from a primary noise source, such as traffic noise, comprising: a loudspeaker connector for connecting to at least one loudspeaker for generating anti-sound for reducing said noisy sound; a microphone connector for connecting to at least a first microphone placed

Method of synthesizing silica nanofibers using sound waves

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Jaswinder K.; Datskos, Panos G.

2015-09-15

A method for synthesizing silica nanofibers using sound waves is provided. The method includes providing a solution of polyvinyl pyrrolidone, adding sodium citrate and ammonium hydroxide to form a first mixture, adding a silica-based compound to the solution to form a second mixture, and sonicating the second mixture to synthesize a plurality of silica nanofibers having an average cross-sectional diameter of less than 70 nm and having a length on the order of at least several hundred microns. The method can be performed without heating or electrospinning, and instead includes less energy intensive strategies that can be scaled up to an industrial scale. The resulting nanofibers can achieve a decreased mean diameter over conventional fibers. The decreased diameter generally increases the tensile strength of the silica nanofibers, as defects and contaminations decrease with the decreasing diameter.

Concentration Fluctuations and Capacitive Response in Dense Ionic Solutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Uralcan, Betul; Aksay, Ilhan A; Debenedetti, Pablo G; Limmer, David T

2016-07-07

We use molecular dynamics simulations in a constant potential ensemble to study the effects of solution composition on the electrochemical response of a double layer capacitor. We find that the capacitance first increases with ion concentration following its expected ideal solution behavior but decreases upon approaching a pure ionic liquid in agreement with recent experimental observations. The nonmonotonic behavior of the capacitance as a function of ion concentration results from the competition between the independent motion of solvated ions in the dilute regime and solvation fluctuations in the concentrated regime. Mirroring the capacitance, we find that the characteristic decay length of charge density correlations away from the electrode is also nonmonotonic. The correlation length first decreases with ion concentration as a result of better electrostatic screening but increases with ion concentration as a result of enhanced steric interactions. When charge fluctuations induced by correlated ion-solvent fluctuations are large relative to those induced by the pure ionic liquid, such capacitive behavior is expected to be generic.

Experimental low-frequency sound equalization in an extended region of an enclosure using adaptive filters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Orozco-Santillán, Arturo

1998-01-01

An experimental investigation of sound equalization in an extended region inside an enclosure is presented. DSP and the multiple LMS algorithm is used to obtain the optimal solution. Equalization at single frequencies in the stationary state is studied. Also analyzed is the equalization of band...

Properties of gases, liquids, and solutions principles and methods

CERN Document Server

Mason, Warren P

2013-01-01

Physical Acoustics: Principles and Methods, Volume ll-Part A: Properties of Gases, Liquids, and Solutions ponders on high frequency sound waves in gases, liquids, and solids that have been proven as effective tools in examining the molecular, domain wall, and other types of motions. The selection first offers information on the transmission of sound waves in gases at very low pressures and the phenomenological theory of the relaxation phenomena in gases. Topics include free molecule propagation, phenomenological thermodynamics of irreversible processes, and simultaneous multiple relaxation pro

Measuring the 'complexity'of sound

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Sounds in the natural environment form an important class of biologically relevant nonstationary signals. We propose a dynamic spectral measure to characterize the spectral dynamics of such non-stationary sound signals and classify them based on rate of change of spectral dynamics. We categorize sounds with slowly ...

Controlling sound with acoustic metamaterials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cummer, Steven A. ; Christensen, Johan; Alù, Andrea

2016-01-01

Acoustic metamaterials can manipulate and control sound waves in ways that are not possible in conventional materials. Metamaterials with zero, or even negative, refractive index for sound offer new possibilities for acoustic imaging and for the control of sound at subwavelength scales....... The combination of transformation acoustics theory and highly anisotropic acoustic metamaterials enables precise control over the deformation of sound fields, which can be used, for example, to hide or cloak objects from incident acoustic energy. Active acoustic metamaterials use external control to create......-scale metamaterial structures and converting laboratory experiments into useful devices. In this Review, we outline the designs and properties of materials with unusual acoustic parameters (for example, negative refractive index), discuss examples of extreme manipulation of sound and, finally, provide an overview...

The English ( and ( Vowel Sounds as Fossilized Pronunciation Errors for the Turkish Teachers of English and Solutions to the Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehmet DEMİREZEN

2006-10-01

Full Text Available The Fossilized pronunciation errors constitute a great problem in the mastery of L2in second or foreign language learning and teaching (Odlin 1989; Demirezen, 2003;Demirezen, 2004; Johnson, 2001. One of such errors, which is committed by a greatmajority of Turkish teachers of English and student teachers, is the acquisition of ƒËƒÁƒÍ andƒËƒµƒÍ vowel sounds of the English language. There has been no specific material or lessonplan encountered so far in the literature to rehabilitate the pronunciation difficulty, createdby ƒËƒÁƒÍ and ƒËƒµƒÍ vowel sounds of the English language. Therefore, this article aims toprovide pronunciation teaching material and a sample lesson on two difficult sounds forTurks, like ƒËƒÁƒÍ and ƒËƒµƒÍ, to the Turkish teachers-on-the-job and student teachers ofEnglish.

Sound intensity as a function of sound insulation partition

OpenAIRE

Cvetkovic , S.; Prascevic , R.

1994-01-01

In the modern engineering practice, the sound insulation of the partitions is the synthesis of the theory and of the experience acquired in the procedure of the field and of the laboratory measurement. The science and research public treat the sound insulation in the context of the emission and propagation of the acoustic energy in the media with the different acoustics impedance. In this paper, starting from the essence of physical concept of the intensity as the energy vector, the authors g...

Hydraulic transmissivity determination for the groundwater exploration using vertical electric sounding method in comparison to the traditional methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arshad, M.; Shakoor, A.; Ahmad, M.

2013-01-01

An important aquifer characteristic, transmissivity significantly contributes to the development of local and regional groundwater resources and solute transport management. Estimation of this property allows quantitative prediction of the hydraulic response and solute transport of the aquifer to recharge and pumping. This study presents the three techniques, used to compare transmissivity determination by Vertical Electric Sounding (VES) over the traditional techniques. The validation of VES was compared with the old widely used methods such as grain size distribution and pumping test techniques. Grain size distribution analysis was carried out to determine transmissivity. Pumping test was performed to determine transmissivity using the type curves solution for unconfined aquifer and taking into account the delayed yield. In resistivity imaging survey, the soil layers were detected through interpretation of resistivity data. Formation factor for each layer was determined with the relation of aquifer soil resistivity and ground water resistivity. The estimated transmissivities though grain size distribution, pumping test and resistivity survey were 0.588, 0.578 and 0.756m/sup 2//min, respectively. The results emphasized the potential of the resistivity survey for aquifer transmissivity determination. (author)

A single episode of high intensity sound inhibits long-term potentiation in the hippocampus of rats.

Science.gov (United States)

de Deus, J L; Cunha, A O S; Terzian, A L; Resstel, L B; Elias, L L K; Antunes-Rodrigues, J; Almeida, S S; Leão, R M

2017-10-26

Exposure to loud sounds has become increasingly common. The most common consequences of loud sound exposure are deafness and tinnitus, but emotional and cognitive problems are also associated with loud sound exposure. Loud sounds can activate the hipothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis resulting in the secretion of corticosterone, which affects hippocampal synaptic plasticity. Previously we have shown that long-term exposure to short episodes of high intensity sound inhibited hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) without affecting spatial learning and memory. Here we aimed to study the impact of short term loud sound exposure on hippocampal synaptic plasticity and function. We found that a single minute of 110 dB sound inhibits hippocampal Schaffer-CA1 LTP for 24 hours. This effect did not occur with an 80-dB sound exposure, was not correlated with corticosterone secretion and was also observed in the perforant-dentate gyrus synapse. We found that despite the deficit in the LTP these animals presented normal spatial learning and memory and fear conditioning. We conclude that a single episode of high-intensity sound impairs hippocampal LTP, without impairing memory and learning. Our results show that the hippocampus is very responsive to loud sounds which can have a potential, but not yet identified, impact on its function.

