Auditory Perception

This revised and updated third edition describes the nature of sound, how sound is analyzed by the auditory system, and the rules and principles governing our interpretation of auditory input. It covers many topics including sound and the auditory system, locating sound sources, the basis for loudness judgments, perception of acoustic sequences, perceptual restoration of obliterated sounds, speech production and perception, and the relation of hearing to perception in general. Whilst keeping the consistent style of the previous editions, many new features have been added, including suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, a section on functional imaging of the brain, expanded information on pitch and infrapitch, and additional coverage of speech processing. Advanced undergraduate and graduate students interested in auditory perception, behavioral sciences, psychology, neurobiology, architectural acoustics, and the hearing sciences will find this book an excellent guide.

Auditory Perception: A New Synthesis focuses on the effort to show the connections between key areas in hearing. The book offers a review of classical problems, and then presents interpretations and evidence of this topic. A short introduction to the physical nature of sound and the way sound is transmitted and changed within the ear is provided. The book discusses the importance of being able to identify the source of a sound, and then presents processes in this regard. The text provides information on the organs involved in the identification of sound and discusses pitch and infrapitch and the manner by which their loudness can be measured. Scales are presented to show the loudness of sound. The relationship of hearing with other senses is also discussed. The text also outlines how speech is produced, taking into consideration the organs involved in the process. The book is a valuable source of data for research scientists and other professionals who are involved in hearing and speech.

Auditory Scene Analysis addresses the problem of hearing complex auditory environments, using a series of creative analogies to describe the process required of the human auditory system as it analyzes mixtures of sounds to recover descriptions of individual sounds. In a unified and comprehensive way, Bregman establishes a theoretical framework that integrates his findings with an unusually wide range of previous research in psychoacoustics, speech perception, music theory and composition, and computer modeling.

Listening combines broad coverage of acoustics, speech and music perception psychophysics, and auditory physiology with a coherent theoretical orientation in a lively and accessible introduction to the perception of music and speech events. Handel treats the production and perception of music and speech in parallel throughout the text, arguing that their production and perception follows identical principles; music and speech share the same formal properties, involve the same cognitive mechanisms, and cannot exist in separate "modules." The way that a sound is produced determines the physical properties of the acoustic wave. These properties in turn lead to the perception of the event. The initial chapters take up physical processes, including a section on characterization of sound and discussion of the way instruments and speech produce musical sound. Handel explains how the environment affects perceived sounds, including reflection, reverberation, diffraction, and the Doppler effect. Subsequent chapters take up psychological processes: partitioning smeared sounds into discrete events, identifying sound sources, the units and phrases of speech and music, and speech and music rhythms. The final chapter provides a detailed treatment of the physiology and neurophysiology of the auditory system. All of the author's explanations are coherent and clear, and this strategy includes discussing particular pieces of research in detail rather than covering many things superficially Handel analyzes causes as well as describing phenomena and sets out for the reader the difficulties inherent in the research methods he discusses. He defines the physical, musical, and psychological terms used, even the most basic ones, and covers all of the experimental methods and statistical procedures in the text. A Bradford Book.

Auditory Perception of Sound Sources covers higher-level auditory processes that are perceptual processes. The chapters describe how humans and other animals perceive the sounds that they receive from the many sound sources existing in the world. This book will provide an overview of areas of current research involved with understanding how sound-source determination processes operate. This book will focus on psychophysics and perception as well as being relevant to basic auditory research. Contents: Perceiving Sound Sources: An Overview William A. Yost Human Sound Source Identification Robert A. Lutfi Size Information in the Production and Perception of Communication Sounds Roy D. Patterson, David R. R. Smith, Ralph van Dinther, and Tom Walters The role of memory in auditory perception Laurent Demany, and Catherine Semal Auditory Attention and Filters Ervin R. Hafter, Anastasios Sarampalis, and Psyche Loui Informational masking Gerald Kidd Jr., Christine R. Mason, Virginia M. Richards, Frederick J. Gallun, and Nathaniel I. Durlach Effects of harmonicity and regularity on the perception of sound sources Robert P. Carlyon, and Hedwig E. Gockel Spatial Hearing and Perceiving Sources Christopher J. Darwin Envelope Processing and Sound-Source Perception Stanley Sheft Speech as a Sound Source Andrew J. Lotto, and Sarah C. Sullivan Sound Source Perception and Stream Segregation in Non-human Vertebrate Animals Richard R. Fay About the editors: William A. Yost, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology, Adjunct Professor of Hearing Sciences of the Parmly Hearing Institute, and Adjunct Professor of Otolaryngology at Loyola University of Chicago. Arthur N. Popper is Professor in the Department of Biology and Co-Director of the Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing at the University of Maryland, College Park. Richard R. Fay is Director of the Parmly Hearing Institute and Professor of Psychology at Loyola University of Chicago. About the series: The Springer Handbook of Auditory Research presents a series of synthetic reviews of fundamental topics dealing with auditory systems. Each volume is independent and authoritative; taken as a set, this series is the definitive resource in the field.

Taking a classical approach to psychoacoutstics, Introduction to Normal Auditory Perception guides students toward a basic understanding of hearing science and theory. The book explores the germinal research published in the field of auditory perception and then clearly interprets the findings which have formed the foundations of modern auditory theory. Complex theories are broken down for easy comprehension. Starting with the basic principles of acoustics, the text moves through seminal experiments in psychoacoustics regarding the role of stimulus intensity, frequency, and duration on fundamental auditory perceptions. Basic principles of binaural listening are also covered.

There has been substantial progress in understanding the contributions of the auditory forebrain to hearing, sound localization, communication, emotive behavior, and cognition. The Auditory Cortex covers the latest knowledge about the auditory forebrain, including the auditory cortex as well as the medial geniculate body in the thalamus. This book will cover all important aspects of the auditory forebrain organization and function, integrating the auditory thalamus and cortex into a smooth, coherent whole. Volume One covers basic auditory neuroscience. It complements The Auditory Cortex, Volume 2: Integrative Neuroscience, which takes a more applied/clinical perspective.

An integrated overview of hearing and the interplay of physical, biological, and psychological processes underlying it. Every time we listen—to speech, to music, to footsteps approaching or retreating—our auditory perception is the result of a long chain of diverse and intricate processes that unfold within the source of the sound itself, in the air, in our ears, and, most of all, in our brains. Hearing is an "everyday miracle" that, despite its staggering complexity, seems effortless. This book offers an integrated account of hearing in terms of the neural processes that take place in different parts of the auditory system. Because hearing results from the interplay of so many physical, biological, and psychological processes, the book pulls together the different aspects of hearing—including acoustics, the mathematics of signal processing, the physiology of the ear and central auditory pathways, psychoacoustics, speech, and music—into a coherent whole.