Auditory perception

Understand and become familiar with the mechanisms of human auditory perception from the points of view of psycho-acoustics and the physiology of the ear, as well as from that of cognitive psychology.

Develop listening skills for sound objects and their associated effects or illusions, and learn to analyse them in terms of spectro-temporal content, spatial location cues and cognitive representation in memory.

1. The human ear and sound qualities

1. The human ear: an elaborate sensor

The outer ear

The middle ear

The inner ear

The organ of Corti

How the ear works

Hearing loss

2. Visual representations of sound, audibility range and perceptual thresholds

The domain of hearing

Differential intensity and frequency thresholds

3. The sensation of intensity: variations around the decibel

Loudness

Critical bands

Masking

4. The sensation of pitch

Pitch scales

Pitch of complex sounds

Spectral pitch

5. The perception of duration

The ear's time constant

Recognition thresholds (pitch, tone colour and identification)

The separating power of the ear

Psychological time

Modulations of sound

6. The sensation of timbre

A few definitions...

A little history

Causal timbre

Sound colour

II. Binaural perception

1. Acoustic field
2. Localization in the azimuthal plane
3. Localisation in the median vertical plane
4. Distance identification
5. Multiple sources and virtual sources
6. Binaural unmasking
7. Modelling the binaural system
8. Analysis of auditory scenes

III. SPECIFIC FIELDS OF APPLICATION Specific fields of application

1. Research into spoken and sung voice
2. Auditory illusions
3. Listening tests (listening room at the Laboratoire d'Acoustique-Musicale), methodology, audiograms...

FSMS 1

Written control exam