Characterization of sound emitted by wind machines used for frost control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gambino, V.; Gambino, T. [Aercoustics Engineering Ltd., Toronto, ON (Canada); Fraser, H.W. [Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Vineland, ON (Canada)

2007-07-01

Wind machines are used in Niagara-on-the-Lake to protect cold-sensitive crops against cold injury during winter's extreme cold temperatures,spring's late frosts and autumn's early frosts. The number of wind machines in Ontario has about doubled annually from only a few in the late 1990's, to more than 425 in 2006. They are not used for generating power. Noise complaints have multiplied as the number of wind machines has increased. The objective of this study was to characterize the sound produced by wind machines; learn why residents are annoyed by wind machine noise; and suggest ways to possibly reduce sound emissions. One part of the study explored acoustic emission characteristics, the sonic differences of units made by different manufacturers, sound propagation properties under typical use atmospheric conditions and low frequency noise impact potential. Tests were conducted with a calibrated Larson Davis 2900B portable spectrum analyzer. Sound was measured with a microphone whose frequency response covered the range 4 Hz to 20 kHz. The study examined and found several unique acoustic properties that are characteristic of wind machines. It was determined that noise from wind machines is due to both aerodynamic and mechanical effects, but aerodynamic sounds were found to be the most significant. It was concluded that full range or broadband sounds manifest themselves as noise components that extend throughout the audible frequency range from the bladepass frequency to upwards of 1000 Hz. The sound spectrum of a wind machine is full natural tones and impulses that give it a readily identifiable acoustic character. Atmospheric conditions including temperature, lapse rate, relative humidity, mild winds, gradients and atmospheric turbulence all play a significant role in the long range outdoor propagation of sound from wind machines. 6 refs., 6 figs.

Heart Sound Localization and Reduction in Tracheal Sounds by Gabor Time-Frequency Masking

OpenAIRE

SAATCI, Esra; Akan, Aydın

2018-01-01

Background and aim: Respiratorysounds, i.e. tracheal and lung sounds, have been of great interest due to theirdiagnostic values as well as the potential of their use in the estimation ofthe respiratory dynamics (mainly airflow). Thus the aim of the study is topresent a new method to filter the heart sound interference from the trachealsounds. Materials and methods: Trachealsounds and airflow signals were collected by using an accelerometer from 10 healthysubjects. Tracheal sounds were then pr...

An analytical solution to assess the SH seismoelectric response of the vadose zone

Science.gov (United States)

Monachesi, L. B.; Zyserman, F. I.; Jouniaux, L.

2018-03-01

We derive an analytical solution of the seismoelectric conversions generated in the vadose zone, when this region is crossed by a pure shear horizontal (SH) wave. Seismoelectric conversions are induced by electrokinetic effects linked to relative motions between fluid and porous media. The considered model assumes a one-dimensional soil constituted by a single layer on top of a half space in contact at the water table, and a shearing force located at the earth's surface as the wave source. The water table is an interface expected to induce a seismoelectric interfacial response (IR). The top layer represents a porous rock which porous space is partially saturated by water and air, while the half-space is completely saturated with water, representing the saturated zone. The analytical expressions for the coseismic fields and the interface responses, both electric and magnetic, are derived by solving Pride's equations with proper boundary conditions. An approximate analytical expression of the solution is also obtained, which is very simple and applicable in a fairly broad set of situations. Hypothetical scenarios are proposed to study and analyse the dependence of the electromagnetic fields on various parameters of the medium. An analysis of the approximate solution is also made together with a comparison to the exact solution. The main result of the present analysis is that the amplitude of the interface response generated at the water table is found to be proportional to the jump in the electric current density, which in turn depends on the saturation contrast, poro-mechanical and electrical properties of the medium and on the amplitude of the solid displacement produced by the source. This result is in agreement with the one numerically obtained by the authors, which has been published in a recent work. We also predict the existence of an interface response located at the surface, and that the electric interface response is several orders of magnitude bigger than

An analytical solution to assess the SH seismoelectric response of the vadose zone

Science.gov (United States)

Monachesi, L. B.; Zyserman, F. I.; Jouniaux, L.

2018-06-01

We derive an analytical solution of the seismoelectric conversions generated in the vadose zone, when this region is crossed by a pure shear horizontal (SH) wave. Seismoelectric conversions are induced by electrokinetic effects linked to relative motions between fluid and porous media. The considered model assumes a 1D soil constituted by a single layer on top of a half-space in contact at the water table, and a shearing force located at the earth's surface as the wave source. The water table is an interface expected to induce a seismoelectric interfacial response (IR). The top layer represents a porous rock in which porous space is partially saturated by water and air, while the half-space is completely saturated with water, representing the saturated zone. The analytical expressions for the coseismic fields and the interface responses, both electric and magnetic, are derived by solving Pride's equations with proper boundary conditions. An approximate analytical expression of the solution is also obtained, which is very simple and applicable in a fairly broad set of situations. Hypothetical scenarios are proposed to study and analyse the dependence of the electromagnetic fields on various parameters of the medium. An analysis of the approximate solution is also made together with a comparison to the exact solution. The main result of the present analysis is that the amplitude of the interface response generated at the water table is found to be proportional to the jump in the electric current density, which in turn depends on the saturation contrast, poro-mechanical and electrical properties of the medium and on the amplitude of the solid displacement produced by the source. This result is in agreement with the one numerically obtained by the authors, which has been published in a recent work. We also predict the existence of an interface response located at the surface, and that the electric interface response is several orders of magnitude bigger than the

Interactive physically-based sound simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Raghuvanshi, Nikunj

The realization of interactive, immersive virtual worlds requires the ability to present a realistic audio experience that convincingly compliments their visual rendering. Physical simulation is a natural way to achieve such realism, enabling deeply immersive virtual worlds. However, physically-based sound simulation is very computationally expensive owing to the high-frequency, transient oscillations underlying audible sounds. The increasing computational power of desktop computers has served to reduce the gap between required and available computation, and it has become possible to bridge this gap further by using a combination of algorithmic improvements that exploit the physical, as well as perceptual properties of audible sounds. My thesis is a step in this direction. My dissertation concentrates on developing real-time techniques for both sub-problems of sound simulation: synthesis and propagation. Sound synthesis is concerned with generating the sounds produced by objects due to elastic surface vibrations upon interaction with the environment, such as collisions. I present novel techniques that exploit human auditory perception to simulate scenes with hundreds of sounding objects undergoing impact and rolling in real time. Sound propagation is the complementary problem of modeling the high-order scattering and diffraction of sound in an environment as it travels from source to listener. I discuss my work on a novel numerical acoustic simulator (ARD) that is hundred times faster and consumes ten times less memory than a high-accuracy finite-difference technique, allowing acoustic simulations on previously-intractable spaces, such as a cathedral, on a desktop computer. Lastly, I present my work on interactive sound propagation that leverages my ARD simulator to render the acoustics of arbitrary static scenes for multiple moving sources and listener in real time, while accounting for scene-dependent effects such as low-pass filtering and smooth attenuation

27 CFR 9.151 - Puget Sound.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 27 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Puget Sound. 9.151 Section... Sound. (a) Name. The name of the viticultural area described in this section is “Puget Sound.” (b) Approved maps. The appropriate maps for determining the boundary of the Puget Sound viticultural area are...

How Pleasant Sounds Promote and Annoying Sounds Impede Health : A Cognitive Approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Andringa, Tjeerd C.; Lanser, J. Jolie L.

2013-01-01

This theoretical paper addresses the cognitive functions via which quiet and in general pleasurable sounds promote and annoying sounds impede health. The article comprises a literature analysis and an interpretation of how the bidirectional influence of appraising the environment and the feelings of

Of Sound Mind: Mental Distress and Sound in Twentieth-Century Media Culture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Birdsall, C.; Siewert, S.

2013-01-01

This article seeks to specify the representation of mental disturbance in sound media during the twentieth century. It engages perspectives on societal and technological change across the twentieth century as crucial for aesthetic strategies developed in radio and sound film production. The analysis

Atmospheric limb sounding with imaging FTS

Science.gov (United States)

Friedl-Vallon, Felix; Riese, Martin; Preusse, Peter; Oelhaf, Hermann; Fischer, Herbert

Imaging Fourier transform spectrometers in the thermal infrared are a promising new class of sensors for atmospheric science. The availability of fast and sensitive large focal plane arrays with appropriate spectral coverage in the infrared region allows the conception and construction of innovative sensors for Nadir and Limb geometry. Instruments in Nadir geometry have already reached prototype status (e.g. Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer / U. Wisconsin and NASA) or are in Phase A study (infrared sounding mission on Meteosat third generation / ESA and EUMETSAT). The first application of the new technical possibilities to atmospheric limb sounding from space, the Imaging Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (IMIPAS), is currently studied by industry in the context of preparatory work for the next set of ESA earth explorers. The scientific focus of the instrument is on the processes controlling the composition of the mid/upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. The instrument concept of IMIPAS has been conceived at the research centres Karlsruhe and J¨lich. The development of a precursor instrument (GLORIA-AB) at these research institutions u started already in 2005. The instrument will be able to fly on board of various airborne platforms. First scientific missions are planned for the second half of the year 2009 on board the new German research aircraft HALO. This airborne sensor serves its own scientific purpose, but it also provides a test bed to learn about this new instrument class and its peculiarities and to learn to exploit and interpret the wealth of information provided by a limb imaging IR Fourier transform spectrometer. The presentation will discuss design considerations and challenges for GLORIA-AB and put them in the context of the planned satellite application. It will describe the solutions found, present first laboratory figures of merit for the prototype instrument and outline the new scientific

Impedance response characteristics of iron oxide interface in the EDTA solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sawa, Tosio; Higuchi, Shigeo; Kataoka, Ichiro; Ito, Hisao.

