Abstract
The human auditory system is binaural, that is, it consists of two ears that are positioned on the two sides of the head. In a normally functioning system, acoustical pressure waves are picked up by the eardrums at the end of each ear canal. The pressure variations cause the eardrums to vibrate, and the bones of the middle ear transmit the vibrations to the liquid-filled cochlea in the inner ear. The cochlea converts the vibrations into electrical signals that are sent via the auditory nerve fibers to the cochlear nuclei. The nerve signals from the two ears are combined in the superior olivary complex and higher up in the auditory pathways. The brain then utilizes information at the auditory cortices on both sides in forming auditory percepts, such as loudness. Any malfunctioning or individual differences on either side may affect the transduction of pressure waves in the surrounding medium to auditory percepts in the brain, be it peculiarities in the shape of the torso, head, and pinnae, or differences in the peripheral or central auditory pathways (for a review of the physiology of hearing, see Pickles 2008).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Algom D, Ben-Aharon B, Cohen-Raz, L (1989a) Dichotic, diotic, and monaural summation of loudness: a comprehensive analysis of composition and psychophysical functions. Percept Psychophys 46:567–578.
Algom D, Rubin A, Cohen-Raz, L (1989b) Binaural loudness and temporal integration of the loudness of tones and noises. Percept Psychophys 46:155–166.
Arditi A (1986) Binocular vision. In: Boff KR, Kaufman L, Thomas JP (eds), Handbook of Perception and Human Performance Vol. I – Sensory Processes and Perception. New York: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 23.1–23.41.
Bech S (1998) Calibration of relative level differences of a domestic multichannel sound reproduction system. J Audio Eng Soc 46:304–313.
Beranek LL (1986) Acoustics. New York: American Institute of Physics.
Berglund B, Preis A, Rankin K (1990) Relationship between loudness and annoyance for ten community sounds. Environ Int 16:523–531.
Blauert J (1997a) An introduction to binaural technology. In: Gilkey RH, Anderson TR (eds), Binaural and Spatial Hearing in Real and Virtual Environments. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 593–609.
Blauert J (1997b) Spatial Hearing – The Psychophysics of Human Sound Localization. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Blauert J (2005) Communication Acoustics. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Buus S, Florentine M, Poulsen T (1997) Temporal integration of loudness, loudness discrimination, and the form of the loudness function. J Acoust Soc Am 101:669–680.
Crocker MJ (1991) Measurement of sound intensity. In: Harris CM (ed), Handbook of Acoustical Measurements and Noise Control. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 14.1–14.7.
Culling JF, Edmonds BA (2007) Interaural correlation and loudness. In: Kollmeier B, Klump G, Hohmann V, Langemann U, Mauermann M, Uppenkamp S, Verhey J (eds), Hearing – from Sensory Processing to Perception. Heidelberg: Springer Verlag, pp. 359–368.
Dubrovskii NA, Chernyak RI (1969) Binaural summation of differently correlated noises. Sov Phys Acoust 14:326–332.
Ellermeier W, Faulhammer G (2000) Empirical evaluation of axioms fundamental to Stevens’ ratio-scaling approach: I. Loudness production. Percept Psychophys 62:1505–1511.
Epstein M, Florentine M (2009) Binaural loudness summation for speech and tones presented via earphones and loudspeakers. Ear Hear 30:234–237.
Fletcher H, Munson WA (1933) Loudness, its definition, measurement and calculation. J Acoust Soc Am 5:82–108.
Florentine M, Buus S, Mason CR (1987) Level discrimination as a function of level for tones from 0.25 to 16 kHz. J Acoust Soc Am 81:1528–1541.
Gabrielsson A, Sjögren H (1979) Perceived sound quality of sound-reproducing systems. J Acoust Soc Am 65:1019–1033.
Gigerenzer G, Strube G (1983) Are there limits to binaural additivity of loudness? J Exp Psychol 9:126–136.
Goldstein EB (2010) Sensation and Perception. Pacific Grove, CA: Wadsworth.
Harris CM (1991) Handbook of Acoustical Measurements and Noise Control. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hellman RP (1985) Perceived magnitude of two-tone-noise complexes: loudness, annoyance and noisiness. J Acoust Soc Am 77:1497–1504.
Hellman RP, Zwislocki JJ (1963) Monaural loudness function at 1000 cps and interaural summation. J Acoust Soc Am 35:856–865.
Hirsh IJ, Pollack I (1948) The role of interaural phase in loudness. J Acoust Soc Am 20:761–766.
