Perception of changes in loudness

Georges Canévet, Bertram Scharf, Robert S. Schlauch, Martha Teghtsoonian and Robert Teghtsoonian ()
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Georges Canévet: Laboratoire de Mécanique et d’Acoustique, CNRS, 13402
Bertram Scharf: Auditory Perception Laboratory, Northeastern University
Robert S. Schlauch: Department of Communication Disorders University of Minnesota
Martha Teghtsoonian: Smith College
Robert Teghtsoonian: Smith College

Nature, 1999, vol. 398, issue 6729, 673-673

Abstract: Abstract Neuhoff1 reported that “rising level tones... change (in loudness) more than falling level tones despite having the same actual change in level... indicating that direction of change is an important (and previously unaddressed) factor in the perception of dynamic loudness change”, and speculated that: “In a natural environment this over-estimation could provide a selective advantage, because rising intensity can signal movement of the source towards an organism.” Leaving aside the question of why it may not be as important for survival to detect the movement of a sound source away from an organism, we dispute the assertion that there is no prior evidence about the influence of direction of change on the degree of change in perceived loudness. This evidence does exist and shows, in contrast to the result reported by Neuhoff1, that declining signal intensity covers a greater range of loudness than does rising signal intensity.

Date: 1999
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DOI: 10.1038/47772

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