The power of percussive sounds: Elucidating the perceptual importance of temporally varying tones

由于技术的限制，早期的发声机器只能发出简单的哔哔声。奇怪的是，尽管面向消费者的产品中的声音已经有了很大的进步，但许多安全关键设备仍然使用简单的哔哔声。例如，它们在医院中无处不在，允许外科医生在复杂的手术中保持对患者的视觉关注，护士同时监控多张病床。虽然这些声音警报在理论上是非常宝贵的，但人们越来越认识到目前的方法是有问题的。例如，对这些声音的担忧经常出现在紧急护理研究所的“十大健康技术危害”报告中，FDA的一项调查显示，这些声音的设计缺陷每年导致数百名患者死亡。尽管不那么可怕，但在听觉感知实验中继续使用简单的哔哔声会带来重大问题，因为它们引起的感知过程与自然声音不同。这就提出了一些重要的问题，即主要由简单的声音推导出的理论和模型是否具有普遍性。我的团队在合成复杂但可控的刺激方面的专业知识已经证明，振幅包络（即，声音随时间的“形状”）在听觉感知中起着至关重要但被广泛忽视的作用。例如，我们已经发现了许多被广泛接受的理论和模型无法解释振幅包络对基本感知过程的影响的例子。最近，我们已经开始应用我们的知识驱动调查的见解，以改善医疗设备的声音。因此，我的研究计划的长期目标是使用复杂的声音来阐明以前被忽视的感知现象，这不仅对知识发现有广泛的意义，而且对数十亿美元的医疗设备行业使用的声音也有更新的意义。我的短期目标集中在振幅包络的重要性被忽视的四个领域。受科学好奇心的启发，前两个目标探讨了幅度包络在（1）视听整合和（2）时间感知中的作用。这为理论和模型的缺点提供了新的见解，这些理论和模型主要是通过简单的哔哔声得出和评估的。受现实世界挑战的启发，后两个目标专注于（3）音调检测和（4）声音烦恼。随着医疗设备充斥世界各地的医院，即使是微小的改进也可以带来重大的公共卫生收益。总之，这四个短期目标有助于实现我的长期目标，即使用复杂的声音来阐明以前未被认识的现象。这些实验不仅将填补我们对听觉系统的知识空白，还将为医院、核电站、航空公司驾驶舱、工业处理中心以及其他对公共健康和安全至关重要的高后果工作中的安全关键设备的声音重新设计提供信息。

Due to technical limitations, early sound producing machines generated simplistic beeps. Curiously, although the sounds in consumer-facing products have advanced considerably, many safety-critical devices still use simplistic beeps. For example, they are ubiquitous in hospitals, where they allow surgeons to keep visual focus on their patients during complex operations, and nurses to monitor multiple beds concurrently. Although these sound alerts can in theory be invaluable, there is growing recognition that current approaches are problematic. For example, concerns about these sounds appear regularly in the Emergency Care Research Institute's "Top 10 Health Technology Hazards" report, and an FDA survey revealed shortcomings in their design contribute to hundreds of patient deaths each year. Although less dire, the continued use of simplistic beeps in auditory perception experiments poses significant problems, as they evoke different perceptual processes than natural sounds. This raises important questions about the generalizability of theories and models derived primarily with simple sounds. My team's expertise in synthesizing complex-yet-controlled stimuli has demonstrated that amplitude envelope (i.e., a sound's "shape" over time) plays a crucial yet widely overlooked role in auditory perception. For example, we have discovered multiple instances in which widely accepted theories and models fail to explain amplitude envelope's effects on fundamental perceptual processes. Recently, we have begun applying insights from our knowledge-driven inquiry to improve medical device sounds. Therefore, my research program's long-term goal of using complex sounds to elucidate previously overlooked perceptual phenomena holds wide-ranging implications-not only for knowledge discovery, but also for updating sounds used by the multibillion-dollar medical device industry. My short-term objectives focus on four areas in which amplitude envelope's importance has been overlooked. Inspired by scientific curiosity, the first two objectives explore amplitude envelope's role in (1) audio-visual integration and (2) timing perception. This provides novel insight into shortcomings of theories and models largely derived and assessed with simplistic beeps. Inspired by real-world challenges, the second two objectives focus on (3) tone detection, and (4) sound annoyance. As medical devices fill hospitals around the world, even small improvements can leverage significant public health gains. Together, these four short-term objectives contribute to my long-term objective of using complex sounds to elucidate previously unrecognized phenomena. Not only will these experiments fill gaps in our knowledge of the auditory system, they will also inform the redesign of sounds in safety-critical devices in hospitals, as well as nuclear power plants, airline cockpits, industrial processing centers, and other high-consequence endeavors important to public health and safety.