1986-01-01

The relationship between the dissolution and the surface conditions of Fe 3 O 4 were studied in the various conditions of EDTA solutions by means of the A · C impedance measurement. From the experimental results obtained, surface layer of Fe 3 O 4 electrode can be expressed with electrical equivalent circuit that have capacitance and reaction resistance in the electrical double layer. In the Na 2 SO 4 solution without occuring dissolution, reaction resistance was estimated as 314 kΩ · cm 2 and capacitance was 203 μF/cm 2 . In the EDTA solutions, reaction resistance decreases along with dissolution of Fe 3 O 4 . The factors to make decrease reaction resistance are EDTA concentration, pH and temperature of the solutions. In contrast with this, the factor to increase it is dissolved oxygen in the solutions. The reciprocal value of reaction resistance agrees well with the rate of dissolution. On the other hand, when the electrode potential was maintained under the cathodic polarization in the EDTA solutions, impedances of electrode surface showed the lower value than that in the immersion condition. And apparent resistance came near to 0 at the potential of -2.0 V in all the range of frequency. Fe 3 O 4 electrodes pretreated with the cathodic polarization exhibited the characteristic impedance response that were caused by the change of electrode surface and the deposites such as iron hydroxide. (author)

Sound localization and occupational noise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedro de Lemos Menezes

2014-02-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of occupational noise on sound localization in different spatial planes and frequencies among normal hearing firefighters. METHOD: A total of 29 adults with pure-tone hearing thresholds below 25 dB took part in the study. The participants were divided into a group of 19 firefighters exposed to occupational noise and a control group of 10 adults who were not exposed to such noise. All subjects were assigned a sound localization task involving 117 stimuli from 13 sound sources that were spatially distributed in horizontal, vertical, midsagittal and transverse planes. The three stimuli, which were square waves with fundamental frequencies of 500, 2,000 and 4,000 Hz, were presented at a sound level of 70 dB and were randomly repeated three times from each sound source. The angle between the speaker's axis in the same plane was 45°, and the distance to the subject was 1 m. RESULT: The results demonstrate that the sound localization ability of the firefighters was significantly lower (p<0.01 than that of the control group. CONCLUSION: Exposure to occupational noise, even when not resulting in hearing loss, may lead to a diminished ability to locate a sound source.

First and second sound in cylindrically trapped gases.

Science.gov (United States)

Bertaina, G; Pitaevskii, L; Stringari, S

2010-10-08

We investigate the propagation of density and temperature waves in a cylindrically trapped gas with radial harmonic confinement. Starting from two-fluid hydrodynamic theory we derive effective 1D equations for the chemical potential and the temperature which explicitly account for the effects of viscosity and thermal conductivity. Differently from quantum fluids confined by rigid walls, the harmonic confinement allows for the propagation of both first and second sound in the long wavelength limit. We provide quantitative predictions for the two sound velocities of a superfluid Fermi gas at unitarity. For shorter wavelengths we discover a new surprising class of excitations continuously spread over a finite interval of frequencies. This results in a nondissipative damping in the response function which is analytically calculated in the limiting case of a classical ideal gas.

The Physiology of Fear and Sound

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garner, Tom Alexander; Grimshaw, Mark

2013-01-01

and systematically altering the game environment in response. This article presents empirical data the analysis of which advocates electrodermal activity and electromyography as suitable physiological measures to work effectively within a computer video game-based biometric feedback loop, within which sound......The potential value of a looping biometric feedback system as a key component of adaptive computer video games is significant. Psychophysiological measures are essential to the development of an automated emotion recognition program, capable of interpreting physiological data into models of affect...

Acoustic transfer function of cavity and its application to rapid evaluation of sound field at low frequency band

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

YIN Gang; CHEN Hualing; HU Xuanli; HUANG Xieqing

2001-01-01

A new method to obtain numerical solution of Acoustic Transfer Function (ATF) by BEM is presented. For a simply supported panel backed by a rectangular cavity at low frequency band (0-200 Hz), the frequency property of ATF is analyzed. The relation between the accuracy of the rapid evaluation of sound field and the discretization schemes of the vibrational panel is discussed. The result shows that the method to obtain ATF and the rapid evaluation of sound field using the ATF is suitable to low frequency band. If an appropriate discretization scheme is choosed based on the frequency involved and the effort to obtain ATF, the accuracy of the rapid evaluation of sound field is acceptable.

The effect of sound speed profile on shallow water shipping sound maps

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sertlek, H.Ö.; Binnerts, B.; Ainslie, M.A.

2016-01-01

Sound mapping over large areas can be computationally expensive because of the large number of sources and large source-receiver separations involved. In order to facilitate computation, a simplifying assumption sometimes made is to neglect the sound speed gradient in shallow water. The accuracy of

Sound wave transmission (image)

Science.gov (United States)

When sounds waves reach the ear, they are translated into nerve impulses. These impulses then travel to the brain where they are interpreted by the brain as sound. The hearing mechanisms within the inner ear, can ...

Healthy full-term infants' brain responses to emotionally and linguistically relevant sounds using a multi-feature mismatch negativity (MMN) paradigm.

Science.gov (United States)

Kostilainen, Kaisamari; Wikström, Valtteri; Pakarinen, Satu; Videman, Mari; Karlsson, Linnea; Keskinen, Maria; Scheinin, Noora M; Karlsson, Hasse; Huotilainen, Minna

2018-03-23

We evaluated the feasibility of a multi-feature mismatch negativity (MMN) paradigm in studying auditory processing of healthy newborns. The aim was to examine the automatic change-detection and processing of semantic and emotional information in speech in newborns. Brain responses of 202 healthy newborns were recorded with a multi-feature paradigm including a Finnish bi-syllabic pseudo-word/ta-ta/as a standard stimulus, six linguistically relevant deviant stimuli and three emotionally relevant stimuli (happy, sad, angry). Clear responses to emotional sounds were found already at the early latency window 100-200 ms, whereas responses to linguistically relevant minor changes and emotional stimuli at the later latency window 300-500 ms did not reach significance. Moreover, significant interaction between gender and emotional stimuli was found in the early latency window. Further studies on using multi-feature paradigms with linguistic and emotional stimuli in newborns are needed, especially those containing of follow-ups, enabling the assessment of the predictive value of early variations between subjects. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On Viscosity, Conduction and Sound Waves in the Intracluster Medium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fabian, A.

2005-01-25

Recent X-ray and optical observations of the Perseus cluster indicate that the viscous and conductive dissipation of sound waves is the mechanism responsible for heating the intracluster medium and thus balancing radiative cooling of cluster cores. We discuss this mechanism more generally and show how the specific heating and cooling rates vary with temperature and radius. It appears that the heating mechanism is most effective above 10{sup 7}K, which allows for radiative cooling to proceed within normal galaxy formation but will stifle the growth of very massive galaxies. The scaling of the wavelength of sound waves with cluster temperature and feedback in the system are investigated.

Sound & The Society

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schulze, Holger

2014-01-01

How are those sounds you hear right now socially constructed and evaluated, how are they architecturally conceptualized and how dependant on urban planning, industrial developments and political decisions are they really? How is your ability to hear intertwined with social interactions and their ...... and their professional design? And how is listening and sounding a deeply social activity – constructing our way of living together in cities as well as in apartment houses? A radio feature with Nina Backmann, Jochen Bonz, Stefan Krebs, Esther Schelander & Holger Schulze......How are those sounds you hear right now socially constructed and evaluated, how are they architecturally conceptualized and how dependant on urban planning, industrial developments and political decisions are they really? How is your ability to hear intertwined with social interactions...

Predicting outdoor sound

CERN Document Server

Attenborough, Keith; Horoshenkov, Kirill

2014-01-01

1. Introduction  2. The Propagation of Sound Near Ground Surfaces in a Homogeneous Medium  3. Predicting the Acoustical Properties of Outdoor Ground Surfaces  4. Measurements of the Acoustical Properties of Ground Surfaces and Comparisons with Models  5. Predicting Effects of Source Characteristics on Outdoor Sound  6. Predictions, Approximations and Empirical Results for Ground Effect Excluding Meteorological Effects  7. Influence of Source Motion on Ground Effect and Diffraction  8. Predicting Effects of Mixed Impedance Ground  9. Predicting the Performance of Outdoor Noise Barriers  10. Predicting Effects of Vegetation, Trees and Turbulence  11. Analytical Approximations including Ground Effect, Refraction and Turbulence  12. Prediction Schemes  13. Predicting Sound in an Urban Environment.

