Auditory and Visual Sensations

This is an approach from the auditory and visual brain activities and functioning to sensations. This book is concerned with physics, psychology, brain physiology, blending science and art. Temporal sensations such as pitch or missing fundamental, loudness, timbre, and duration sensation, which is introduced here as the fourth, may be described by the temporal factors extracted from the autocorrelation function (ACF), which are associated with the left hemisphere. On the other hand, spatial sensations such as localization in the horizontal plane, apparent source width (ASW) and subjective diffuseness are described by the spatial factors extracted from the inter aural cross correlation function (IACF) are associated with the right hemisphere.

The "primary sensation" may be classified in two categories: temporal sensations and spatial sensations. Therefore, any subjective responses of the sound field may be described based on both the temporal and spatial factors. The first part of book contributes to basic acoustics researches related to brain including concert hall and opera house acoustics, noise measurement and effects of noise on man, but also psychological and physiological acoustics as well as speech and music perception.

As described in the second part, there is a certain degree of similarity in the processing of auditory- and visual –brain systems. An analogy of this theory may be applied for the temporal sensations and the spatial sensations of vision, as well as the subjective preference of the visual environment. The typical temporal sensation of vision is "pitch" of a flickering light, which includes the missing fundamental phenomenon. Visual spatial sensations discussed here are contrast, regularity and coarseness. But, no color effects on the sensations are treated in this volume. As an application, a design theory incorporating temporal and spatial factors may be generalized in architectural and environmental design. Someexamples of application will be offered.

Yoichi Ando is an expert in the areas of concert hall acoustics architectural acoustics, brain activities, and environmental design. He has been awarded the AIA Institute Honor, American Institute of Architects in 1995: For 30 years of work developing and applying new theories of concert hall acoustics have helped the way music is heard. A scientist, author, and educator, his achievements are a benefit to both the world of architecture and the world of music. He has also been awarded the "Laurea Honoris Causa" (Dottore ad Honorem) by University of Ferrara, Italy on 12 June 2002, and serves as Editor-In-Chief, of the Journal of Temporal Design in Architecture and the Environment.

Peter Cariani works in the fields of auditory neurophysiology; temporal coding of pitch, timbre, and consonance; neural networks for temporal processing; music perception and cognition.