Abstract
Ideas and concepts acquired over several decades come together in this chapter on the topic of a psychoacoustical approach to loudness. Although couched in the topic area of loudness, the thoughts presented in this chapter have general applicability to a wide range of areas, such as the importance of understanding the theoretical assumptions of the underpinnings of a research topic, the advantages of using the methods of observation and introspection, having fulfilling relationships with colleagues, and the complex nature and interconnections among various areas of study. This chapter concludes with an overview of work performed in the Communication Research Laboratory at Northeastern University and a prospective on fruitful research directions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
ANSI-S3.4 (2007). American National Standard Procedure for the Computation of Loudness of Steady Sounds. New York: American National Standards Institute.
Arieh, Y., & Marks, L. E. (2001). Recalibration of loudness: Sensory vs. decisional processes. In E. Sommerfield, R. Kompass, & T. Lachmann (Eds.), Fechner Day. Berlin: Pabst Science Publishers.
Arieh, Y., & Marks, L. E. (2011). Measurement of loudness, part II: Context effects. In M. Florentine, R. Fay, & A. Popper (Eds.), Loudness (pp. 17–56). New York: Springer.
Berendt, R. D., Corliss, E., & Ojalvo, M. (1976). Quieting: A practical guide to noise control. National Bureau of Standards Handbook # 119. Washington, DC: US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Noise Abatement and Control.
Blamey, P. J. (2005). Adaptive dynamic range optimization (ADRO). Trends in Amplification, 9, 77–98.
Buus, S. (2002). Psychophysical methods and other factors that affect the outcome of psychoacoustic measurements. In L. Tranebjærg, J. Christensen-Dalsgaard, T. Andersen, & T. Poulsen (Eds.), Genetics and the function of the auditory system: Proceedings of the 19 th Danavox Symposium (pp. 183–225). Copenhagen, Denmark: Holmens Trykkeri, The Danavox Jubilee Foundation.
Buus, S., & Florentine, M. (2001). Modifications to the power function for loudness. In E. Sommerfeld, R. Kompass, & T. Lachmann, (Eds.), Fechner Day 2001 (pp. 236–241). Berlin: Pabst Science Publishers.
Buus, S., & Florentine, M. (2002). Growth of loudness in listeners with cochlear hearing losses: Recruitment reconsidered. Journal of the Association for Research Otolaryngology, 3, 120–139.
Buus, S., Klump, G. M., Gliech, O., & Langemann, U. (1995). An excitation-pattern model for the starling (Sturnus vulgaris). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 98, 112–124.
Buus, S., Florentine, M., & Poulsen, T. (1997). Temporal integration of loudness, loudness discrimination, and the form of the loudness function. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 101, 669–680.
Buus, S., Müsch, H., & Florentine, M. (1998). On loudness at threshold. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 104, 399–410.
Canévet, G., Hellman, R. P., & Scharf, B. (1986). Group estimations of loudness in sound fields. Acustica, 60, 277–282.
Epstein, M. (2007). An introduction to induced loudness reduction. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 122, EL74–80.
Epstein, M. J. (2011). Correlates of loudness. In M. Florentine, R. Fay, & A. Popper (Eds.), Loudness (pp. 89–108). New York: Springer Science+Business Media.
Epstein, M., & Florentine, M. (2005). A test of the equal-loudness-ratio hypothesis using cross-modality matching functions. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 118, 907–913.
Epstein, M., & Florentine, M. (2006a). Reaction time to 1- and 4-kHz tones as a function of sensation level in listeners with normal hearing. Ear and Hearing, 27, 424–429.
Epstein, M., & Florentine, M. (2006b). Loudness of brief tones measured by magnitude estimation and loudness matching. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 119, 1943–1945.
Epstein, M., & Gifford, E. (2006). A potential carry-over effect in the measurement of induced loudness reduction. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 120, 305–309.
Epstein, M., & Florentine, M. (2009). Binaural loudness summation for speech and tones presented via earphones and loudspeakers. Ear and Hearing, 30, 234–237.
Epstein, M., & Florentine, M. (2012). Binaural loudness summation for speech with and without visual cues presented via earphones and loudspeaker. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 131, 3981–3988.
Epstein, M., Florentine, M., & Buus, S. (2001). Measuring loudness of long and short tones using magnitude estimation. In E. Sommerfield, R. Kompass, & T. Lachmann (Eds.), Fechner Day 2001 (pp. 231–235). Berlin: Pabst Science Publishers.