Experimental investigation of a blunt trailing edge flow field with application to sound generation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shannon, Daniel W. [University of Notre Dame, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, B026 Hessert Laboratory, Notre Dame, IN (United States); Morris, Scott C. [University of Notre Dame, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, 109 Hessert Laboratory, Notre Dame, IN (United States)

2006-11-15

The unsteady lift generated by turbulence at the trailing edge of an airfoil is a source of radiated sound. The objective of the present research was to measure the velocity field in the near wake region of an asymmetric beveled trailing edge in order to determine the flow mechanisms responsible for the generation of trailing edge noise. Two component velocity measurements were acquired using particle image velocimetry. The chord Reynolds number was 1.9 x 10{sup 6}. The data show velocity field realizations that were typical of a wake flow containing an asymmetric periodic vortex shedding. A phase average decomposition of the velocity field with respect to this shedding process was utilized to separate the large scale turbulent motions that occurred at the vortex shedding frequency (i.e., those responsible for the production of tonal noise) from the smaller scale turbulent motions, which were interpreted to be responsible for the production of broadband sound. The small scale turbulence was found to be dependent on the phase of the vortex shedding process implying a dependence of the broadband sound generated by the trailing edge on the phase of the vortex shedding process. (orig.)

Modular and Adaptive Control of Sound Processing

Science.gov (United States)

van Nort, Douglas

parameters. In this view, desired gestural dynamics and sonic response are achieved through modular construction of mapping layers that are themselves subject to parametric control. Complementing this view of the design process, the work concludes with an approach in which the creation of gestural control/sound dynamics are considered in the low-level of the underlying sound model. The result is an adaptive system that is specialized to noise-based transformations that are particularly relevant in an electroacoustic music context. Taken together, these different approaches to design and evaluation result in a unified framework for creation of an instrumental system. The key point is that this framework addresses the influence that mapping structure and control dynamics have on the perceived feel of the instrument. Each of the results illustrate this using either top-down or bottom-up approaches that consider musical control context, thereby pointing to the greater potential for refined sonic articulation that can be had by combining them in the design process.

Prediction of break-out sound from a rectangular cavity via an elastically mounted panel.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Gang; Li, Wen L; Du, Jingtao; Li, Wanyou

2016-02-01

The break-out sound from a cavity via an elastically mounted panel is predicted in this paper. The vibroacoustic system model is derived based on the so-called spectro-geometric method in which the solution over each sub-domain is invariably expressed as a modified Fourier series expansion. Unlike the traditional modal superposition methods, the continuity of the normal velocities is faithfully enforced on the interfaces between the flexible panel and the (interior and exterior) acoustic media. A fully coupled vibro-acoustic system is obtained by taking into account the strong coupling between the vibration of the elastic panel and the sound fields on the both sides. The typical time-consuming calculations of quadruple integrals encountered in determining the sound power radiation from a panel has been effectively avoided by reducing them, via discrete cosine transform, into a number of single integrals which are subsequently calculated analytically in a closed form. Several numerical examples are presented to validate the system model, understand the effects on the sound transmissions of panel mounting conditions, and demonstrate the dependence on the size of source room of the "measured" transmission loss.

Effects of selective attention on the electrophysiological representation of concurrent sounds in the human auditory cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Bidet-Caulet, Aurélie; Fischer, Catherine; Besle, Julien; Aguera, Pierre-Emmanuel; Giard, Marie-Helene; Bertrand, Olivier

2007-08-29

In noisy environments, we use auditory selective attention to actively ignore distracting sounds and select relevant information, as during a cocktail party to follow one particular conversation. The present electrophysiological study aims at deciphering the spatiotemporal organization of the effect of selective attention on the representation of concurrent sounds in the human auditory cortex. Sound onset asynchrony was manipulated to induce the segregation of two concurrent auditory streams. Each stream consisted of amplitude modulated tones at different carrier and modulation frequencies. Electrophysiological recordings were performed in epileptic patients with pharmacologically resistant partial epilepsy, implanted with depth electrodes in the temporal cortex. Patients were presented with the stimuli while they either performed an auditory distracting task or actively selected one of the two concurrent streams. Selective attention was found to affect steady-state responses in the primary auditory cortex, and transient and sustained evoked responses in secondary auditory areas. The results provide new insights on the neural mechanisms of auditory selective attention: stream selection during sound rivalry would be facilitated not only by enhancing the neural representation of relevant sounds, but also by reducing the representation of irrelevant information in the auditory cortex. Finally, they suggest a specialization of the left hemisphere in the attentional selection of fine-grained acoustic information.

Acoustic performance of dual-electrode electrostatic sound generators based on CVD graphene on polyimide film.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kyoung-Ryul; Jang, Sung Hwan; Jung, Inhwa

2018-08-10

We investigated the acoustic performance of electrostatic sound-generating devices consisting of bi-layer graphene on polyimide film. The total sound pressure level (SPL) of the sound generated from the devices was measured as a function of source frequency by sweeping, and frequency spectra were measured at 1/3 octave band frequencies. The relationship between various operation conditions and total SPL was determined. In addition, the effects of changing voltage level, adding a DC offset, and using two pairs of electrodes were evaluated. It should be noted that two pairs of electrode operations improved sound generation by about 10 dB over all frequency ranges compared with conventional operation. As for the sound-generating capability, total SPL was 70 dBA at 4 kHz when an AC voltage of 100 V pp was applied with a DC offset of 100 V. Acoustic characteristics differed from other types of graphene-based sound generators, such as graphene thermoacoustic devices and graphene polyvinylidene fluoride devices. The effects of diameter and distance between electrodes were also studied, and we found that diameter greatly influenced the frequency response. We anticipate that the design information provided in this paper, in addition to describing key parameters of electrostatic sound-generating devices, will facilitate the commercial development of electrostatic sound-generating systems.

The sound of friction: Real-time models, playability and musical applications

Science.gov (United States)

Serafin, Stefania

Friction, the tangential force between objects in contact, in most engineering applications needs to be removed as a source of noise and instabilities. In musical applications, friction is a desirable component, being the sound production mechanism of different musical instruments such as bowed strings, musical saws, rubbed bowls and any other sonority produced by interactions between rubbed dry surfaces. The goal of the dissertation is to simulate different instrument whose main excitation mechanism is friction. An efficient yet accurate model of a bowed string instrument, which combines the latest results in violin acoustics with the efficient digital waveguide approach, is provided. In particular, the bowed string physical model proposed uses a thermodynamic friction model in which the finite width of the bow is taken into account; this solution is compared to the recently developed elasto-plastic friction models used in haptics and robotics. Different solutions are also proposed to model the body of the instrument. Other less common instruments driven by friction are also proposed, and the elasto-plastic model is used to provide audio-visual simulations of everyday friction sounds such as squeaking doors and rubbed wine glasses. Finally, playability evaluations and musical applications in which the models have been used are discussed.

Sounds of Web Advertising

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jessen, Iben Bredahl; Graakjær, Nicolai Jørgensgaard

2010-01-01

Sound seems to be a neglected issue in the study of web ads. Web advertising is predominantly regarded as visual phenomena–commercial messages, as for instance banner ads that we watch, read, and eventually click on–but only rarely as something that we listen to. The present chapter presents...... an overview of the auditory dimensions in web advertising: Which kinds of sounds do we hear in web ads? What are the conditions and functions of sound in web ads? Moreover, the chapter proposes a theoretical framework in order to analyse the communicative functions of sound in web advertising. The main...... argument is that an understanding of the auditory dimensions in web advertising must include a reflection on the hypertextual settings of the web ad as well as a perspective on how users engage with web content....

