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Acoustic perception of the automotive environment has the potential to advance driving potentials with enhanced safety. The challenge arises when these acoustic perception systems need to perform under resource and power constraints on edge devices. Neuromorphic computing has introduced spiking neural networks in the context of ultra-low power sensory edge devices. Spiking architectures leverage biological plausibility to achieve computational capabilities, accurate performance, and great compatibility with neuromorphic hardware. In this work, we explore the depths of spiking neurons and feature components with the acoustic scene analysis task for siren sounds. This research work aims to address the qualitative analysis of sliding windows' variation on the feature extraction front of the preprocessing pipeline. Optimization of the parameters to exploit the feature extraction stage facilitates the advancement of the performance of the acoustics anomaly detection task. We exploit the parameters for mel spectrogram features and FFT calculations, prone to be suitable for computations in hardware. We conduct experiments with different window sizes and the overlapping ratio within the windows. We present our results for performance measures like accuracy and onset latency to provide an insight on the choice of optimal window. The non-trivial motivation of this research is to understand the effect of encoding behavior of spiking neurons with different windows. We further investigate the heterogeneous nature of membrane and synaptic time constants and their impact on the accuracy of anomaly detection. On a large scale audio dataset comprising of siren sounds and road traffic noises, we obtain accurate predictions of siren sounds using a recurrent spiking neural network. The baseline dataset comprising siren and noise sequences is enriched with a bird dataset to evaluate the model with unseen samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly performance flexible strain sensor is a crucial component for wearable devices, human‐machine interfaces, and e‐skins. However, the sensitivity of the strain sensor is highly limited by the strain range for large destruction of the conductive network. Here the quasi‐1D conductive network (QCN) is proposed for the design of an ultra‐sensitive strain sensor. The orientation of the conductive particles can effectively reduce the number of redundant percolative pathways in the conductive composites. The maximum sensitivity will reach the upper limit when the whole composite remains only "one" percolation pathway. Besides, the QCN structure can also confine the tunnel electron spread through the rigid inclusions which significantly enlarges the strain‐resistance effect along the tensile direction. The strain sensor exhibits state‐of‐art performance including large gauge factor (862227), fast response time (24 ms), good durability (cycled 1000 times), and multi‐mechanical sensing ability (compression, bending, shearing, air flow vibration, etc.). Finally, the QCN sensor can be exploited to realize the human‐machine interface (HMI) application of acoustic signal recognition (instrument calibration) and spectrum restoration (voice parsing). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of a soundscape is a challenging task as the object of study is not a stationary event of sensation but rather a dynamic and complex scene stretching over a specific period. To do justice to the time dimension in such acoustic scenes, we utilized the Continuous Evaluation Procedure (CEP). Extending common standard instruments asking participants for a singular integral at the end of the sound experience (e.g., on a rating scale), the participants in this study were enabled to continuously evaluate the evolving acoustic scene of accelerating electrified vehicles (EVs) using CEP. With the increasing electrification of powertrains in the automotive industry, acoustic engineers face the challenge of defining innovative sounds using the availabilities of now low-noise emission platforms of EVs that deviate in their noise profiles from familiar but technologically outdated internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), which have defined the general sound schemes for more than a century. To capture dynamic aspects in the quality perception of powertrain noise in EVs, we asked 37 participants to evaluate acoustic recordings of different vehicles in varying acceleration modes in a high-quality three-dimensional (3D) acoustic simulator. Thereby, we revealed much more detailed and timedependent quality aspects, which do not come forth in an integral singular measure (ISM) where all impressions experienced during the ongoing acoustic scene are blended together. We, therefore, propagate the systematic application of the CEP method when it comes to the qualitative evaluation of transient acoustic scenes. CEP opens the great opportunity to unfold, detect, and analyze dynamic effects in soundscapes and noise profiles, but of any kind of acoustic signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major goal of psychoarchaeoacoustics is to understand the psychology behind motivations and emotions of past communities when selecting certain acoustic environments to set activities involving the production of paintings and carvings. Within this framework, the present study seeks to explore whether a group of archaeological rock art sites in Altai (Siberia, Russia) are distinguished by particular acoustic imprints that elicit distinct reactions on listeners, in perceptual and emotional terms. Sixty participants were presented with a series of natural sounds convolved with six impulse responses from Altai, three of them recorded in locations in front of rock art panels and three of them in front of similar locations but without any trace of rock art. Participants were interrogated about their