Effect of Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Visual Context on Environmental Sound Identification

Bouchara T, Giordano BL, Frissen I, Katz BFG, Guastavino C. Effect of Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Visual Context on Environmental Sound Identification. In: AES Convention 128. Audio Engineering Society; 2010. Paper 8150. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=15446

@inproceedings{Bouchara2010_15446,
  author = {Bouchara, Tifanie and Giordano, Bruno L. and Frissen, Ilja and Katz, Brian F. G. and Guastavino, Catherine},
  title = {{Effect of Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Visual Context on Environmental Sound Identification}},
  booktitle = {AES Convention 128},
  note = {Paper 8150},
  year = {2010},
  month = may,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=15446}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Effect of Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Visual Context on Environmental Sound Identification
AU  - Bouchara, Tifanie
AU  - Giordano, Bruno L.
AU  - Frissen, Ilja
AU  - Katz, Brian F. G.
AU  - Guastavino, Catherine
T2  - AES Convention 128
M1  - Paper 8150
PY  - 2010
DA  - 2010/05/06
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=15446
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - The recognition of environmental sounds is of main interest for the perception of our environment. This study investigates whether visual context can counterbalance the impairing effect of signal degradation (signal-to-noise ratio, SNR) on the identification of environmental sounds. SNRs and semantic congruency between sensory modalities, i.e. auditory and visual information, were manipulated. Two categories of sound sources, living and nonliving were used. The participants’ task was to indicate the category of the sound as fast as possible. Increasing SNRs and congruent audiovisual contexts enhanced identification accuracy and shortened reaction times. The results further indicated that living sound sources were recognized more accurately and faster than nonliving sound sources. A preliminary analysis of the acoustical factors mediating participants’ responses revealed that the harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR) sound signals was significantly associated with the probability of identifying a sound as living. Further, the extent to which participants’ identifications were sensitive to the HNR appeared to be modulated by both SNR and audiovisual congruence.
ER  -