Sound & Hearing: A Conceptual Introduction

by R. Duncan Luce

Overview

The major aim of this book is to introduce the ways in which scientists approach and think about a phenomenon — hearing — that intersects three quite different disciplines: the physics of sound sources and the propagation of sound through air and other materials, the anatomy and physiology of the transformation of the physical sound into neural activity in the brain, and the psychology of the perception we call hearing. Physics, biology, and psychology each play a role in understanding how and what we hear.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138982550
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/27/2017
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Contents: Part I: Transmission, Transduction, and Black Boxes. Signal Transmission. Signal Reception. Transducers. Black and Not-So-Black Boxes. Reductionism in Science. Part II: Descriptive Physics of Pure Tones. Propagation of Pulses. Generation of Waves. Wave Propagation in Time and Space. The Doppler Effect. Reflection and Refraction of Waves. Some Formal Material That Is Useful in Audition. Dimensions of Physical Quantities. Measuring Sound Intensity. Sound Attenuation Through a Change of Medium. Localizing a Sound Source. Resonance and Filters. Summary of the Main Concepts About Simple Waves. Further Reading. Part III: Properties of the Ear. The Outer and Middle Ears. The Inner Ear. Hair Cells and the Auditory Nerve. Neural Coding of Auditory Information. Interplay of Behavior and Physiology. Further Reading. Part IV: Psychophysics of Pure Tones. The Issues of Psychophysics. Local Psychophysics. Global Psychophysics. Bridging Local and Global Psychophysics. Summary. Further Reading. Part V: Descriptive Physics of Complex Sounds. Superposition. Standing Waves. Synthesis of a Complex Wave in Terms of Harmonics. NonLinear Distortion. Noise. Summary. Further Reading. Part VI: Psychophysics of Complex Sounds. Examples Where the Phenomenon Is Physical. Pure Tone Masking and Facilitation. Noise Masking and Facilitation. Illusory Pitch (or the Missing Fundamental). Echoes and Reverberation. Perceptual Structuring of Sounds. Speech: A Special Perceptual Ability. Some Relations of Hearing to the Other Senses, Especially Vision. Further Reading. Part VII: Exercises. Review Questions Covering the Entire Text. Part VIII: References. Appendix: The Demonstration Disk.