Hearing repackages one-dimensional sound signals into multidimensional time-frequency objects

Evidence

Sound signals are primarily one-dimensional, time-dependent functions. However, our hearing distils them into features and characteristics that depend both on time and frequency, which makes sound a multidimensional entity for neural processing. The psychoacoustic foundations of our perception of sound and music, which is an art form that takes full advantage of the time– frequency structures of sound, are discussed in this chapter. In natural listening conditions, our hearing attempts to represent sound scenarios as objects, just as the other senses do. Certain complex sound scenarios, such as sound in environments containing many sources or music presented by an ensemble of instruments, are often structured into auditory streams in our hearing. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1205

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the conceptual shift from signals to auditory streams and object perception that frames the whole chapter.
• XREF: connects to: Trained listeners distinguish explosions from earthquakes by audified seismic data — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 2434; Hearing acts as a spectral analyser extracting quantifiable perceptual metrics from sound — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1572