Epstein, M., Marozeau, J., & Florentine, M. (2006). Basilar-membrane activity and loudness. In D. E. Kornbrot, R. M. Msetfi, & A. W. MacRae (Eds.), Fechner Day 2006: Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Meeting of the International Society for Psychophysics (pp. 181–186). St. Albans, U.K.: The International Society for Psychophysics.
Fastl, H., & Florentine, M. (2011). Loudness in daily environments. In M. Florentine, R. Fay, & A. Popper (Eds.), Loudness (pp. 199–222). New York: Springer Science+Business Media.
Fletcher, H., & Munson, W. A. (1933). Loudness, its definition, measurement and calculation. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 5, 82–108.
Florentine, M. (2009). Advancements in psychophysics lead a new understanding of loudness in normal hearing and hearing loss. In M. A. Elliot, S. Antonijević, S. Berthaud, P. Mulcahy, C. Martyn, B. Bargery, & H. Schmidt (Eds.), Fechner Day 2009: Proceedings of the 25 th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Psychophysics (pp. 83–88). Galway: Snap Printing.
Florentine, M. (2011). Loudness. In M. Florentine, R. Fay, & A. Popper (Eds.), Loudness (pp. 1–15). New York: Springer Science+Business Media.
Florentine, M. (2013). Importance of microscopic and macroscopic psychoacoustical approaches: An example from binaural loudness constancy. In Proceedings of Inter-Noise 2013, Innsbruck, Austria, Institute of Noise Control Engineering (SS68, 1228, invited).
Florentine, M., & Zwicker, E. (1979). A model of loudness summation applied to noise-induced hearing loss. Hearing Research, 1, 121–132.
Florentine, M., & Buus, S. (1981). An excitation-pattern model for intensity discrimination. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 70, 1646–1654.
Florentine, M., & Buus, S. (2001). Cochlear hearing loss reduces the dynamic range for loudness: Implications for hearing aids. Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Acoustics, Volume IV (5B16.02).
Florentine, M., & Buus, S. (2002). Evidence for normal loudness growth near threshold in cochlear hearing loss. In L. Tranebjaerg, J. Christensen-Dalsgaard, T. Andersen, & T. Poulsen (Eds.), Genetics and the function of the auditory system (pp. 411–426). Denmark: GN ReSound.
Florentine, M., & Epstein, M. (2006). To honor Stevens and repeal his law for the auditory system. In Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Meeting of the International Society for Psychophysics (pp. 37–42). England: St. Albans.
Florentine, M., & Heinz, M. (2009). Audition: Loudness. In B. E. Goldstein (Ed.), Encyclopedia of perception (pp. 145–151). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Florentine, M., & Epstein, M. (2010). Ecological loudness: Binaural loudness constancy. In: Proceedings of the International Congress of Acoustics, Sydney, Australia.
Florentine, M., & Epstein, M. (2012a). Measures of the ecological loudness of speech. In T. Dau, M. L. Jepsen, T. Poulsen, & J. C. Dalsgaard (Eds.), Speech perception and auditory disorders: 3rd International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research (EAN 9788799001330, pp. 87–94). Denmark: The Danavox Jubilee Foundation.
Florentine, M., & Epstein, M. (2012b). Insights gained from Rhona Hellman’s loudness functions for individual listeners. In C. Burroughs, & S. Conlon (Eds.), Proceedings of Inter-Noise 2012, New York City, NY, USA, Institute of Noise Control Engineering.
Florentine, M., Buus, S., & Bonding, P. (1978). Loudness of complex sounds as a function of the standard stimulus and the number of components. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 64, 1036–1040.
Florentine, M., Buus, S., Scharf, B., & Zwicker, E. (1980). Frequency selectivity in normally-hearing and hearing-impaired observers. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 23, 113–132.
Florentine, M., Buus, S., & Poulsen, T. (1996). Temporal integration of loudness as a function of level. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 99, 1633–1644.
Florentine, M., Buus, S., & Hellman, R. (1997). A model of loudness summation applied to high-frequency hearing loss. In W. Jesteadt (Ed.), Modeling sensorineural hearing loss (pp. 187–197). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Florentine, M., Buus, S., & Robinson, M. (1998). Temporal integration of loudness under partial masking. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 104, 999–1007.
Florentine, M., Mumby, S., & Cleveland, S. (2004). FYI: Softness imperceptions. Hearing Health, 20, 31–34.
Florentine, M., Buus, S., & Rosenberg, M. (2005). Reaction-time data support the existence of softness imperception in cochlear hearing loss. In S. McAdams, A. Cheveigne, L. Collet, & D. Pressnitzer. (Eds.), Auditory signal processing: Physiology, psychoacoustics and models. New York: Springer Science+Business Media.