subjective perception of the sounds presented, using 10 psychoacoustic and emotional scales. The mixed ANOVA analyses carried out revealed that feelings of "presence," "closeness," and "tension" evoked by all sounds were significantly influenced by the location. These effects were attributed to the differences in reverberation between the locations with and without rock art. Despite results are not consistent across all the studied rock art sites, and acknowledging the presence of several limitations, this study highlights the significance of its methodology. It stresses the crucial aspect of incorporating the limitations encountered in shaping future research endeavors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major goal of psychoarchaeoacoustics is to understand the psychology behind motivations and emotions of past communities when selecting certain acoustic environments to set activities involving the production of paintings and carvings. Within this framework, the present study seeks to explore whether a group of archaeological rock art sites in Altai (Siberia, Russia) are distinguished by particular acoustic imprints that elicit distinct reactions on listeners, in perceptual and emotional terms. Sixty participants were presented with a series of natural sounds convolved with six impulse responses from Altai, three of them recorded in locations in front of rock art panels and three of them in front of similar locations but without any trace of rock art. Participants were interrogated about their subjective perception of the sounds presented, using 10 psychoacoustic and emotional scales. The mixed ANOVA analyses carried out revealed that feelings of “presence,” “closeness,” and “tension” evoked by all sounds were significantly influenced by the location. These effects were attributed to the differences in reverberation between the locations with and without rock art. Despite results are not consistent across all the studied rock art sites, and acknowledging the presence of several limitations, this study highlights the significance of its methodology. It stresses the crucial aspect of incorporating the limitations encountered in shaping future research endeavors.

The yellow-line quaker Agrochola macilenta Hbn. and the herald moth Scoliopteryx libatrix L., which are noctuid moths, were tested with sequences of pulses resembling bat echolocation signals in conditions of fixed flight. Changes in the directional aerodynamic force were studied in flying moths in relation to the amplitude and filling frequency of acoustic stimuli in the frequency range 10–140 kHz. Averaged frequency-threshold plots for exemplars of both species were similar in shape to audiograms from moth tympanic organ auditory receptors, though the thresholds recorded in behavioral tests were an average of 35 dB lower than the thresholds of tympanic organ auditory receptors. The possible mechanisms regulating acoustic sensitivity in intact moths and influences on the results obtained by recording motor activity in the experimental moths are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research aimed to identify the nature of the psychometric properties of the phonological perception scale for hearing impaired children, and the scale consists of ten dimensions, namely: (dividing the sentence into words - dividing the word into syllables - dividing syllables into sounds - dividing the word into sounds - merging sounds to produce sound syllables - Determining the beginning sound in each word - Determining the ending sound in each word - Training to delete the first sound in the word - Recognizing the initial rhyme - Determining the ending sounds). The psychometric research sample consisted of (50) hearing-impaired children, ranging in age from The time between (9-12) years, with a mean of (11.14) and a standard deviation of (0.16), was done by using appropriate statistical treatments. It makes it a usable tool to achieve the goals for which it was set, and then the researcher recommends conducting more studies aimed at improving the vocal perception of this group using the current scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the effects of acoustic perception on outdoor thermal comfort, acoustic perception in five typical open spaces in a campus in China's cold region with common soundscapes was evaluated by using meteorological measures, sound level devices, and a questionnaire survey. Eight adjectives were used to evaluate an individual's acoustic perception, and the physiological equivalent temperature (PET) was selected as a thermal index. The correlations between acoustic perception and thermal comfort in these typical open spaces were further analyzed. We demonstrated that: (1) Acoustic sensation and comfort varied significantly among sound types (STPs). Respondents reported pleasant perceptions of broadcasting music, running water and birdsong, and wind (a gentle breeze) and insects. (2) Although there was no significant difference in the thermal sensation vote (TSV), we found large differences in the thermal comfort vote (TCV) among STPs. (3) The respondents' neutral PET (NPET) varied among STPs. In autumn, the ranked order of NPET was machines > running water and birdsong > crowds > broadcasting music > wind (a gentle breeze) and insects. In winter, the order of the NPET was machines > wind (a gentle breeze) and insects > crowds > broadcasting music > running water and birdsong. (4) When people perceived "acoustic comfort", their TSV improved, and vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial memory relies on encoding, storing, and retrieval of knowledge about objects' positions in their surrounding environment. Blind people have to rely on sensory modalities other than vision to memorize items that are spatially displaced, however, to date, very little is known about the influence of early visual deprivation on a person's ability to remember and process