Skip to main content
Book cover

Computational Analysis of Sound Scenes and Events pp 183–213Cite as

Everyday Sound Categorization

Abstract

This chapter reviews theories and empirical research on the ways in which people spontaneously and effortlessly categorize sounds into meaningful categories to make sense of their environment. We begin with an overview of prominent theories of categorization in the psychological literature, followed by data collection and analysis methods used in empirical research on categorization with human participants. We then focus on auditory categorization, synthesizing the main findings of studies on isolated sound events as well as complex sound scenes. Finally, we review recently proposed taxonomies for everyday sounds and conclude by providing directions for integrating insights from cognitive psychology into the design and evaluation of computational systems.

Keywords

  • Everyday sounds
  • Categorization
  • Cognitive psychology
  • Soundscape
  • Prototype theory
  • Linguistic labelling
  • Similarity
  • Taxonomies
  • Holistic perception
  • Top-down processes
  • Context

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-63450-0_7
  • Chapter length: 31 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-319-63450-0
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book
USD   199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Hardcover Book
USD   199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions
Fig. 7.1
Fig. 7.2
Fig. 7.3
Fig. 7.4
Fig. 7.5
Fig. 7.6
Fig. 7.7
Fig. 7.8
Fig. 7.9
Fig. 7.10
Fig. 7.11
Fig. 7.12
Fig. 7.13
Fig. 7.14

Notes

  1. 1.

    It should be noted that Rosch talks about attributes rather than features, but we use features as distinctive characteristics, properties, or quality for the sake of consistency in this chapter (although features itself has multiple meaning within this book, e.g., acoustic features in Chap. 4).

  2. 2.

    Based among other things on the evidence for top-down activation in early stages of visual processing (e.g., for figure-ground segmentation).

  3. 3.

    Here, theory is understood to mean any organized system of knowledge, “folk” as well as scientific theories.

  4. 4.

    Children also use thematic categories of entities formed on an associative basis (e.g., dog and leash). Members of thematic categories are not similar and do not share many features but they are often spatially and temporally contiguous and play complementary roles (contrary to members of script categories which play the same role).

  5. 5.

    This special telephone number provides access to non-emergency municipal services (comments, complaints, questions or requests).

  6. 6.

    For example, www.montrealsoundmap.com/.

References

  1. Ballas, J.A.: Common factors in the identification of an assortment of brief everyday sounds. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 19(2), 250–267 (1993). doi:10.1037/0096-1523.19.2.250

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  2. Barnes, J. (ed.): The Complete Works of Aristotle, The Revised Oxford Translation, vol. 1. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Barsalou, L.W.: Ad hoc categories. Mem. Cogn. 11(3), 211–227 (1983). doi:10.3758/BF03196968. http://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03196968

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  4. Berland, A., Gaillard, P., Guidetti, M., Barone, P.: Perception of everyday sounds: a developmental study of a free sorting task. PLOS ONE 10(2) (2015). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0115557. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0115557

  5. Bregman, A.: Auditory Scene Analysis. MIT, Cambrigde, MA (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Brown, A.L., Kang, J., Gjestland, T.: Towards standardization in soundscape preference assessment. Appl. Acoust. 72(6), 387–392 (2011). doi:10.1016/j.apacoust.2011.01.001

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  7. Bruner, J.: Acts of Meaning. Harvard University Press, Cambrigde, MA (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Choe, S.H., Ko, Y.M.: Collective archiving of soundscapes in socio-cultural context. In: iConference 2015 Proceedings. iSchools (2015). https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/73464

