Modelling auditory adaptation

Research Student: Cleo Pike
Principal Supervisor: Dr Russell Mason
Co-Supervisor: Dr Tim Brookes
Supported by: The Marion Redfearn Trust and EPSRC

Start date: 2011
End date: 2015

Project Outline

On its path to the ear the spectral envelope of a sound is modified by transmission channels including vocal tracts, electro-acoustic channels, and listening rooms. However, speech perception research suggests that timbre remains relatively stable across vocal tracts. This ‘timbral constancy’ appears to be caused by perceptual compensation for the channel involving neural adaptation and/or cognitive mechanisms. The same speech perception mechanisms may cause compensation for other channels such as loudspeakers and listening rooms. However, speech mechanisms have only been tested over short time courses. Compensation for loudspeakers and listening rooms may involve mechanisms that require longer listening. Further, speech perception may be different to the perception of other sounds. Previous research has not confirmed that speech mechanisms work when listening to non-speech. It is therefore necessary to determine if speech mechanisms contribute significantly to compensation for loudspeakers and rooms when listening to music.

The research undertaken as part of this project confirms that compensation for loudspeakers and rooms decreases perceptions of these channels. This compensation appears to be caused by a mechanism with a time course similar to the speech mechanisms, and also a mechanism with a longer time course. Further, it shows that the speech compensation mechanisms can manifest with non-speech. It is therefore concluded that compensation for loudspeakers and rooms when listening to music may in part be caused by the speech mechanisms. Further work must be done to confirm the exact contribution of these mechanisms and other mechanisms (that work over a longer time course) to compensation for loudspeakers and rooms.

Publications

Data Archive

The data on which the findings of this project are based are available in this repository: