ThePoten)alRoleofEcologicalPsychoacous)csforManagingCommunityResponsetoNoise

GeorgeLuzLuzSocialandEnvironmentalAssociates

DanValenteArmyConstruc)onEngineeringResearchLaboratory

Theobjec)vesofthispaperare:

• Todefine“ecologicalpsychoacous)cs”• Todiscusshowecologicalpsychoacous)csevolvedfromprecedents• Toarguefortheuseofecologicalpsychoacous)cstosupplementtradi)onalnoisemapping• Todiscusshowecologicalpsychoacous)csmightapplytotheissueofwindfarmnoise

Originofterm“ecologicalpsychoacous)cs”

1984–Warren&Verbrugge,“Auditorypercep;onofbreakingandbouncingevents:Acasestudyinecologicalacous;cs,”J.Exp.Psych.10(5),704-7121990-usedbyValeryNosulenko,“ProblemsofEcologicalPsychoacous;cs,”6thmee;ngofInterna;onalSocietyforPsychophysics2004–JohnNeuhoffeditsandpublishesEcologicalPsychoacous;cs

Neuhoff’sdefini)onincludes“divergentareasofhearingscience,tyingtogethertheoccurrenceofacous)cevents,physiologicalresponsesoftheauditorysystem,theperceptualandcogni)veexperienceofthelistener,andhowthisexperienceinfluencesbehavior,ac)onandsubsequentpercep)on.”

Ecologicalpsychoacous)csbringsevolu)onaryhypothesesintothepicture

Acous;cecology,some)mescalledecoacous)csorsoundscapestudies,istherela)onship,mediatedthroughsound,betweenlivingbeingsandtheirenvironment.Acous)cecologystudiesstartedinthelate1960swithR.MurraySchaferandhisteamatSimonFraseraspartoftheWorldSoundscapeProject.

Butdiffersfromacous)cecology

Neuhoffandhiscolleagueshavedemonstratedthatareasofthebrainrelatedtodefensivebehavior(andnotdirectlyrelatedtotheanalysisofsound)“lightup”morewhenasoundisapproaching(orrisinginintensity)thanwhenasoundisreceding(ordecreasinginintensity)

ECOLOGICALPSYCHOACOUSTICSALSOSEEKSTOMAPPSYCHOACOUSTICOBSERVATIONSONTOBRAINMECHANISMS

PrimaryAuditoryCortex

‘Rising vs. falling intensity tones' revealed a network comprising the superior temporal sulci and the middle temporal gyri, the right temporo-parietal junction encompassing the inferior portion of the angular gyrus, the right motor and lateral premotor cortices mainly on the right hemisphere, and the left frontal operculum.

PrecedentstoEcologicalPsychoacous)cs •  Classicalpsychoacous;cs

•  Mimickingofauditorysystem•  Pre-digital•  Post-digital

GustavFechnerThefatherofpsychophysics

GustavFechner(1801-1887)• ElementederPsychophysik(1860)• “startsfromtheSpinozis)cthoughtthatbodilyfactsandconsciousfacts,thoughnotreducibleonetotheother,aredifferentsidesofonereality.”

Mimickingoftheauditorysystemwasenabledbythedevelopmentofanalogelectronics

Earlysuccessesinmimicking L.J.SivianandS.D.White,“On

minimumaudiblesoundfields,”BellLabs(1933)HarveyFletcherandW.A.Munson,“Loudness,ItsDefini;on,MeasurementandCalcula;on,”BellLabs(1933)

MimickingofLoudness

•  Stevensloudness:analog•  Zwickerloudness:transi;onfrom

analogtodigital•  Mooreloudness:purelydigital

Noisemappingisamimickingofhumanannoyance

•  A-weigh;ng=40phonloudness•  Equivalentlevelmimicsmemory

ofpastannoyance

JournaloftheAcous)calSocietyofAmericaVolume124,No.6,December2008,pp3544ff

For short samples of continuous urban noise, the mimicking of loudness does an excellent job.

Furihataaskedci)zensofNaganoCity,Japan,tolistento5minutesamplesoftheircity’snoiseanddescribeitintheirownwords.Hethenconstructedanannoyancescalebylis)ngthewordsthatdividedthescalemostequally

FieldsandPowell,ACommunitySurveyofHelicopterNoiseAnnoyanceConductedunderControlledNoiseExposureCondi)ons,NASATM-86400(1985)

For a limited number of daily events, the mimicking of memory by equivalent level is also excellent.

EXAMPLE:EffectoftheNoiseLevelofIndividualHelicopterFlightsandtheDailyNumberofFlightsontheDailyAnnoyanceRa)ngofNaïveResidents

(FieldsandPowell,1987)

However…..

•  The mimicking of memory of past annoyance fails with large numbers of events

•  Different noise sources result in different growth of annoyance

EnvironmentalHealthPerspec)ves109(4),409-416(April2001)

3DifferentAnnoyanceCurves:AircraiHighwayRailroad

APossibleSolu)on:Mimicaken;onratherthanloudness.

Thetransi)onfrommimickingloudnesstomimickingajen)onisbeingledbypsychoacous)ciansfromtheUniversityofGhent.

JASA126(2),656-665(2009)

“Thismodelisgroundedinthehypothesisthatlong-termpercep6onofenvironmentalsoundisdeterminedprimarilybyshortno6ce-events”THEIRMODELACCOUNTSFORTHEDIFFERENCESINANNOYANCEBETWEENRAILANDROADTRAFFIC.

Applica)ontoPublicPolicy

•  Governmenthasanobliga)ontoinformnoise-sensi)vepeopleofrisk

•  Noise-sensi)vityappearstoberelatedtoajen)on,notloudness

Rangeofannoyancedifferencebetweennoise-sensi)ve(NS)andnon-noise-sensi)ve(NNS)istypically10decibels.

Ellermeier,EigenstejerandZimmer,“Psychoacous)ccorrelatesofindividualnoisesensi)vity,”JASA,109(4),1464-1473(2001)

•  NSandNNShavesameexperienceofloudness

•  NSandNNSratedjackhammersoundasequallydisturbing.

•  NSratedvent,mower,brake,truckandcrashsoundasmoredisturbing.

“Ourproposeddefini.onfornoisepermitsNStobeviewedasaninclina.ontobedistractedbysound.”

“Thesignificanceofajen)onandnoisesensi)vityinourresponsetosoundandnoise,”GeorgeDodd,UniversityofAuckland,NZ.Inter-Noise2002

WINDTURBINENOISE

Psychoacous;cFacts:

1.Displacedannoyancecurve2.Largedifferencesinindividualannoyance

Inregardtowindfarmnoise,loudnessseemsto

bearedherring

NewYorkTimes,SundayAugust1,2010

“Opponentssaytheconstantwhooshingfromtheturbinesmakesthemanxiousandthatlow-levelvibra.onskeepthemawakeatnight.Somesayitgivesthemnauseaandheadaches.ManyotherresidentssaytheyhearliFleornothingatall,andtheques.onofwhetherwindmillnoisecanharmhealthisindispute.”WilliamYardley,NewYorkTimes,August1,2010

Regulatorsareapplyingaloudnessmodeltowhatappearstobetwosourcesofannoyance:1.Arareaberra)onincochlearmechanics2.Aninabilitytoinhibitajen)ontoarepe))ves)mulus

Cochlearmechanics

HearingResearch,Vol268(2010),12-21

Responsesoftheeartolowfrequencysounds,infrasoundandwindturbinesAlecN.Salt*,TimothyE.HullarHearingResearch(2010)268,12-21

Theseauthorsconsiderpossiblewaysinwhichlowfrequencysounds,atlevelswhichmayormaynotbeheardcouldinfluencethefunc)onoftheear

SaltandHullar’sdescrip)onofhowtheauditorysystemcanrespondtolowfrequencysoundwithouthearingthatsoundprovidesafeasibleexplana)onfortheexcep)onalsymptomsdescribedbyN.Pierpontinhermuchcri)cizedbook,WindTurbineSyndrome(2009)

Farmorecommoniswhooshingorswishing

FrozenNoise

Whenasegmentofrandomnoiseisrepeatedatsomeperiod:Iftheperiodis1secto250msec,thepercep;onisa“whoosh,”Ifperiodisfrom250msecto50msec,“motorboa;ng.”Shorterthan50msecisatone-N.Gutman&B.Julesz(1963)Lowerlimitsofauditoryperiodicity,JASA35,610ff

TheperceptualqualityoffrozennoisedemonstratedbyGutmanandJuleszalmostsixdecadesagoissimilartothequalityofthesoundofawindfarm.

1 second segment of random noise which is low-pass filtered with a cut-off of 500 Hz and then repeated 30 times.

Humansaredesignedtorespondtorepe))vesoundswithentrainment

Anexcellentreviewoftheecologicalpsychoacous)csofentrainmentcanbefoundinMariRiessJones’contribu)ontoNeuhoff’sbook,EcologicalPsychoacous)cs(2004).ThereviewisChapter3,“Ajen)onandTiming”(pp.49-85)

Workingwithperiodici)esfoundintherangeofhumanbehaviori.e.,0.5to5Hz),WillandBergobservedsynchroniza)onofEEGresponsesinthedeltarange.Theysuggestedthatthissynchroniza)onmayformpartoftheneurophysiologicalprocessesunderlying)mecouplingbetweenrhythmicsensoryinputandmotoroutput;thetonic2Hzmaximumcorrespondstotheop)maltempoiden)fiedinlistening,tappingsynchroniza)on,andevent-intervaldiscrimina)onexperiments.

Theseauthorsexplorethehypothesisthatentrainmentevolvedasaby-productofvocalmimicry.

Seventy-fiveyearsago,beforeTheodorGeiselrockedtheculinaryworldwithgreeneggsandhamorputared-and-whitestripedtophatonatalkingcat,Geisel(whomyouprobablyknowbejerasDr.Seuss)wasstuckonaboat,returningfromatriptoEurope.Foreightdays,helistenedtotheship'senginechugaway.Thesoundgotstuckinhishead,andhestartedwri)ngtotherhythm.Eventually,thoserhythmiclinesinhisheadturnedintohisfirstchildren'sbook:ItwascalledAndtoThinkThatISawItonMulberryStreet(NPR,Jan24,2012)

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WORKINGHYPOTHESIS:Thehumanauditorysystemisdesignedforentrainmentwithsoundsrepeatedatarateof0.5Hzto5.0Hz.Amongafewpeople,thispropensitycanevenextendtoregularly-)medmachine-generatedsounds.Notbeingableto“turnoff”thesemechanismscanbeverydisturbing.

CONCLUSION:Ara;onalapproachtounderstandingandpredic;ngtheannoyanceofwindfarmnoisewouldbetostudythepsychophysiologicalresponsesofpeopleattheextremesofdistressfromthisuniqueauditorys;mulus.Emergingtechnologywouldallowsuchastudyinthenormalsemngofthesubject’shome.

Science333,838-843(12Aug2011)

QUESTIONS?

Sound Example: 850 kW, Vestas V52 turbine Kristian Pontoppidan http://recordingsofnature.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/vind-turbine-sound-field-recording/

Atlowfrequencies,outerhaircells(OHC)respondtodisplacementandinnerhaircells(IHC)respondtovelocity

ChangesinflowdynamicsofcochlearcanalterOHCdisplacement

“Usingappropriateinstrumenta.on,VandenBergshowedthatwindturbinenoisewasdominatedbyinfrasoundcomponents,withenergyincreasingbetween1000Hzand1Hz(thelowestfrequencythatwasmeasured)atarateofapproximately5.5dB/octave,reachinglevelsofapproximately90dBSPLnear1HzSugimotoetal.(2008)reportedadominantspectralpeakat2Hzwithlevelsmonitoredover.mereachingupto100dBSPL.JungandCheung(2008)reportedamajorpeaknear1Hzatalevelofapproximately97dBSPL.Inmoststudiesofwindturbinenoise,thishighlevel,lowfrequencynoiseisdismissedonthebasisthatthesoundisnotpercep.ble.ThisfailstotakeintoaccountthefactthattheOHCares6mulatedatlevelsthatarenotheard.”

Thefollowinggraphdemonstratesthattheauditorysystem,whenentrainedtoaseriesoftoneswhichareseparatedby0.6sec,beginstoscantheauditorysceneforarepe))onofthattoneinthe0.6sec)meslot.Ifasubjectisaskedtodetectwhetherthetonalityoftherepeateds)mulusis“higher”,“lower”or“thesame,”theabilityofthesubjecttomakethisjudgmentisdegradedifthetargets)mulusis“off)me.”

Theyqueriedthewww.youtube.comdatabaseforavarietyofanimaltermsplus“dancing,”resul)ngin3,879uniquevideos.Onlyvocalmimickingspeciesshowedevidenceofentrainment.