  9. Clark, H.H., Wilkes-Gibbs, D.: Referring as a collaborative process. Cognition 22(1), 1–39 (1986)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  10. D’Andrade, R.: Some propositions about the relations between culture and human cognition. In: Stigler, J.W., Shweder, R.A., Herdt, G. (eds.) Cultural Psychology: Essays on Comparative Human Development, pp. 65–129. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY (1990)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  11. David, S.: Représentation d’objets sensoriels et marques de la personne. In: Dubois, D. (ed.) Catégorisation et cognition: de la perception au discours, pp. 211–242. Kime, Paris (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  12. David, S., Dubois, D., Rouby, C., Schaal, B.: L’expression des odeurs en français: analyse lexicale et représentation cognitive. Intellectia 1(24), 51–83 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Delage, B.: Paysage sonore urbain. Technical Report, Plan Construction, Paris (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Dubois, D.: Categories as acts of meaning: the case of categories in olfaction and audition. Cogn. Sci. Q. 1, 35–68 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Dubois, D., Guastavino, C., Raimbault, M.: A cognitive approach to urban soundscapes: using verbal data to access everyday life auditory categories. Acta Acust. United Acust. 92(6), 865–974 (2006). http://www.academia.edu/24311328/A_cognitive_approach_to_urban_soundscapes_Using_verbal_data_to_access_everyday_life_auditory_categories

    Google Scholar 

  16. Ehrenfels, C.V.: On Gestalt-qualities. Psychol. Rev. 44(6), 521–524 (1937). doi:10.1037/ h0056968

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  17. Gaver, W.W.: What in the world do we hear?: an ecological approach to auditory event perception. Ecol. Psychol. 5(1), 1–29 (1993). doi:10.1207/s15326969eco0501_1. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15326969eco0501_1

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  18. Giordano, B.L., McDonnell, J., McAdams, S.: Hearing living symbols and nonliving icons: category specificities in the cognitive processing of environmental sounds. Brain Cogn. 73(1), 7–19 (2010). doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2010.01.005

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  19. Giordano, B.L., Guastavino, C., Murphy, E., Ogg, M., Smith, B., McAdams, S.: Comparison of methods for collecting and modeling dissimilarity data: applications to complex sound stimuli. Multivar. Behav. Res. 46, 779–811 (2011)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  20. Goldstone, R.L.: The role of similarity in categorization: providing a groundwork. Cognition 52(2), 125–157 (1994)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  21. Guastavino, C.: The ideal urban soundscape: invetigating the sound quality of french cities. Acta Acust. United Acust. 92, 945–951 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Guastavino, C.: Categorization of environmental sounds. Can. J. Exp. Psychol. 61(1), 54–63 (2007)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  23. Guastavino, C., Cheminée, P.: A psycholinguistic approach to the ecological validity of experimental settings. Food Qual. Prefer. 15, 884–886 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Guastavino, C., Cheminée, P.: Une approche psycholinguistique de la perception des basses fréquences: conceptualisations en langue, représentations cognitives et validité écologique. Psychol. Fr. 48(4), 91–101 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Guastavino, C., Katz, B.F.G., Polack, J.D., Levitin, D.J., Dubois, D.: Ecological validity of soundscape reproduction. Acta Acust. United Acust. 91(2), 333–341 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Guastavino, C., Gómez, F., Toussaint, G., Marandola, F., Gómez, E.: Measuring similarity between flamenco rhythmic patterns. J. New Music Res. 38(2), 129–138 (2009)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  27. Guénoche, A., Garreta, H.: Can we have confidence in a tree representation? In: Gascuel, O., Sagot, M.F. (eds.) Computational Biology. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 2066, pp. 45–56. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg (2001). http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/3-540-45727-5_5. doi:10.10van07/3-540-45727-5_5

  28. Guyot, F., Castellengo, M., Fabre, B.: Etude de la catégorisation d’un corpus de bruits domestiques. In: Dubois, D. (ed.) Catégorisation et cognition: de la perception au discours, pp. 41–58. Kimé, Paris (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Gygi, B., Kidd, G.R., Watson, C.S.: Similarity and categorization of environmental sounds. Percept. Psychophys. 69(6), 839–855 (2007)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  30. Houix, O., Lemaitre, G., Misdariis, N., Susini, P., Urdapilleta, I.: A lexical analysis of environmental sound categories. J. Exp. Psychol. Appl. 18(1), 52–80 (2012). doi:10.1037/a0026240