Effects of temperature on sound production and auditory abilities in the Striped Raphael catfish Platydoras armatulus (Family Doradidae.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Papes

Full Text Available Sound production and hearing sensitivity of ectothermic animals are affected by the ambient temperature. This is the first study investigating the influence of temperature on both sound production and on hearing abilities in a fish species, namely the neotropical Striped Raphael catfish Platydoras armatulus.Doradid catfishes produce stridulation sounds by rubbing the pectoral spines in the shoulder girdle and drumming sounds by an elastic spring mechanism which vibrates the swimbladder. Eight fish were acclimated for at least three weeks to 22°, then to 30° and again to 22°C. Sounds were recorded in distress situations when fish were hand-held. The stridulation sounds became shorter at the higher temperature, whereas pulse number, maximum pulse period and sound pressure level did not change with temperature. The dominant frequency increased when the temperature was raised to 30°C and the minimum pulse period became longer when the temperature decreased again. The fundamental frequency of drumming sounds increased at the higher temperature. Using the auditory evoked potential (AEP recording technique, the hearing thresholds were tested at six different frequencies from 0.1 to 4 kHz. The temporal resolution was determined by analyzing the minimum resolvable click period (0.3-5 ms. The hearing sensitivity was higher at the higher temperature and differences were more pronounced at higher frequencies. In general, latencies of AEPs in response to single clicks became shorter at the higher temperature, whereas temporal resolution in response to double-clicks did not change.These data indicate that sound characteristics as well as hearing abilities are affected by temperatures in fishes. Constraints imposed on hearing sensitivity at different temperatures cannot be compensated even by longer acclimation periods. These changes in sound production and detection suggest that acoustic orientation and communication are affected by temperature changes in

Sound radiation modes of cylindrical surfaces and their application to vibro-acoustics analysis of cylindrical shells

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Yao; Yang, Tiejun; Chen, Yuehua

2018-06-01

In this paper, sound radiation modes of baffled cylinders have been derived by constructing the radiation resistance matrix analytically. By examining the characteristics of sound radiation modes, it is found that radiation coefficient of each radiation mode increases gradually with the increase of frequency while modal shapes of sound radiation modes of cylindrical shells show a weak dependence upon frequency. Based on understandings on sound radiation modes, vibro-acoustics behaviors of cylindrical shells have been analyzed. The vibration responses of cylindrical shells are described by modified Fourier series expansions and solved by Rayleigh-Ritz method involving Flügge shell theory. Then radiation efficiency of a resonance has been determined by examining whether the vibration pattern is in correspondence with a sound radiation mode possessing great radiation efficiency. Furthermore, effects of thickness and boundary conditions on sound radiation of cylindrical shells have been investigated. It is found that radiation efficiency of thicker shells is greater than thinner shells while shells with a clamped boundary constraint radiate sound more efficiently than simply supported shells under thin shell assumption.

How male sound pressure level influences phonotaxis in virgin female Jamaican field crickets (Gryllus assimilis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen Pacheco

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Understanding female mate preference is important for determining the strength and direction of sexual trait evolution. The sound pressure level (SPL acoustic signalers use is often an important predictor of mating success because higher sound pressure levels are detectable at greater distances. If females are more attracted to signals produced at higher sound pressure levels, then the potential fitness impacts of signalling at higher sound pressure levels should be elevated beyond what would be expected from detection distance alone. Here we manipulated the sound pressure level of cricket mate attraction signals to determine how female phonotaxis was influenced. We examined female phonotaxis using two common experimental methods: spherical treadmills and open arenas. Both methods showed similar results, with females exhibiting greatest phonotaxis towards loud sound pressure levels relative to the standard signal (69 vs. 60 dB SPL but showing reduced phonotaxis towards very loud sound pressure level signals relative to the standard (77 vs. 60 dB SPL. Reduced female phonotaxis towards supernormal stimuli may signify an acoustic startle response, an absence of other required sensory cues, or perceived increases in predation risk.

Principles of underwater sound

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Urick, Robert J

1983-01-01

... the immediately useful help they need for sonar problem solving. Its coverage is broad-ranging from the basic concepts of sound in the sea to making performance predictions in such applications as depth sounding, fish finding, and submarine detection...

fMRI activation in relation to sound intensity and loudness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Langers, Dave R. M.; van Dijk, Pirn; Schoemaker, Esther S.; Backes, Walter H.

2007-01-01

The aim of this fMRI study was to relate cortical fMRI responses to both physical and perceptual sound level characteristics. Besides subjects with normal hearing, subjects with high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss were included, as distortion of loudness perception is a characteristic of such

Sounding the field: recent works in sound studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Boon, Tim

2015-09-01

For sound studies, the publication of a 593-page handbook, not to mention the establishment of at least one society - the European Sound Studies Association - might seem to signify the emergence of a new academic discipline. Certainly, the books under consideration here, alongside many others, testify to an intensification of concern with the aural dimensions of culture. Some of this work comes from HPS and STS, some from musicology and cultural studies. But all of it should concern members of our disciplines, as it represents a long-overdue foregrounding of the aural in how we think about the intersections of science, technology and culture.

Sound Clocks and Sonic Relativity

Science.gov (United States)

Todd, Scott L.; Menicucci, Nicolas C.

2017-10-01

Sound propagation within certain non-relativistic condensed matter models obeys a relativistic wave equation despite such systems admitting entirely non-relativistic descriptions. A natural question that arises upon consideration of this is, "do devices exist that will experience the relativity in these systems?" We describe a thought experiment in which `acoustic observers' possess devices called sound clocks that can be connected to form chains. Careful investigation shows that appropriately constructed chains of stationary and moving sound clocks are perceived by observers on the other chain as undergoing the relativistic phenomena of length contraction and time dilation by the Lorentz factor, γ , with c the speed of sound. Sound clocks within moving chains actually tick less frequently than stationary ones and must be separated by a shorter distance than when stationary to satisfy simultaneity conditions. Stationary sound clocks appear to be length contracted and time dilated to moving observers due to their misunderstanding of their own state of motion with respect to the laboratory. Observers restricted to using sound clocks describe a universe kinematically consistent with the theory of special relativity, despite the preferred frame of their universe in the laboratory. Such devices show promise in further probing analogue relativity models, for example in investigating phenomena that require careful consideration of the proper time elapsed for observers.

Non-Wovens as Sound Reducers

Science.gov (United States)

Belakova, D.; Seile, A.; Kukle, S.; Plamus, T.

2018-04-01

Within the present study, the effect of hemp (40 wt%) and polyactide (60 wt%), non-woven surface density, thickness and number of fibre web layers on the sound absorption coefficient and the sound transmission loss in the frequency range from 50 to 5000 Hz is analysed. The sound insulation properties of the experimental samples have been determined, compared to the ones in practical use, and the possible use of material has been defined. Non-woven materials are ideally suited for use in acoustic insulation products because the arrangement of fibres produces a porous material structure, which leads to a greater interaction between sound waves and fibre structure. Of all the tested samples (A, B and D), the non-woven variant B exceeded the surface density of sample A by 1.22 times and 1.15 times that of sample D. By placing non-wovens one above the other in 2 layers, it is possible to increase the absorption coefficient of the material, which depending on the frequency corresponds to C, D, and E sound absorption classes. Sample A demonstrates the best sound absorption of all the three samples in the frequency range from 250 to 2000 Hz. In the test frequency range from 50 to 5000 Hz, the sound transmission loss varies from 0.76 (Sample D at 63 Hz) to 3.90 (Sample B at 5000 Hz).

Computerized Hammer Sounding Interpretation for Concrete Assessment with Online Machine Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Jiaxing; Kobayashi, Takumi; Iwata, Masaya; Tsuda, Hiroshi; Murakawa, Masahiro

2018-03-09

Developing efficient Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled systems to substitute the human role in non-destructive testing is an emerging topic of considerable interest. In this study, we propose a novel hammering response analysis system using online machine learning, which aims at achieving near-human performance in assessment of concrete structures. Current computerized hammer sounding systems commonly employ lab-scale data to validate the models. In practice, however, the response signal patterns can be far more complicated due to varying geometric shapes and materials of structures. To deal with a large variety of unseen data, we propose a sequential treatment for response characterization. More specifically, the proposed system can adaptively update itself to approach human performance in hammering sounding data interpretation. To this end, a two-stage framework has been introduced, including feature extraction and the model updating scheme. Various state-of-the-art online learning algorithms have been reviewed and evaluated for the task. To conduct experimental validation, we collected 10,940 response instances from multiple inspection sites; each sample was annotated by human experts with healthy/defective condition labels. The results demonstrated that the proposed scheme achieved favorable assessment accuracy with high efficiency and low computation load.

Sounds of Space

Science.gov (United States)

Gurnett, D. A.

2005-12-01

Starting in the early 1960s, spacecraft-borne plasma wave instruments revealed that space is filled with an astonishing variety of radio and plasma wave sounds, which have come to be called "sounds of space." For over forty years these sounds have been collected and played to a wide variety of audiences, often as the result of press conferences or press releases involving various NASA projects for which the University of Iowa has provided plasma wave instruments. This activity has led to many interviews on local and national radio programs, and occasionally on programs haviang world-wide coverage, such as the BBC. As a result of this media coverage, we have been approached many times by composers requesting copies of our space sounds for use in their various projects, many of which involve electronic synthesis of music. One of these collaborations led to "Sun Rings," which is a musical event produced by the Kronos Quartet that has played to large audiences all over the world. With the availability of modern computer graphic techniques we have recently been attempting to integrate some of these sound of space into an educational audio/video web site that illustrates the scientific principles involved in the origin of space plasma waves. Typically I try to emphasize that a substantial gas pressure exists everywhere in space in the form of an ionized gas called a plasma, and that this plasma can lead to a wide variety of wave phenomenon. Examples of some of this audio/video material will be presented.

