Loudness
In acoustics, loudness is the subjective perception of sound pressure. More formally, it is defined as, “That attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud.”[1] The relation of physical attributes of sound to perceived loudness consists of physical, physiological and psychological components. The study of apparent loudness is included in the topic of psychoacoustics and employs methods of psychophysics.
In different industries, loudness may have different meanings and different measurement standards. Some definitions such as LKFS refer to relative loudness of different segments of electronically reproduced sounds such as for broadcasting and cinema. Others, such as ISO 532A (Stevens loudness, measured in sones), ISO 532B (Zwicker loudness), DIN 45631 and ASA/ANSI S3.4, have a more general scope and are often used to characterize loudness of environmental noise.
It is sometimes stated that loudness is a subjective measure, often confused with physical measures of sound strength such as sound pressure, sound pressure level (in decibels), sound intensity or sound power. It is often possible to separate the truly subjective components such as social considerations from the physical and physiological.
Filters such as A-weighting attempt to adjust sound measurements to correspond to loudness as perceived by the typical human, however this approach is only truly valid for loudness of single tones. A-weighting follows human sensitivity to sound and describes relative perceived loudness for at quiet to moderate speech levels, around 40 phons. However, physiological loudness perception is a much more complex process than can be captured with a single correction curve.[2] Not only do equal-loudness contours vary with intensity, but perceived loudness of a complex sound depends on whether its spectral components are closely or widely spaced in frequency. When generating neural impulses in response to sounds of one frequency, the ear is less sensitive to nearby frequencies, which are said to be in the same critical band. Sounds containing spectral components in many critical bands are perceived as louder even if the total sound pressure remains constant.
Explanation
The perception of loudness is related to sound pressure level (SPL), frequency content and duration of a sound. The human auditory system averages the effects of SPL over a 600–1000 ms interval. A sound of constant SPL will be perceived to increase in loudness as samples of duration 20, 50, 100, 200 ms are heard, up to a duration of about 1 second at which point the perception of loudness will stabilize. For sounds of duration greater than 1 second, the moment-by-moment perception of loudness will be related to the average loudness during the preceding 600–1000 ms.[citation needed]
For sounds having a duration longer than 1 second, the relationship between SPL and loudness of a single tone can be approximated by Stevens’ power law in which SPL has an exponent of 0.6.[a] More precise measurements indicate that loudness increases with a higher exponent at low and high levels and with a lower exponent at moderate levels.[citation needed]
The sensitivity of the human ear changes as a function of frequency, as shown in the equal-loudness graph. Each line on this graph shows the SPL required for frequencies to be perceived as equally loud, and different curves pertain to different sound pressure levels. It also shows that humans with normal hearing are most sensitive to sounds around 2–4 kHz, with sensitivity declining to either side of this region. A complete model of the perception of loudness will include the integration of SPL by frequency.[2]
Historically, loudness was measured using an “ear-balance” audiometer in which the amplitude of a sine wave was adjusted by the user to equal the perceived loudness of the sound being evaluated. Contemporary standards for measurement of loudness are based on summation of energy in critical bands as described in IEC 532, DIN 45631 and ASA/ANSI S3.4. A distinction is made between stationary loudness (sounds that remain sensibly constant) and non-stationary (sound sources that move in space or change amplitude over time.)
Hearing loss
When sensorineural hearing loss (damage to the cochlea or in the brain) is present, the perception of loudness is altered. Sounds at low levels (often perceived by those without hearing loss as relatively quiet) are no longer audible to the hearing impaired, but sounds at high levels often are perceived as having the same loudness as they would for an unimpaired listener. This phenomenon can be explained by two theories: loudness grows more rapidly for these listeners than normal listeners with changes in level. This theory is called “loudness recruitment” and has been accepted as the classical explanation. More recently, it has been proposed that some listeners with sensorineural hearing loss may in fact exhibit a normal rate of loudness growth, but instead have an elevated loudness at their threshold. That is, the softest sound that is audible to these listeners is louder than the softest sound audible to normal listeners. This theory is called “softness imperception”, a term coined by Mary Florentine.[3]
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的麥克風做什麼？最好能先知道它的規格。
於是考察其電路圖︰
得知使用 SPU0414HR5H-SB 也。
依據上面 Data Sheet 所說，是種微機電麥克風哩︰
MEMS
The MEMS (MicroElectrical-Mechanical System) microphone is also called a microphone chip or silicon microphone. A pressure-sensitive diaphragm is etched directly into a silicon wafer by MEMS processing techniques, and is usually accompanied with integrated preamplifier. Most MEMS microphones are variants of the condenser microphone design. Digital MEMS microphones have built in analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuits on the same CMOS chip making the chip a digital microphone and so more readily integrated with modern digital products. Major manufacturers producing MEMS silicon microphones are Wolfson Microelectronics (WM7xxx) now Cirrus Logic,[30] InvenSense (product line sold by Analog Devices [31]), Akustica (AKU200x), Infineon (SMM310 product), Knowles Electronics, Memstech (MSMx), NXP Semiconductors (division bought by Knowles [32]), Sonion MEMS, Vesper, AAC Acoustic Technologies,[33] and Omron.[34]
More recently[when?], there has been increased interest and research into making piezoelectric MEMS microphones which are a significant architectural and material change from existing condenser style MEMS designs.[35]
……
Omnidirectional
An omnidirectional (or nondirectional) microphone’s response is generally considered to be a perfect sphere in three dimensions. In the real world, this is not the case. As with directional microphones, the polar pattern for an “omnidirectional” microphone is a function of frequency. The body of the microphone is not infinitely small and, as a consequence, it tends to get in its own way with respect to sounds arriving from the rear, causing a slight flattening of the polar response. This flattening increases as the diameter of the microphone (assuming it’s cylindrical) reaches the wavelength of the frequency in question. Therefore, the smallest diameter microphone gives the best omnidirectional characteristics at high frequencies.
The wavelength of sound at 10 kHz is 1.4″ (3.5 cm). The smallest measuring microphones are often 1/4″ (6 mm) in diameter, which practically eliminates directionality even up to the highest frequencies. Omnidirectional microphones, unlike cardioids, do not employ resonant cavities as delays, and so can be considered the “purest” microphones in terms of low coloration; they add very little to the original sound. Being pressure-sensitive they can also have a very flat low-frequency response down to 20 Hz or below. Pressure-sensitive microphones also respond much less to wind noise and plosives than directional (velocity sensitive) microphones.
An example of a nondirectional microphone is the round black eight ball.[37]
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看來語音應用理當沒有問題，卻不知 Hi Fi 錄音如何的呦？！