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  31. Humphreys, G.W., Riddoch, M.J., Price, C.J.: Top-down processes in object identification: evidence from experimental psychology, neuropsychology and functional anatomy. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 352(1358), 1275–1282 (1997). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1692003/

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  32. IFLA: Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (Final report). Technical Report, K.G. Saur, Münich (1998). http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr_current_toc.htm

  33. ISO 12913-1:2014 - Acoustics – Soundscape – Part 1: Definition and conceptual framework (2014). http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=52161

  34. Kruskal, J.B., Wish, M.: Multidimensional Scaling. Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences. Sage, Newbury Park, CA (1978)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  35. Lamberts, K., Shanks, D.: Knowledge Concepts and Categories. Psychology Press, East Sussex (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Lemaitre, G., Houix, O., Misdariis, N., Susini, P.: Listener expertise and sound identification influence the categorization of environmental sounds. J. Exp. Psychol. Appl. 16(1), 16–32 (2010). doi:10.1037/a0018762

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  37. Maffiolo, V.: De la caractérisation sémantique et acoustique de la qualité sonore de l’environnement sonore urbain. Ph.D. thesis, Université du Maine, Le Mans (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Maffiolo, V., David, S., Dubois, D., Vogel, C., Castellengo, M., Polack, J.D.: Sound characterization of urban environment. In: Proceedings of Internoise (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Mantel, N.: Ranking procedures for arbitrarily restricted observation. Biometrics 23(1), 65–78 (1967). doi:10.2307/2528282. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2528282

    MathSciNet  CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  40. Marcell, M.M., Borella, D., Greene, M., Kerr, E., Rogers, S.: Confrontation naming of environmental sounds. J. Clin. Exp. Neuropsychol. 22(6), 830–864 (2000). doi:10.1076/jcen.22.6.830.949. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1076/jcen.22.6.830.949

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  41. Medin, D.L., Shoben, E.J.: Context and structure in conceptual combination. Cogn. Psychol. 20(2), 158–190 (1988). doi:10.1016/0010-0285(88)90018-7. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0010028588900187

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  42. Morel, J., Marquis-Favre, C., Dubois, D., Pierrette, M.: Road traffic in urban areas: a perceptual and cognitive typology of pass-by noises. Acta Acust. United Acust. 98(1), 166–178 (2012). doi:10.3813/AAA.918502

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  43. Mzali, M., Dubois, D., Polack, J.D., Létourneaux, F., Poisson, F.: Mental representation of auditory comfort inside trains: methodological and theoretical issues. In: Proceedings of Internoise (2001). https://www.mysciencework.com/publication/show/1eee34f81baad63a3250ba27c89b3d81

    Google Scholar 

  44. Neuhoff, J.G.: Introduction and history. In: Neuhoff, J.G. (ed.) Ecological Psychoacoustics, pp. 1–13. Brill, Leiden (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  45. Nguyen, S.P., Murphy, G.L.: An apple is more than just a fruit: cross-classification in children’s concepts. Child Dev. 74(6), 1783–1806 (2003). doi:10.1046/j.1467-8624.2003.00638.x. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1467-8624.2003.00638.x

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  46. Nielbo, F.L., Steele, D., Guastavino, C.: Investigating soundscape affordances through activity appropriateness. In: Proceedings of International Congress on Acoustics (2013)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  47. Nosofsky, R.M.: Exemplar-based approach to relating categorization, identification, and recognition. In: Ashby, F. (ed.) Multidimensional Models of Perception and Cognition, pp. 363–393. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  48. Pijanowski, B.C., Farina, A., Gage, S.H., Dumyahn, S.L., Krause, B.L.: What is soundscape ecology? An introduction and overview of an emerging new science. Landsc. Ecol. 26(9), 1213–1232 (2011). doi:10.1007/s10980-011-9600-8. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10980-011-9600-8

