Antonine University – Faculty of Advertising and Media

Audiovisual techniques: Sound – Teacher: Jean-Paul Jalwan.

CHAPTER II

Perception of sound - physiological process of hearing

We hear a sound when vibrations from the ambient air, reaching our eardrum, set it in
motion in conditions of amplitude and frequency that are transmitted from the middle ear to the
inner ear. Then begins the processing of the information contained in this phenomenon,
processing that continues through different relays to the cerebral cortex and whose result will be
the perception of sound.

1. The listening mechanism

The diagram below shows a representation of the ear and shows the key components
useful for understanding the hearing mechanism.

Fig.1 Simplified diagram of the ear

The ears provide hearing and balance. Located on either side of the head, they have a
visible part while most of their organs are protected by the cranial bones. Sound waves enter the
external auditory canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are transmitted in the
middle ear to a chain of ossicles: the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup. When the stirrup is set in
motion, its base enters the oval window of the inner ear and causes displacements of the liquid
contained in a duct wound on itself, the cochlea or slug. The vibrations of the membrane of the
cochlear canal are transmitted to the organ of corti whose sensory cells translate acoustic energy
into nerve impulses. These are transmitted through the cochlear nerve to the area of the brain that
processes the perception of sounds.

2. Hearing area, sound and pitch of pure sounds

As far as sound intensity is concerned, the human hearing area is between the hearing
threshold (the minimum level that sounds must have to be just audible) and the pain threshold.
As for frequency, humans are able to hear sounds with frequencies as low as 16 Hz and
as high as 20 kHz (10 octaves). The upper limit of audible frequencies degrades rapidly with age:
few people over sixty can perceive sounds over 8 kHz.
A pure sound corresponds to a single sinusoidal vibration. Pure sounds can seem weak or
loud, high or low. As a first approximation, their sound (perceived intensity) is determined by
their sound pressure level. But, at the same sound pressure level, low or very high frequency
sounds sound lower than medium frequency sounds. This is shown by the isosonia curves
established by Fletcher and Munson. These isosonia levels (measured in phones) represent sound
in a relative and not absolute way. The scale of the sounds was established from the sound ratios
between the sounds. The value of 1 sone was arbitrarily defined as representing the sound of a
sound of 1,000 Hz at a level of 40 dB. For each frequency it is thus possible to obtain a function
linking the sound expressed in sounds to the sound pressure level. Beyond 40 phones, this
function generally follows a law of exponent power 0.6. In addition to the frequency, the
duration of a sound is involved in determining the sound. At frequencies and average levels, the
sound increases with duration up to a value of about 180 ms called critical duration.
As a first approximation, the tone (or perceived pitch) of a pure sound is determined by
its frequency. But beyond 1,000 Hz, the frequency must be more than doubled to produce a
feeling of double height. The tonie scale is graduated in mels. To assign a precise pitch to a
sound, it must not only have a certain sound pressure level (called the tonal perception threshold)
but also a duration of at least 10 milliseconds. Below this limit, sound tends to be perceived as a
click.
Fig.2 Fletcher and Munson diagrams – Iso sonic curves

3. The mask effect

Normal hearing with both ears (binauricular hearing) makes it possible to locate the
direction of a sound source in space: it is the ability to listen directedly or the possibility of
isolating in the entire sound space an area of a given solid angle, outside of which any sound
phenomenon - although perceived - does not disturb attention.
Of these two areas, the smallest corresponding to attentive listening, therefore to "useful
sound"; although perception subsists physiologically, our consciousness can ignore the other
zone. This is what allows us to follow a conversation in an ambient noise or in the middle of
other voices.
However, when the ambient noise becomes too intense, the hearing of the desired sounds
becomes painful - this is the case, among other things, of a conversation in the "subway". There
is a "mask effect". To continue the conversation, we raise the voice and make it more acute.
Then, the hearing threshold of a sound S rises when one hears simultaneously a sound S 1 of
higher level than S; this elevation of the threshold depends on both the acoustic intensity I a1 and
the frequency f1 of the sound S1. S said his masked, S1 is said his masking sound.
 4. Frequency perception - The law of tonotopia - spatial coding

The law of tonotopia: A set of cells present throughout the cochlear canal have the role
of capturing frequency slices and transmitting them to the brain.

256 Hz 128 Hz 64Hz 32 Hz

Oval window (base) ---------------10---|------20------|------30------|------40------|---- Apex

The numbers 10, 20, 30 and 40 are a representation of the distance from the oval window.
High frequencies are perceived at positions close to the oval window, while low frequencies are
perceived on the Apex side.

Spatial frequency coding is therefore based on the positioning of cells along the cochlear
canal and assigns to each cell, or group of cells, a very specific frequency to be transmitted to the
nerve centers.

The cell (or group of cells) of 1400 Hz is located at a very specific positioning and is
selective, that is to say that it reacts only this frequency (1400Hz). The same applies to the cell
relative to 800 Hz.

Fig.6 Cochlear tonotopy

 5. Audiometry

Audiometry is a technique for measuring hearing acuity by means of an audiometer.

Theaudiometer is an instrument intended to test hearing. Audiometers are used to screen

for cases of deafness, especially in children. This instrument includes headphones that produce
sounds of various frequencies. The subject under examination is usually isolated in a soundproof
booth to eliminate externalnoise, and has a switch to signal the sounds he hears. We first
examine one ear, then the other.

Each sound is first emitted at a level that allows it to be heard without difficulty; the
intensity is then gradually decreased. The test subject activates the switch as soon as he no longer
perceives the signal. Thus, the machine records the point below which the patient no longer hears
sound for a given frequency. The operator changes the frequency and the process is repeated. In
general, hearing acuity is tested for frequencies of 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1,000 Hz, 2,000 Hz,
4,000 Hz, 8,000 Hz and 12,000 Hz. Headphones are usually used to transmit sounds, but bone
conduction can also be tested. In this case, the headphones are replaced by a rubber-coated
vibrator, applied to the mastoid process behind the ear.