Illényi A, Korpassy P (1981) Correlation of loudness and quality of stereophonic loudspeakers. Acustica 49:334–336.
Irwin RJ (1965) Binaural summation of thermal noises of equal and unequal power in each ear. Am J Psychol 78:57–65.
ISO 226 (2003) Acoustics – Normal equal-loudness-level contours. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization.
ISO 389-7 (2005) Acoustics – Reference zero for the calibration of audiometric equipment – Part 7: Reference threshold of hearing under free-field and diffuse-field listening conditions. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization.
ISO 532 (1975) Acoustics – Method for calculating loudness level. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization.
ISO 11904-2 (2004) Acoustics– Determination of sound emission from sound sources placed close to the ear – Part 2: Technique using a manikin. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization.
Jesteadt W, Wier GC, Green DM (1977) Intensity discrimination as a function of frequency and sensation level. J Acoust Soc Am 61:169–177.
Keen K (1972) Preservation of constant loudness with interaural amplitude asymmetry. J Acoust Soc Am 52:1193–1195.
Krantz DH, Luce RD, Suppes P, Tversky A (1971) Foundations of measurement Vol. I. New York: Academic Press.
Kuhl W, Westphal W (1959) Unterschiede der Lautstärken in der ebenen Welle und im diffusen Schallfeld. Acustica 9:407–408.
Langendijk EHO, Bronkorst AW (2000) Fidelity of three-dimensional-sound reproduction using a virtual auditory display. J Acoust Soc Am 107:528–537.
Levelt WJM, Riemersma JB, Bunt AA (1972) Binaural additivity of loudness. Br J Math Statist Psychol 25:51–68.
Luce RD (2002) A psychophysical theory of intensity proportions, joint presentations, and matches. Psych Rev 109:520–532.
Luce RD, Tukey JW (1964) Simultaneous conjoint measurement: a new type of fundamental measurement. J Math Psych 1:1–27.
Marks LE (1978) Binaural summation of the loudness of pure tones. J Acoust Soc Am 64:107–113.
Marks LE (1987) Binaural versus monaural loudness: supersummation of tone partially masked by noise. J Acoust Soc Am 81:122–128.
Marozeau J, Florentine M (2009) Testing the binaural equal-loudness-ratio hypothesis with hearing-impaired listeners. J Acoust Soc Am 126:310–317.
Marozeau J, Epstein M, Florentine M, Daley B (2006) A test of the Binaural Equal-Loudness-Ratio hypothesis for tones. J Acoust Soc Am 120:3870–3877.
Mehrgardt S, Mellert V (1977) Transformation characteristics of the external human ear. J Acoust Soc Am 61:1567–1576.
Mohrmann K (1939) Lautheitskonstanz im Eutfernungswechsel. Zeitschr. f. Psychologie 145:145–199.
Møller H (1992) Fundamentals of binaural technology. Appl Acoust 36:171–218.
Møller H, Sørensen MF, Hammershøi D, Jensen CB (1995) Head-related transfer functions of human subjects. J Audio Eng Soc 43:300–321.
Moore BCJ (2003) An Introduction to the Psychology of Hearing. London: Academic Press.
Moore BCJ, Glasberg BR (2007) Modeling binaural loudness. J Acoust Soc Am 121:1604–1612.
Moore BCJ, Glasberg BR, Baer T (1997) A model for the prediction of thresholds, loudness and partial loudness. J Audio Eng Soc 45:224–240.
Mulligan BE, Goodman LS, Gleisner DP, Faupel ML (1985) Steps in loudness summation. J Acoust Soc Am 77:1141–1154.
Narens L (1996) A theory of ratio magnitude estimation. J Math Psychol 40:109–129.
Petersen J (1990) Estimation of loudness and apparent distance of pure tones in a free-field. Acustica 70:61–65.
Pickles JO (2008) An Introduction to the Physiology of Hearing. London: Academic Press.
Pollack I (1948) Monaural and binaural threshold sensitivity for tones and for white noise. J Acoust Soc Am 20: 52–57.
Remmers H, Prante H (1991) Untersuchung zur Richtungsabhängigkeit der Lautstärkeempfindung von breitbandigen Schallen, Fortschritte der Akustik–Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Akustik (DAGA), pp. 537–540.
Reynolds GS, Stevens SS (1960) Binaural summation of loudness. J Acoust Soc Am 32:1337–1344.
Robinson DW, Dadson RS (1956) A re-determination of the equal-loudness relations for pure tones. Br J Appl Phys 7:166–181.
Robinson DW, Whittle LS (1960) The loudness of directional sound fields. Acustica 10:74–80.
