Martin Neukom, Clemens Kuhn-Rahloff

In collaboration with:

• University of Zurich – Institute for Neuropsychology
• Volkswagen AG, Group Research (Wolfsburg, Germany)
• LMS International Ltd. (Leuven, Belgium)
• Phonak AG (Stäfa, Switzerland)

Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation, snf

Overview

The aim of PERAS is to investigate aspects of human perception for moving sound sources and to transfer the results into four domains of applications. The main focus is on the Doppler effect for sound sources which move radially towards or away from the listener since this effect has not yet been studied in detail.

Background and Existing Results

The Doppler effect causes perceived pitch changes, an example of which might be: road traffic noise when vehicles are passing a listener. Preliminary studies of the project part-ners have shown that processes of preconscious perception lead to the fact that subjects tend to judge a sound source as approaching instead of receding in case of doubt. This over-estimation of movements towards the listener is probably caused by evolutionary developments since approaching sound sources may be regarded as potential danger. The preconscious perceptual process was confirmed by neuropsychological studies.

Research Area

The current results suggest that human perception attaches a high importance to such pitch changes. Therefore, the project partners propose to apply the information of such cues in creative and industrial sound design. PERAS shall expand the existing studies especially concerning perceptual effects for reflections of moving sound sources.

Methodology

The studies are designed such that, when possible, the respective perceptual parameters can be investigated and weighted separately. This parameterization allows developing perceptual models. Such models provide dedicated control of perceptual cues with a wider scope of design than in natural environments where cues are often restricted through physical contexts. This is especially interesting for interactive applications in virtual reality.

Applications of Project Results

The applicability of results from PERAS will be investigated in cooperation with practice partners from four different domains:

-              Sound design and computer music

-              Auditory displays in driver assistance systems (automotive industry)

-              Development and fitting of hearing aids

-              Noise protection and quality assessment of noise