Based on the multiple resource model, a more difficult auditory task should use more attentional resources and leave fewer resources to attend to visual information. Research suggests that trying to listen to and understand a speaker with an accent is difficult. In addition, stimuli that are considered threatening can raise stress levels and reduce the amount of attentional resources available. In the present study, participants watched one of four videos that portrayed a bank robber delivering a statement with either a Midwestern or Serbian accent and with either high or low level of threat. For the perpetrator’s appearance, participants provided significantly more correct and fewer incorrect details if they heard the Midwestern accent or the low threat statement. These results support the multiple resource model and suggest that further research is needed with the model in eyewitness memory. / Department of Psychological Science

This study had two purposes: first, to collect information relating to harmonic and intermodulation distortion from several sources into one comprehensive report and second, to describe and develop an interactive CD-ROM as a new method of learning harmonic and intermodulation distortion. The CD-ROM allows students to interact and control the percentage amount of harmonic and intermodulation distortion in order to "calibrate" their ears. In addition, the practical testing environment changes on a random basis to continually challenge the users. These situations allow students to interact at their own speed and therefore customize their learning development. / School of Music

Timbre is a multidimensional attribute of sound and depends to a large extent on its spectral content. The evaluation and control of timbre is a task commonly performed by sound engineers, loudspeaker designers, and subjects participating in listening tests on the quality of transmitted and reproduced sound. Such listening tasks require specific listening abilities. / This dissertation presents a training method that aims at developing memory for timbre, sensitivity to timbre changes, and listening strategies involving disciplined auditory attention and efficiency. The physical timbre space is divided into categories defined by the center frequency of standard octave and third-octave resonances. This simplification of the physical timbre space allows the memorization of a limited set of perceptual timbre categories or references that can be used to evaluate other timbres. / The proposed method combines the use of computer software for the presentation and evaluation of exercises and individual tutoring sessions with an instructor. The software monitors the actions of listeners during equalization adjustment tasks and allows data to be collected on the sequence of problem solving operators that are used. Performance indicators can thus be compiled and used for the assessment of skill level achieved by the listeners. A global performance index is proposed. / A listening test involving the adjustment of multiple peaks and dips in a sound's spectrum is presented, in which the performance of a group of experienced professionals involved in sound recording and audio post-production was compared with a group of student subjects with comparatively little listening experience but who were trained with the method described in the present work for a period of 6 months. Results indicate that overall the experimental student group outperformed the control group of professionals. Suggestions for further improvement of the training method and performance level assessment are proposed.

Auditory sequencing ability was studied in 18 five and 18 nine year old normal-hearing children, and in 18 hearing-impaired children aged 6 to 14 years. Subjects selected were able to repeat syllables differing in initial consonant or final vowel and identify pictures corresponding to 200-msec. environmental sounds. Sequences of 2, 3 and 4 such items were recorded at 1, 2 and 4 items per second. Significant interactions between type of stimuli, sequence length and rate were obtained. Normal-hearing children and, to a lesser extent, hearing-impaired children had greater facility in recalling verbal than nonverbal sequences. For aIl groups, the fastest rate was optimal for consonants, and the slowest rate for nonverbal sounds. Normal children were superior to hearing-impaired subjects on verbal sequences. On nonverbal sequences, hearing-impaired were more accurate than normal five year olds, but less accurate than nine year olds. Implications for auditory training are discussed. / L'habilite de suivre un ordre auditif fut étudiee chez des enfants d'audition normale de cinq et neuf ans et chez des sujets atteints de surdite, ages de 6 à 14 ans, 18 pour chaque groupe. Les sujets choisis pouvaient repeter des syllabes enregistrees, identifier des images correspondant à des sons d'entourage de 200 msec. de duree. Des ordres de 2, 3 et 4 de ces stimuli furent enregistrés au rythme de 1, 2 et 4 stimuli par seconde. Les enfants d'audition normale et, d'une façon moins eVidente, les enfants atteints de surdité avaient une plus grande facilite à se rappeler des ordres verbaux plutôt que non-verbaux. Pour tous les groupes, la vitesse la plus rapide fut optimale pour les consonnes, et la vitesse la plus lente, pour les sons non-verbaux. Les sujets d'audition normale furent superieurs à ceux atteints de surdité, pour les ordres verbaux mais ces derniers, furent supérieur aux sujets ages de cinq ans et non pas de neuf ans, pour les ordres non-verbaux. Des implications pour l'entraînement auditif sont discutes. fr