Robinson DW, Whittle LS, Bowsher JM (1961) The loudness of diffuse sound fields. Acustica 11:397–404.
Rudmose W (1982) The case of the missing 6 dB. J Acoust Soc Am 71:650–659.
Scharf B (1969) Dichotic summation of loudness. J Acoust Soc Am 45:1193–1205.
Scharf B (1974) Loudness summation between tones from two loudspeakers. J Acoust Soc Am 56:589–593.
Scharf B (1978) Loudness. In: Carterette EC, Friedman MP (eds), Handbook of Perception Vol. IV – Hearing. New York: Academic Press, pp. 187–242.
Scharf B, Fishken D (1970) Binaural summation of loudness: reconsidered. J Exp Psychol 86:374–379.
Schneider BA, Cohen AJ (1997) Binaural additivity of loudness in children and adults. Percept Psychophys 59:655–664.
Seebeck A (1846) Beiträge zur Psychologie des Gehör-und Gesichtssinnes. Poggendorffs Annalen 68:450–465.
Shaw EAG (1974) Transformation of sound pressure level from the free field to the eardrum in the horizontal plane. J Acoust Soc Am 56:1848–1861.
Sivonen VP (2007) Directional loudness and binaural summation for wideband and reverberant sounds. J Acoust Soc Am 121:2852–2861.
Sivonen VP, Ellermeier W (2006) Directional loudness in an anechoic sound field, head-related transfer functions and binaural summation. J Acoust Soc Am 119:2965–2980.
Sivonen VP, Ellermeier W (2008) Binaural loudness for artificial-head measurements in directional sound fields. J Audio Eng Soc 56:452–461.
Sivonen VP, Minnaar P, Ellermeier W (2005) Effect of direction on loudness in individual binaural synthesis. In Proceedings of the Audio Engineering Society 118th Conference, Barcelona, Spain, Paper No. 6512.
Song W, Ellermeier W, Minnaar P (2005) Perceived loudness of spatially distributed sound sources. Proceedings of Forum Acusticum, Budapest, Hungary, pp. 1665–1670.
Sørensen MF, Lydolf M, Frandsen PC, Møller H (1995) Directional dependence of loudness and binaural summation. In 15th International Congress on Acoustics, pp 293–296.
Stecker GC, Hafter ER (2000) An effect of temporal asymmetry on loudness. J Acoust Soc Am 107:3358–3368.
Steingrimsson R, Luce RD (2005) Evaluating a model of global psychophysical judgments – I: Behavioral properties of summations and productions. J Math Psych 49:290–307.
Stevens SS (1956a) Calculation of the loudness of complex noise. J Acoust Soc Am 28:807–832.
Stevens SS (1956b) The direct estimation of sensory magnitude – loudness. Am J Psychol 69:1–15.
Stevens SS (1961) Procedure for Calculating Loudness: Mark VI. J Acoust Soc Am 33:1577–1585.
Stevens SS (1975) Psychophysics. Introduction to its perceptual, neural, and social prospects. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Stevens SS, Guirao M (1962) Loudness, reciprocality, and partition scales. J Acoust Soc Am 34:1466–1471.
Whilby S, Florentine M, Wagner E, Marozeau J (2006) Monaural and binaural loudness of 5- and 200-ms tones in normal and impaired hearing. J Acoust Soc Am 119:3931–3939.
Wightman FL, Kistler DJ (1989) Headphone simulation of free field listening. I: Stimulus synthesis. J Acoust Soc Am 85:858–867.
Zahorik P, Brungart DS, Bronkhorst AW (2005) Auditory distance perception in humans: a summary of past and present research. Acta Acustica united with Acustica 91:409–420.
Zahorik P, Wightman FL (2001) Loudness constancy with varying sound source distance. Nat Neurosci 4:78–83.
Zwicker E (1960) Ein Verfahren zur Berechnung der Lautstärke. Acustica 10:304–308.
Zwicker E, Fastl H (1999) Psychoacoustics – Facts and Models. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Zwicker E, Zwicker UT (1991). Dependence of binaural loudness summation on interaural level differences, spectral distribution, and temporal distribution. J Acoust Soc Am 89:756–764.
Acknowledgments
Ville Sivonen received funding from NIH DC008168, the Academy of Finland, and Emil Aaltonen’s Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sivonen, V.P., Ellermeier, W. (2011). Binaural Loudness. In: Florentine, M., Popper, A., Fay, R. (eds) Loudness. Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, vol 37. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6712-1_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6712-1_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-6711-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-6712-1
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)