Sound Synthesis and Evaluation of Interactive Footsteps and Environmental Sounds Rendering for Virtual Reality Applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nordahl, Rolf; Turchet, Luca; Serafin, Stefania

2011-01-01

We propose a system that affords real-time sound synthesis of footsteps on different materials. The system is based on microphones, which detect real footstep sounds from subjects, from which the ground reaction force (GRF) is estimated. Such GRF is used to control a sound synthesis engine based ...... a soundscape significantly improves the recognition of the simulated environment....

Sound induced activity in voice sensitive cortex predicts voice memory ability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca eWatson

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The ‘temporal voice areas’ (TVAs (Belin et al., 2000 of the human brain show greater neuronal activity in response to human voices than to other categories of nonvocal sounds. However, a direct link between TVA activity and voice perceptionbehaviour has not yet been established. Here we show that a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI measure of activity in the TVAs predicts individual performance at a separately administered voice memory test. This relation holds whengeneral sound memory ability is taken into account. These findings provide the first evidence that the TVAs are specifically involved in voice cognition.

Interface for Barge-in Free Spoken Dialogue System Based on Sound Field Reproduction and Microphone Array

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hinamoto Yoichi

2007-01-01

Full Text Available A barge-in free spoken dialogue interface using sound field control and microphone array is proposed. In the conventional spoken dialogue system using an acoustic echo canceller, it is indispensable to estimate a room transfer function, especially when the transfer function is changed by various interferences. However, the estimation is difficult when the user and the system speak simultaneously. To resolve the problem, we propose a sound field control technique to prevent the response sound from being observed. Combined with a microphone array, the proposed method can achieve high elimination performance with no adaptive process. The efficacy of the proposed interface is ascertained in the experiments on the basis of sound elimination and speech recognition.

Efficiency of vibrational sounding in parasitoid host location depends on substrate density.

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, S; Samietz, J; Dorn, S

2003-10-01

Parasitoids of concealed hosts have to drill through a substrate with their ovipositor for successful parasitization. Hymenopteran species in this drill-and-sting guild locate immobile pupal hosts by vibrational sounding, i.e., echolocation on solid substrate. Although this host location strategy is assumed to be common among the Orussidae and Ichneumonidae there is no information yet whether it is adapted to characteristics of the host microhabitat. This study examined the effect of substrate density on responsiveness and host location efficiency in two pupal parasitoids, Pimpla turionellae and Xanthopimpla stemmator (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), with different host-niche specialization and corresponding ovipositor morphology. Location and frequency of ovipositor insertions were scored on cylindrical plant stem models of various densities. Substrate density had a significant negative effect on responsiveness, number of ovipositor insertions, and host location precision in both species. The more niche-specific species X. stemmator showed a higher host location precision and insertion activity. We could show that vibrational sounding is obviously adapted to the host microhabitat of the parasitoid species using this host location strategy. We suggest the attenuation of pulses during vibrational sounding as the energetically costly limiting factor for this adaptation.

Effects of Exposure to the Sound from Seismic Airguns on Pallid Sturgeon and Paddlefish.

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Arthur N Popper

Full Text Available This study examined the effects of exposure to a single acoustic pulse from a seismic airgun array on caged endangered pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus and on paddlefish (Polyodon spathula in Lake Sakakawea (North Dakota, USA. The experiment was designed to detect the onset of physiological responses including minor to mortal injuries. Experimental fish were held in cages as close as 1 to 3 m from the guns where peak negative sound pressure levels (Peak- SPL reached 231 dB re 1 μPa (205 dB re 1 μPa2·s sound exposure level [SEL]. Additional cages were placed at greater distances in an attempt to develop a dose-response relationship. Treatment and control fish were then monitored for seven days, euthanized, and necropsied to determine injuries. Necropsy results indicated that the probability of delayed mortality associated with pulse pressure following the seven day monitoring period was the same for exposed and control fish of both species. Exposure to a single pulse from a small air gun array (10,160 cm3 was not lethal for pallid sturgeon and paddlefish. However, the risks from exposure to multiple sounds and to sound exposure levels that exceed those reported here remain to be examined.

Using therapeutic sound with progressive audiologic tinnitus management.

Science.gov (United States)

Henry, James A; Zaugg, Tara L; Myers, Paula J; Schechter, Martin A

2008-09-01

Management of tinnitus generally involves educational counseling, stress reduction, and/or the use of therapeutic sound. This article focuses on therapeutic sound, which can involve three objectives: (a) producing a sense of relief from tinnitus-associated stress (using soothing sound); (b) passively diverting attention away from tinnitus by reducing contrast between tinnitus and the acoustic environment (using background sound); and (c) actively diverting attention away from tinnitus (using interesting sound). Each of these goals can be accomplished using three different types of sound-broadly categorized as environmental sound, music, and speech-resulting in nine combinations of uses of sound and types of sound to manage tinnitus. The authors explain the uses and types of sound, how they can be combined, and how the different combinations are used with Progressive Audiologic Tinnitus Management. They also describe how sound is used with other sound-based methods of tinnitus management (Tinnitus Masking, Tinnitus Retraining Therapy, and Neuromonics).

Hemispheric lateralization in an analysis of speech sounds. Left hemisphere dominance replicated in Japanese subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Koyama, S; Gunji, A; Yabe, H; Oiwa, S; Akahane-Yamada, R; Kakigi, R; Näätänen, R

2000-09-01

Evoked magnetic responses to speech sounds [R. Näätänen, A. Lehtokoski, M. Lennes, M. Cheour, M. Huotilainen, A. Iivonen, M. Vainio, P. Alku, R.J. Ilmoniemi, A. Luuk, J. Allik, J. Sinkkonen and K. Alho, Language-specific phoneme representations revealed by electric and magnetic brain responses. Nature, 385 (1997) 432-434.] were recorded from 13 Japanese subjects (right-handed). Infrequently presented vowels ([o]) among repetitive vowels ([e]) elicited the magnetic counterpart of mismatch negativity, MMNm (Bilateral, nine subjects; Left hemisphere alone, three subjects; Right hemisphere alone, one subject). The estimated source of the MMNm was stronger in the left than in the right auditory cortex. The sources were located posteriorly in the left than in the right auditory cortex. These findings are consistent with the results obtained in Finnish [R. Näätänen, A. Lehtokoski, M. Lennes, M. Cheour, M. Huotilainen, A. Iivonen, M.Vainio, P.Alku, R.J. Ilmoniemi, A. Luuk, J. Allik, J. Sinkkonen and K. Alho, Language-specific phoneme representations revealed by electric and magnetic brain responses. Nature, 385 (1997) 432-434.][T. Rinne, K. Alho, P. Alku, M. Holi, J. Sinkkonen, J. Virtanen, O. Bertrand and R. Näätänen, Analysis of speech sounds is left-hemisphere predominant at 100-150 ms after sound onset. Neuroreport, 10 (1999) 1113-1117.] and English [K. Alho, J.F. Connolly, M. Cheour, A. Lehtokoski, M. Huotilainen, J. Virtanen, R. Aulanko and R.J. Ilmoniemi, Hemispheric lateralization in preattentive processing of speech sounds. Neurosci. Lett., 258 (1998) 9-12.] subjects. Instead of the P1m observed in Finnish [M. Tervaniemi, A. Kujala, K. Alho, J. Virtanen, R.J. Ilmoniemi and R. Näätänen, Functional specialization of the human auditory cortex in processing phonetic and musical sounds: A magnetoencephalographic (MEG) study. Neuroimage, 9 (1999) 330-336.] and English [K. Alho, J. F. Connolly, M. Cheour, A. Lehtokoski, M. Huotilainen, J. Virtanen, R. Aulanko

Letter-Sound Knowledge: Exploring Gender Differences in Children When They Start School Regarding Knowledge of Large Letters, Small Letters, Sound Large Letters, and Sound Small Letters

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Hermundur Sigmundsson

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This study explored whether there is a gender difference in letter-sound knowledge when children start at school. 485 children aged 5–6 years completed assessment of letter-sound knowledge, i.e., large letters; sound of large letters; small letters; sound of small letters. The findings indicate a significant difference between girls and boys in all four factors tested in this study in favor of the girls. There are still no clear explanations to the basis of a presumed gender difference in letter-sound knowledge. That the findings have origin in neuro-biological factors cannot be excluded, however, the fact that girls probably have been exposed to more language experience/stimulation compared to boys, lends support to explanations derived from environmental aspects.