Laminate flooring manufacturers have received negative feedback from customers on the sound quality of laminate flooring installations. Customers express a preference for the sound of traditional hardwood floors over that of laminate flooring composites. Consumers notice a difference between the sounds created by a footfall between laminate flooring and hardwood flooring. They perceive the laminate flooring sound of a footfall to be annoying and associate it to the flooring being of a lower quality. No objective test procedure exists to validate the marketing claims of the performance of these products. The objective of the work in this thesis is to develop a test method that evaluates the human perception of the sound quality of footfall noise on laminate flooring composites.

La adaptación que ocurre en el sistema auditivo es un fenónemo que todos experimentamos cuando dejamos de oir sonidos irrelevantes, constantes o incluso molestos. La adaptación para sonidos conocidos aumenta también la sensibilidad y la percepción para estímulos nuevos o poco conocidos. Por tanto, la similaridad entre la historia previa de estimulación y la subsiguiente también puede influenciar la adaptación. La adaptación a la estimulación repetida es un fenómeno que se ha visto en diferentes modalidades sensoriales o especies de animales. El curso temporal de la adaptación en corteza auditiva primaria (A1) se ha estudiado principalmente en intervalos entre estímulos muy rápidos (<400ms) y diferentes mecanismos han sido sugeridos (inhibición sináptica, disbalance excitación-inhibición, inhibición lateral, disminución de la excitación, o inhibición aumentada), aunque los mecanismos intrínsecos neuronales casi no han sido considerados. Por otro lado, numerosos estudios han mostrado el efecto que tiene la anestesia sobre la excitabilidad cortical, pudiendo, por tanto, afectar al estudio de la adaptación. Por último, la adaptación podría estar influenciada por estructuras subcorticales (como el colículo inferior o el tálamo) aunque la influencia intracortical también se ha demostrado. El primer estudio presentado en este trabajo tiene como objetivo caracterizar, en la rata despierta en movimiento, el curso temporal de la adaptación auditiva en las neuronas únicas de A1 aisladas con tetrodos. Con este propósito, se estudió cómo el intervalo entre estímulos, la duración o la intensidad de la estimulación previa afectaba a la amplitud de respuesta y su latencia de respuesta. También se estudió el curso temporal durante la estimulación sostenida y el fenómeno de la postadaptación. La comprensión de cómo la actividad neuronal codifica la información sensorial sigue siendo una cuestión fundamental en el campo de la atención auditiva. Así, la codificación de la información temporal es un aspecto clave en A1. El análisis de la “información mutua” de la respuesta neuronal nos permite cuantificar el contenido de la información de la actividad neuronal. Por otro lado, la variabilidad de la respuesta neuronal podría ser un parámetro clave para la codificación de los estímulos relevantes durante una tarea. También, la respuesta neuronal sostenida se ha sugerido que podría aportar información adicional en el animal en comportamiento. Hasta el momento, se desconoce cómo las neuronas únicas de A1 codifican la categoría temporal de los estímulos auditivos. Con este objetivo se registró la actividad de neuronas únicas en A1, por medio de tetrodos, en el animal en comportamiento. Las ratas debían discriminar si dos sonidos idénticos estaban separados por 150 o 300 ms y se ha estudiado el contenido de la información, la variabilidad y las respuestas post-estímulo de la actividad neuronal en el estado atentivo y el pasivo del animal.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographic references.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2002. / Härtill 6 uppsatser.

Thesis (PhD) - Swinburne University of Technology, Brain Sciences Institute, 2007. / A thesis for Doctorate of Philosophy, Brain Sciences Institute, Swinburne University of Technology - 2007. Typescript. Bibliography: p. 245-285.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2007. / A thesis submitted to the University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliography.