ACOUSTICS & ULTRASONIC

‫الصوتيات وفوق السمعيات‬

ASSOC. PROF. SAMEH A. NAPOLEON 2020-2021
AUDIO SIGNALS,
HEARING AND VOICE
CHAPTER 2
CH 2: AUDIO SIGNALS:
• We need to study the properties of sound both from the technical and from the subjective
viewpoints
• Hearing acts as a complicated time-frequency analyzer that can also analyze patterns in
sound and use cognition to determine the source identity, among other things
• time-frequency analysis, such as short-time Fourier analysis and wavelet analysis, can
simulate some of the analysis features of hearing
• The signals, music, and noise are continuous or quasiperiodic from an analysis viewpoint
(their spectra do not change much over the time of the analysis window).

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 SIGNALS AND THE JΩ-METHOD

A practical audio signal is usually finite and quasiperiodic

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 In audio signal characterization and listening, phase is
important. A transient sound and a noise sound may have the
same energy but will appear entirely different to our hearing.

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THE LEVEL CONCEPT
▪ The psychophysical sensitivity of hearing is such that each increase of intensity by a
certain ratio, over some intensity limit, is perceived approximately equally strong
subjectively.
▪ The concept of level, in acoustics, implies that one uses the logarithm between two values
of a power related sound field property to describe their difference.
▪ Power-related quantities are sound intensity, sound power, energy, and energy density.
▪ sound pressure and particle velocity are related to sound intensity
▪ As an example, a power density level is written:

▪ the difference between two power density levels

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REFERENCE LEVELS
• Hearing senses sound pressures in a range of approximately 0.5 × 10−5 Pa to 100 Pa
(1 𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙 = 1𝑁/𝑚2 )
• For any scale to be practical, it needs a reference point or value. In acoustics, the level
reference values for intensity and sound pressure are chosen so that related levels have
the same size and the number 0 dB corresponds closely to the hearing threshold.

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CH 3: HEARING AND VOICE
• Human hearing is an extremely sensitive mechanism for sensing acoustic signals.
• As we listen, we use a set of subsystems: ears, auditory nerves, and brain.
• Humans may be able to detect rms sound pressures as low as 5 μPa and to endure
pressures as high as 100 Pa
• The frequency range extends from 20 Hz to 20 kHz for a normal hearing person.
• The high frequencies have short wavelengths that allow good directional hearing.
• Although the physiological functions of the ear are well known, little is known about the
signal processing properties of the auditory nerve and the brain. Using psychoacoustic
tests, it is possible to check various hypotheses for the function of these systems.

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THE COMPONENTS OF THE EAR

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 THE OUTER EAR
• The outer ear consists of the eardrum, the ear canal, and the outer, visible part of the ear,
the pinna.

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• The middle ear contains the three middle ear bones.
• Normally, the middle ear is acoustically sealed from
the outside except for the sound that enters through
the vibrations of the eardrum

THE MIDDLE EAR

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THE INNER EAR

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PSYCHOACOUSTIC DIMENSIONS
▪ While it is possible to describe the physical properties of sound by using such terms as
sound pressure, phase, frequency, and duration,
▪ it is not possible to describe the auditory experience similarly, since the various
dimensions of the auditory experience are interrelated.
▪ the auditory experience of one listener is likely to be different from another.
▪ Even within one listener, it may change with time
▪ The two most obvious psychoacoustic dimensions are loudness and pitch, but there are
also others such as roughness, sharpness, and timbre.
▪ As one is exposed to an increase in sound pressure level, the loudness of the sound
increases.
▪ The relationship is quite nonlinear; for example, it varies according to frequency and
duration.

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 LOUDNESS AND LOUDNESS LEVEL
• The threshold of audibility (hearing
threshold) is the lowest sound pressure
level at which one can perceive sounds.
The threshold of audibility is usually
measured over a frequency range
extending from 20 Hz to 20 kHz for a
plane-wave incident in the frontal
direction of the listener.
• The threshold of audibility is more
rigorously defined as the minimum
perceptible free-field sound pressure
level that can be detected at any
frequency over the frequency range of
hearing.
• MAF: [minimum audible field]
The Loudness Level (LL) of a sound is the sound pressure level of a reference tone at 1 kHz that is perceived as equally loud as the test sound.
The LL is expressed in the unit phon.

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• The Loudness Level (LL) of a sound is the sound pressure level of a reference tone at 1
kHz that is
• perceived as equally loud as the test sound. The LL is expressed in the unit phon.
• The variation in sound pressure level for equal LL is described by equal loudness
contours.
• These are measured using test persons in the same way as when determining the threshold
of audibility, but in this case, the persons are asked to determine when the test tone at
some frequency is equally loud as the reference tone.
• The standard deviations obtained in these types of psychoacoustic experiments are quite
large, and the curves shown in Figure 3.12 represent averages of the equal loudness
contours of many persons determined to have normal, undamaged hearing.

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• At LL above 120 phon, the sound will be so strong that one can feel the sound, i.e.,
threshold of
• feeling. In the same way, there is a threshold of pain at approximately 140 phon.
• It is useful to be able to measure the LL by instruments. Various methods have been
derived to make this possible, both analog and digital. Today, digital methods based on
various types of the spectral analysis are the most common.
• Conventional acoustic noise measurements use omnidirectional microphones, sensing the
sound equally independent of the angle of incidence of the sound.

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PITCH AND TIMBRE

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VOICE AND SPEECH
• The fundamental components
of the voice mechanism are
the lungs, the vocal cords, the
tongue, the mouth, and the
nose, as shown in Figure 3.28.
The voice mechanism is
powered by air that is exhaled
from the lungs.

• The Voice Mechanism

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THE VOICE MECHANISM

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SPECTRAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SPEECH

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VOICE DIRECTIVITY

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VOICE DIRECTIVITY

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SPEECH INTELLIGIBILITY

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OBJECTIVE SPEECH INTELLIGIBILITY ASSESSMENT
• Report 1:
• Read this section and return a full definition for each assessment method

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