Gestalt grouping principles apply to hearing as well as vision

Evidence

Universal laws of pattern formation have been found, particularly in the domain of visual perception. For example, the school of Gestalt psychology has focused on finding the principles of grouping in order to explain the emergence of organized patterns. … Principle of proximity. When two sensory elements are close to one another both in time and space, they tend to be grouped perceptually. • Principle of similarity. Sensory elements resembling each other tend to be grouped together, while differing elements are thought to belong to another object. • Principle of closure. Complete forms and figures tend to be perceived even if part of the figure is hidden. In the case of a pure tone being interrupted sequentially by bursts of white noise, the human auditory system assumes the pure tone continues uninterrupted during the noise bursts. • Principle of continuity. Continuation of a pattern in time, space, or in some other dimension is a strong assumption, unless contradicting sensory information is presented. For example, the smooth pitch variations and smooth formant changes in speech imply to the listener that the speech originates from the same speaker and is organized into a single stream. If toorapid changes in pitch or formants are introduced, multiple streams may be created (Plack, 2013). • Principle of common motion. If sensory elements move in the same direction at the same rate, they tend to be grouped as parts of a single stimulus. • Principle of belongingness. Each sensory element can (usually) only belong to a single perceptual object. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1325

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s soundscape work: audio-stream segregation is foundational for how keynotes, signals, and soundmarks are perceptually organized into coherent listening.