Contribution
How a Loudness Halving Affects the Perceptual Space for Tonal Fan Sounds
* Presenting author
Abstract:
Fan sounds are often heard in daily life and can be rather unpleasant, especially when containing audible tones. In such cases, a level reduction usually leads to more pleasant sounds but it is unclear how the perceptual characteristics of the sounds are affected. In this study, tonal fan sounds were rated by 16 participants with a semantic differential consisting of 21 perceptual attributes. In two experiments performed on separate days, the level of the stimuli was either 55 dB(A) or 45 dB(A), corresponding roughly to halving/doubling of the perceived loudness. The analysis of the rating results with a principal component analysis indicates slightly different perceptual spaces with four dimensions at 55 dB(A) and three dimensions at 45 dB(A). For the rather pleasant sounds, the pleasantness rating and the semantic profiles barely change for a level reduction of 10 decibel. For the rather unpleasant sounds within the stimulus set, several sound characteristics become less pronounced, while the unpleasantness rating and the attributes linked to the evaluation barely change. In both level conditions, the average ratings cover similar ranges of the scales suggesting that the scales were used and should also be interpreted rather as relative and not as absolute scales.