Atypical pattern of discriminating sound features in adults with Asperger syndrome as reflected by the mismatch negativity.

Science.gov (United States)

Kujala, T; Aho, E; Lepistö, T; Jansson-Verkasalo, E; Nieminen-von Wendt, T; von Wendt, L; Näätänen, R

2007-04-01

Asperger syndrome, which belongs to the autistic spectrum of disorders, is characterized by deficits of social interaction and abnormal perception, like hypo- or hypersensitivity in reacting to sounds and discriminating certain sound features. We determined auditory feature discrimination in adults with Asperger syndrome with the mismatch negativity (MMN), a neural response which is an index of cortical change detection. We recorded MMN for five different sound features (duration, frequency, intensity, location, and gap). Our results suggest hypersensitive auditory change detection in Asperger syndrome, as reflected in the enhanced MMN for deviant sounds with a gap or shorter duration, and speeded MMN elicitation for frequency changes.

Sound as Popular Culture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

The wide-ranging texts in this book take as their premise the idea that sound is a subject through which popular culture can be analyzed in an innovative way. From an infant’s gurgles over a baby monitor to the roar of the crowd in a stadium to the sub-bass frequencies produced by sound systems...... in the disco era, sound—not necessarily aestheticized as music—is inextricably part of the many domains of popular culture. Expanding the view taken by many scholars of cultural studies, the contributors consider cultural practices concerning sound not merely as semiotic or signifying processes but as material......, physical, perceptual, and sensory processes that integrate a multitude of cultural traditions and forms of knowledge. The chapters discuss conceptual issues as well as terminologies and research methods; analyze historical and contemporary case studies of listening in various sound cultures; and consider...

Analysis of sound absorption performance of an electroacoustic absorber using a vented enclosure

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Youngeun; Wang, Semyung; Hyun, Jaeyub; Oh, Seungjae; Goo, Seongyeol

2018-03-01

, even if the proposed EA system using a vented enclosure is extended to a large number of arrays required for 3D sound field control, it is expected to be an attractive solution that can contribute to an improvement in low-frequency noise reduction without causing economic and system complexity problems.

Fourth sound in relativistic superfluidity theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vil'chinskij, S.I.; Fomin, P.I.

1995-01-01

The Lorentz-covariant equations describing propagation of the fourth sound in the relativistic theory of superfluidity are derived. The expressions for the velocity of the fourth sound are obtained. The character of oscillation in sound is determined

Assessment of the health effects of low-frequency sounds and infra-sounds from wind farms. ANSES Opinion. Collective expertise report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lepoutre, Philippe; Avan, Paul; Cheveigne, Alain de; Ecotiere, David; Evrard, Anne-Sophie; Hours, Martine; Lelong, Joel; Moati, Frederique; Michaud, David; Toppila, Esko; Beugnet, Laurent; Bounouh, Alexandre; Feltin, Nicolas; Campo, Pierre; Dore, Jean-Francois; Ducimetiere, Pierre; Douki, Thierry; Flahaut, Emmanuel; Gaffet, Eric; Lafaye, Murielle; Martinsons, Christophe; Mouneyrac, Catherine; Ndagijimana, Fabien; Soyez, Alain; Yardin, Catherine; Cadene, Anthony; Merckel, Olivier; Niaudet, Aurelie; Cadene, Anthony; Saddoki, Sophia; Debuire, Brigitte; Genet, Roger

2017-03-01

a health effect has not been documented. In this context, ANSES recommends: Concerning studies and research: - verifying whether or not there is a possible mechanism modulating the perception of audible sound at intensities of infra-sound similar to those measured from local residents; - studying the effects of the amplitude modulation of the acoustic signal on the noise-related disturbance felt; - studying the assumption that cochlea-vestibular effects may be responsible for pathophysiological effects; - undertaking a survey of residents living near wind farms enabling the identification of an objective signature of a physiological effect. Concerning information for local residents and the monitoring of noise levels: - enhancing information for local residents during the construction of wind farms and participation in public inquiries undertaken in rural areas; - systematically measuring the noise emissions of wind turbines before and after they are brought into service; - setting up, especially in the event of controversy, continuous noise measurement systems around wind farms (based on experience at airports, for example). Lastly, the Agency reiterates that the current regulations state that the distance between a wind turbine and the first home should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, taking the conditions of wind farms into account. This distance, of at least 500 metres, may be increased further to the results of an impact assessment, in order to comply with the limit values for noise exposure. Current knowledge of the potential health effects of exposure to infra-sounds and low-frequency noise provides no justification for changing the current limit values or for extending the spectrum of noise currently taken into consideration

The science of sound recording

CERN Document Server

Kadis, Jay

2012-01-01

The Science of Sound Recording will provide you with more than just an introduction to sound and recording, it will allow you to dive right into some of the technical areas that often appear overwhelming to anyone without an electrical engineering or physics background.  The Science of Sound Recording helps you build a basic foundation of scientific principles, explaining how recording really works. Packed with valuable must know information, illustrations and examples of 'worked through' equations this book introduces the theory behind sound recording practices in a logical and prac

Nuclear sound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wambach, J.

1991-01-01

Nuclei, like more familiar mechanical systems, undergo simple vibrational motion. Among these vibrations, sound modes are of particular interest since they reveal important information on the effective interactions among the constituents and, through extrapolation, on the bulk behaviour of nuclear and neutron matter. Sound wave propagation in nuclei shows strong quantum effects familiar from other quantum systems. Microscopic theory suggests that the restoring forces are caused by the complex structure of the many-Fermion wavefunction and, in some cases, have no classical analogue. The damping of the vibrational amplitude is strongly influenced by phase coherence among the particles participating in the motion. (author)

The sound and the fury--bees hiss when expecting danger.

Science.gov (United States)

Wehmann, Henja-Niniane; Gustav, David; Kirkerud, Nicholas H; Galizia, C Giovanni

2015-01-01

Honey bees are important model systems for the investigation of learning and memory and for a better understanding of the neuronal basics of brain function. Honey bees also possess a rich repertoire of tones and sounds, from queen piping and quacking to worker hissing and buzzing. In this study, we tested whether the worker bees' sounds can be used as a measure of learning. We therefore conditioned honey bees aversively to odours in a walking arena and recorded both their sound production and their movement. Bees were presented with two odours, one of which was paired with an electric shock. Initially, the bees did not produce any sound upon odour presentation, but responded to the electric shock with a strong hissing response. After learning, many bees hissed at the presentation of the learned odour, while fewer bees hissed upon presentation of another odour. We also found that hissing and movement away from the conditioned odour are independent behaviours that can co-occur but do not necessarily do so. Our data suggest that hissing can be used as a readout for learning after olfactory conditioning, but that there are large individual differences between bees concerning their hissing reaction. The basis for this variability and the possible ecological relevance of the bees' hissing remain to be investigated.

Sound Power Minimization of Circular Plates Through Damping Layer Placement

Science.gov (United States)

Wodtke, H.-W.; Lamancusa, J. S.

1998-09-01

Damping layers, widely used for noise and vibration control of thin-walled structures, can be designed to provide an optimal trade-off between performance and weight which is of particular importance in the automotive and aircraft industry. The goal of the presented work is the minimization of sound power radiated from plates under broadband excitation by redistribution of unconstrained damping layers. The total radiated sound power is assumed to be represented by the sound power radiated at the structural resonances. Resonance tracking is performed by means of single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF)-approximations based on near-resonance responses and their frequency derivatives. Axisymmetric vibrations of circular plates under several boundary and forcing conditions are considered. Frequency dependent Young's modulus and loss factor of the damping material are taken into account. Vibration analysis is based on the finite element method (FEM) while acoustic radiation is treated by means of Rayleigh's integral formula. It is shown that, starting from a uniform damping layer distribution, substantial reduction in radiated sound power can be achieved through redistribution of the damping layers. Depending on the given situation, these reductions are not only due to amplitude reductions but also to changes in vibration shapes and frequencies.