Florentine, M., Popper, A., & Fay, R. (2011). Loudness. New York: Springer Science+Business Media.
Hellman, R. P. (1994). Relation between the growth of loudness and high-frequency excitation. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 96, 2655–2663.
Hellman, R. P., & Zwislocki, J. J. (1961). Some factors affecting the estimation of loudness. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 33, 687–694.
Larroque, M. F. (1901). Études de psycho-acoustique. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l’Académie des Sciences, 132, 821.
Marks, L. E. (1979). A theory of loudness and loudness judgments. Psychological Review, 86, 256–285.
Marks, L. E. (1992). The contingency of perceptual processing: Context modifies equal-loudness relations. Psychological Science, 3, 285–291.
Marks, L. E. (1994). Recalibrating the auditory system: The perception of loudness. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 20, 382–396.
Marks, L. E., & Florentine, M. (2011). Measurement of loudness, part I: Methods, problems, and pitfalls. In M. Florentine, R. Fay, & A. Popper (Eds.), Loudness (pp. 17–56). New York: Springer Science+Business Media.
Marozeau, J. (2011). Models of loudness. In M. Florentine, R. Fay, & A. Popper (Eds.), Loudness (pp. 261–284). New York: Springer Science+Business Media.
Marozeau, J., & Florentine, M. (2007). Loudness growth in individual listeners with hearing losses: A review. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 122, EL81–87.
Marozeau, J., & Epstein, M. (2008). Induced loudness reduction as function of frequency difference between test tone and inducer. Perception and Psychophysics, 70, 725–731.
Marozeau, J., & Florentine, M. (2009). Testing the binaural equal-loudness-ratio hypothesis with hearing-impaired listeners. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 126, 310–317.
Marozeau, J., Epstein, M., Florentine, M., & Daley, B. (2006). A test of the binaural equal-loudness-ratio hypothesis for tones. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 120, 3870–3877.
Miller, G. A. (1975). Stanley Smith Stevens 1906-1973 – A biographical memoir. Washington DC: National Academy of Sciences.
Miśkiewicz, A. (2004). From pianissimo to mezzopiano. Hearing Health, 20, 31.
Nieder, B., Buus, S., Cazals, Y., & Scharf, B. (2007). Loudness reduction induced by a contralateral tone. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 122, 35–37.
Nobel Foundation (1961). The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1961. Retrieved from http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1961/index.html.
Odgaard, E. C., Arieh, Y., & Marks, L. E. (2004). Brighter noise: Sensory enhancement of perceived loudness by concurrent visual stimulation. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 4(2), 127–132.
Oxenham, A. J., & Bacon, S. P. (2004). Psychophysical manifestations of compression: Normal-hearing listeners. In S. P. Bacon, R. R. Fay, & A. N. Popper (Eds.), Compression: From cochlea to cochlear implants (pp. 62–106). New York: Springer Science+Business Media.
Scharf, B., & Fishken, D. (1970). Binaural summation of loudness reconsidered. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 86, 374–379.
Silva, I., & Florentine, M. (2006). Effect of adaptive psychophysical procedure on loudness matches. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 120, 2124–2131.
Sivonen, V. P., & Ellermeier, M. (2011). Binaural loudness. In M. Florentine, R. Fay, & A. Popper (Eds.), Loudness (pp. 169–198). New York: Springer Science+Business Media.
Stevens, J. C., & Hall, J. W. (1966). Brightness and loudness as a function of stimulus duration. Perception of Psychophysiology, 1, 319–327.
Stevens, S. S. (1934). The attributes of tones. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, 20, 457–459.
Stevens, S. S., Davis, H., & Lurie, M. H. (1935). Localization of pitch perception on the basilar membrane. Journal of General Psychology, 13, 297–315.
Wagner, E., Florentine, M., Buus, S., & McCormack, J. (2004). Spectral loudness summation and simple reaction time. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 116, 1681–1686.
Whilby, S., Florentine, M., Wagner, E., & Marozeau, J. (2006). Monaural and binaural loudness of 5- and 200-ms tones in normal and impaired hearing. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 119, 3931–3939.
Acknowledgments
I am very grateful for my students, colleagues, continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health for about a quarter century, and time to reflect while visiting with colleagues. Michael Epstein and Julia B. Florentine made helpful comments on this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Florentine, M. (2014). A Quarter-Century’s Perspective on a Psychoacoustical Approach to Loudness. In: Popper, A., Fay, R. (eds) Perspectives on Auditory Research. Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, vol 50. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9102-6_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9102-6_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-9101-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9102-6
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)