    Google Scholar 

  49. Rosch, E.: Cognitive representation of semantic categories. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 104(3), 192–233 (1975). doi:10.1037/0096-3445.104.3.192. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232578274_Cognitive_Representation_of_Semantic_Categories

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  50. Rosch, E., Lloyd, B.B.: Cognition and Categorization, p. 47. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  51. Ross, B.H., Murphy, G.L.: Food for thought: cross-classification and category organization in a complex real-world domain. Cogn. Psychol. 38(4), 495–553 (1999). doi:10.1006/cogp.1998.0712

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  52. Salamon, J., Jacoby, C., Bello, J.P.: A Dataset and Taxonomy for Urban Sound Research. In: Proceedings of the 22Nd ACM International Conference on Multimedia, MM ‘14, pp. 1041–1044. ACM, New York, NY (2014). doi:10.1145/2647868.2655045. http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2647868.2655045

  53. Sattah, S., Tversky, A.: Additive similarity trees. Psychometrika 42(3), 319–345 (1977). doi:10.1007/BF02293654. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02293654

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  54. Schafer, R.M.: The Tuning of the World. Alfred A. Knopf, New York (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  55. Schubert, E.D.: The role of auditory perception in language processing. In: Duane, D., Rawson, M. (eds.) Reading, Perception, and Language, pp. 97–130. York, Baltimore (1975)

    Google Scholar 

  56. Smith, E.E., Medin, D.L.: Categories and Concepts. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA (1981)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  57. Steele, D., Bild, E., Cynthia, T., Irene, M., Cubero, J., Guastavino, C.: A comparison of soundscape evaluation methods in a large urban park in Montreal. In: Proceedings of International Congress on Acoustics (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  58. Steffens, J., Steele, D., Guastavino, C.: New insights into soudscape evaluations using the experience sampling method. In: Proceedings of Euronoise (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  59. Steffens, J., Steele, D., Guastavino, C.: Situational and person-related factors influencing momentary and retrospective soundscape evaluations in day-to-day life. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 141(3), 1414–1425 (2017)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  60. Suzuki, H., Ohnishi, H., Shigemasu, K.: Goal-directed processes in similarity judgement. In: Proceedings of the 14th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, pp. 343–348 (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  61. VanDerveer, N.J.: Ecological acoustics: human perception of environmental sounds. Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University (1979). Unpublished Dissertation

    Google Scholar 

  62. Wertheimer, M.: Untersuchungen zur Lehre von der Gestalt. II. Psychol. Forsch. 4(1), 301–350 (1923). doi:10.1007/BF00410640. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00410640

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  63. Whorf, B.L.: Languages and logic. In: Carroll, J. (ed.) Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Papers of Benjamin Lee Whorf, pp. 233–245. MIT, Cambridge, MA (1941)

    Google Scholar 

  64. Wittgenstein, L.: Philosophical Investigations. Philosophische Untersuchungen, vol. x. Macmillan, Oxford (1953)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Dan Ellis, Tuomas Virtanen, Mark Plumbley, Guillaume Lemaitre, Julian Rice, Christopher Trudeau and Daniel Steele for insightful comments on previous versions of this chapter.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information Studies, McGill University, 3661 Peel street, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3A 1X1

    Catherine Guastavino

Authors
  1. Catherine Guastavino
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Catherine Guastavino .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Signal Processing, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland

    Prof. Dr. Tuomas Virtanen

  2. Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing, University of Surrey, Surrey, United Kingdom

    Prof. Dr. Mark D. Plumbley

  3. Google Inc., New York, New York, USA

    Prof. Dan Ellis

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Guastavino, C. (2018). Everyday Sound Categorization. In: Virtanen, T., Plumbley, M., Ellis, D. (eds) Computational Analysis of Sound Scenes and Events. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63450-0_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63450-0_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63449-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63450-0

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)