sound locations. To fill this gap, we tested sighted and congenitally blind adults and adolescents in an audio-spatial memory task inspired by the classical card game "Memory." In this research, subjects (blind, n = 12; sighted, n = 12) had to find pairs among sounds (i.e., animal calls) displaced on an audio-tactile device composed of loudspeakers covered by tactile sensors. To accomplish this task, participants had to remember the spatialized sounds' position and develop a proper mental spatial representation of their locations. The test was divided into two experimental conditions of increasing difficulty dependent on the number of sounds to be remembered (8 vs. 24). Results showed that sighted participants outperformed blind participants in both conditions. Findings were discussed considering the crucial role of visual experience in properly manipulating auditory spatial representations, particularly in relation to the ability to explore complex acoustic configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial memory relies on encoding, storing, and retrieval of knowledge about objects’ positions in their surrounding environment. Blind people have to rely on sensory modalities other than vision to memorize items that are spatially displaced, however, to date, very little is known about the influence of early visual deprivation on a person’s ability to remember and process sound locations. To fill this gap, we tested sighted and congenitally blind adults and adolescents in an audio-spatial memory task inspired by the classical card game “Memory.” In this research, subjects (blind, n = 12; sighted, n = 12) had to find pairs among sounds (i.e., animal calls) displaced on an audio-tactile device composed of loudspeakers covered by tactile sensors. To accomplish this task, participants had to remember the spatialized sounds’ position and develop a proper mental spatial representation of their locations. The test was divided into two experimental conditions of increasing difficulty dependent on the number of sounds to be remembered (8 vs. 24). Results showed that sighted participants outperformed blind participants in both conditions. Findings were discussed considering the crucial role of visual experience in properly manipulating auditory spatial representations, particularly in relation to the ability to explore complex acoustic configurations.

To explore the effects of acoustic perception on outdoor thermal comfort, acoustic perception in five typical open spaces in a campus in China’s cold region with common soundscapes was evaluated by using meteorological measures, sound level devices, and a questionnaire survey. Eight adjectives were used to evaluate an individual’s acoustic perception, and the physiological equivalent temperature (PET) was selected as a thermal index. The correlations between acoustic perception and thermal comfort in these typical open spaces were further analyzed. We demonstrated that: (1) Acoustic sensation and comfort varied significantly among sound types (STPs). Respondents reported pleasant perceptions of broadcasting music, running water and birdsong, and wind (a gentle breeze) and insects. (2) Although there was no significant difference in the thermal sensation vote (TSV), we found large differences in the thermal comfort vote (TCV) among STPs. (3) The respondents’ neutral PET (NPET) varied among STPs. In autumn, the ranked order of NPET was machines > running water and birdsong > crowds > broadcasting music > wind (a gentle breeze) and insects. In winter, the order of the NPET was machines > wind (a gentle breeze) and insects > crowds > broadcasting music > running water and birdsong. (4) When people perceived “acoustic comfort”, their TSV improved, and vice versa.

To characterize their soundscape perception, preschool children were subjected to inclusive soundscape exposure conditions (both indoor and outdoor) and were asked to evaluate the soundscape in this study comprising two experiments. In Experiment 1, reliable soundscape perception dimensions for preschool children were formulated using semantic differential analysis. In Experiment 2, the relationship between the dimensions and the overall soundscape evaluation and acoustic characteristics was investigated. The principal component analysis resulted in three factors (eigenvalue> 1), namely pleasantness , peacefulness , and regularity , explaining 69.96% of the variance (48.70%, 13.13%, and 8.13%, respectively). Among them, pleasantness and peacefulness significantly contributed to the overall soundscape evaluation (preference), as the improvement attitude of these two factors led to a higher chance of a positive attitude towards the overall soundscape preference (i.e., "like"). L A50 and L A10 contributed significantly to the regression for pleasantness and peacefulness , accounting for 41.2% and 92.6% of the prediction variance, respectively. Regularity had no significant effect on the overall soundscape evaluation. In addition, no acoustic characteristics significantly predicted this factor. The outcome showed that preschool children are capable of multi-scale evaluation of diverse soundscapes, embodying their awareness of both the quality and influence of the acoustic environment. Their soundscape perception dimensions pertain to the features of the preschool period and are thus inconsistent with previous adults' soundscape dimensions. In addition, preschool children seem to desire mild and peaceful soundscapes under control. • Preschool children reported their perception of both indoor and outdoor soundscapes. • Preschoolers' soundscape perception dimensions: Pleasantness, Peacefulness, and Regularity. • Pleasantness and Peacefulness influenced the overall soundscape evaluation. • L A50 significantly contributed to the regression for Pleasantness. • L A10 significantly contributed to the regression for Peacefulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]