Density, speed of sound, viscosity and refractive index properties of aqueous solutions of vitamins B1.HCl and B6.HCl at temperatures (278.15, 288.15, and 298.15) K

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dhondge, Sudhakar S.; Deshmukh, Dinesh W.; Paliwal, Lalitmohan J.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Study of aqueous solutions of vitamins B 1 .HCl and B 6 .HCl at different temperatures has been presented. ► These are important vitamins. ► Different interactions among solute and solvents have been investigated. ► The results are interpreted in terms of water structure making and breaking effects due to cations. -- Abstract: The experimental values of density (ρ), speed of sound (u), absolute viscosity (η) and refractive index (n D ) properties are reported for aqueous solutions of thiamine hydrochloride (vitamin B 1 .HCl) and pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B 6 .HCl) within the concentration range (0.01 to 0.55) mol ⋅ kg −1 at three different temperatures, viz. T/K = 278.15, 288.15, and 298.15. Using experimental data, different derived parameters such as the apparent molar volume of solute (ϕ V ), isentropic compressibility of solution (β S ), apparent molar isentropic compressibility of solute (ϕ KS ) and relative viscosity of solution (η r ) have been computed. The limiting values of apparent molar volume (ϕ V 0 ) and apparent molar isentropic compressibility (ϕ KS 0 ) have been obtained. The limiting apparent molar expansivity (ϕ E 0 ) of solute, coefficient of thermal expansion (α ∗ ) and hydration numbers (n h ) of above vitamins in the aqueous medium have also been estimated. The experimental values of relative viscosity are used to calculate the Jones–Dole equation viscosity A and B coefficients for the hydrochlorides. The temperature coefficients of B i.e. (dB/dT) for these solutes have been used to study water structure making and breaking effects due to cations. Further, a discussion is made on the basis of solute–solute and solute–solvent interactions

Music and language expertise influence the categorization of speech and musical sounds: behavioral and electrophysiological measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Elmer, Stefan; Klein, Carina; Kühnis, Jürg; Liem, Franziskus; Meyer, Martin; Jäncke, Lutz

2014-10-01

In this study, we used high-density EEG to evaluate whether speech and music expertise has an influence on the categorization of expertise-related and unrelated sounds. With this purpose in mind, we compared the categorization of speech, music, and neutral sounds between professional musicians, simultaneous interpreters (SIs), and controls in response to morphed speech-noise, music-noise, and speech-music continua. Our hypothesis was that music and language expertise will strengthen the memory representations of prototypical sounds, which act as a perceptual magnet for morphed variants. This means that the prototype would "attract" variants. This so-called magnet effect should be manifested by an increased assignment of morphed items to the trained category, by a reduced maximal slope of the psychometric function, as well as by differential event-related brain responses reflecting memory comparison processes (i.e., N400 and P600 responses). As a main result, we provide first evidence for a domain-specific behavioral bias of musicians and SIs toward the trained categories, namely music and speech. In addition, SIs showed a bias toward musical items, indicating that interpreting training has a generic influence on the cognitive representation of spectrotemporal signals with similar acoustic properties to speech sounds. Notably, EEG measurements revealed clear distinct N400 and P600 responses to both prototypical and ambiguous items between the three groups at anterior, central, and posterior scalp sites. These differential N400 and P600 responses represent synchronous activity occurring across widely distributed brain networks, and indicate a dynamical recruitment of memory processes that vary as a function of training and expertise.

Students' Learning of a Generalized Theory of Sound Transmission from a Teaching-Learning Sequence about Sound, Hearing and Health

Science.gov (United States)

West, Eva; Wallin, Anita

2013-04-01

Learning abstract concepts such as sound often involves an ontological shift because to conceptualize sound transmission as a process of motion demands abandoning sound transmission as a transfer of matter. Thus, for students to be able to grasp and use a generalized model of sound transmission poses great challenges for them. This study involved 199 students aged 10-14. Their views about sound transmission were investigated before and after teaching by comparing their written answers about sound transfer in different media. The teaching was built on a research-based teaching-learning sequence (TLS), which was developed within a framework of design research. The analysis involved interpreting students' underlying theories of sound transmission, including the different conceptual categories that were found in their answers. The results indicated a shift in students' understandings from the use of a theory of matter before the intervention to embracing a theory of process afterwards. The described pattern was found in all groups of students irrespective of age. Thus, teaching about sound and sound transmission is fruitful already at the ages of 10-11. However, the older the students, the more advanced is their understanding of the process of motion. In conclusion, the use of a TLS about sound, hearing and auditory health promotes students' conceptualization of sound transmission as a process in all grades. The results also imply some crucial points in teaching and learning about the scientific content of sound.

Digitizing a sound archive

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cone, Louise

2017-01-01

Danish and international artists. His methodology left us with a large collection of unique and inspirational time-based media sound artworks that have, until very recently, been inaccessible. Existing on an array of different media formats, such as open reel tapes, 8-track and 4 track cassettes, VHS......In 1990 an artist by the name of William Louis Sørensen was hired by the National Gallery of Denmark to collect important works of art – made from sound. His job was to acquire sound art, but also recordings that captured rare artistic occurrences, music, performances and happenings from both...

The sounds of safety: stress and danger in music perception.

Science.gov (United States)

Schäfer, Thomas; Huron, David; Shanahan, Daniel; Sedlmeier, Peter

2015-01-01

As with any sensory input, music might be expected to incorporate the processing of information about the safety of the environment. Little research has been done on how such processing has evolved and how different kinds of sounds may affect the experience of certain environments. In this article, we investigate if music, as a form of auditory information, can trigger the experience of safety. We hypothesized that (1) there should be an optimal, subjectively preferred degree of information density of musical sounds, at which safety-related information can be processed optimally; (2) any deviation from the optimum, that is, both higher and lower levels of information density, should elicit experiences of higher stress and danger; and (3) in general, sonic scenarios with music should reduce experiences of stress and danger more than other scenarios. In Experiment 1, the information density of short music-like rhythmic stimuli was manipulated via their tempo. In an initial session, listeners adjusted the tempo of the stimuli to what they deemed an appropriate tempo. In an ensuing session, the same listeners judged their experienced stress and danger in response to the same stimuli, as well as stimuli exhibiting tempo variants. Results are consistent with the existence of an optimum information density for a given rhythm; the preferred tempo decreased for increasingly complex rhythms. The hypothesis that any deviation from the optimum would lead to experiences of higher stress and danger was only partly fit by the data. In Experiment 2, listeners should indicate their experience of stress and danger in response to different sonic scenarios: music, natural sounds, and silence. As expected, the music scenarios were associated with lowest stress and danger whereas both natural sounds and silence resulted in higher stress and danger. Overall, the results largely fit the hypothesis that music seemingly carries safety-related information about the environment.

Parallel-plate third sound waveguides with fixed and variable plate spacings for the study of fifth sound in superfluid helium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jelatis, G.J.

1983-01-01

Third sound in superfluid helium four films has been investigated using two parallel-plate waveguides. These investigations led to the observation of fifth sound, a new mode of sound propagation. Both waveguides consisted of two parallel pieces of vitreous quartz. The sound speed was obtained by measuring the time-of-flight of pulsed third sound over a known distance. Investigations from 1.0-1.7K were possible with the use of superconducting bolometers, which measure the temperature component of the third sound wave. Observations were initially made with a waveguide having a plate separation fixed at five microns. Adiabatic third sound was measured in the geometry. Isothermal third sound was also observed, using the usual, single-substrate technique. Fifth sound speeds, calculated from the two-fluid theory of helium and the speeds of the two forms of third sound, agreed in size and temperature dependence with theoretical predictions. Nevertheless, only equivocal observations of fifth sound were made. As a result, the film-substrate interaction was examined, and estimates of the Kapitza conductance were made. Assuming the dominance of the effects of this conductance over those due to the ECEs led to a new expression for fifth sound. A reanalysis of the initial data was made, which contained no adjustable parameters. The observation of fifth sound was seen to be consistent with the existence of an anomalously low boundary conductance

Hearing Mouth Shapes: Sound Symbolism and the Reverse McGurk Effect

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charles Spence

2012-09-01

Full Text Available In their recent article, Sweeny, Guzman-Martinez, Ortega, Grabowecky, and Suzuki (2012 demonstrate that heard speech sounds modulate the perceived shape of briefly presented visual stimuli. Ovals, whose aspect ratio (relating width to height varied on a trial-by-trial basis, were rated as looking wider when a /woo/ sound was presented, and as taller when a /wee/ sound was presented instead. On the one hand, these findings add to a growing body of evidence demonstrating that audiovisual correspondences can have perceptual (as well as decisional effects. On the other hand, they prompt a question concerning their origin. Although the currently popular view is that crossmodal correspondences are based on the internalization of the natural multisensory statistics of the environment (see Spence, 2011, these new results suggest instead that certain correspondences may actually be based on the sensorimotor responses associated with human vocalizations. As such, the findings of Sweeny et al. help to breathe new life into Sapir's (1929 once-popular “embodied” explanation of sound symbolism. Furthermore, they pose a challenge for those psychologists wanting to determine which among a number of plausible accounts best explains the available data on crossmodal correspondences.

Application of Carbon Nanotube Assemblies for Sound Generation and Heat Dissipation

Science.gov (United States)