Physiological responses and subjective estimates of sounds : initial results of pilot study

Hume, KI; Barrett, H; Ip, A; McDonagh, T; Davies, WJ; Adams, MD; Bruce, NS; Cain, R; Jennings, P; Czanner, G; Carlyle, A; Cusack, P; Plack, C

Abstract

In an attempt to understand the effect of sounds on physiological measurements, along the positive (pleasant) - negative (unpleasant) subjective dimension, 51 subjects (26 male) listened to 13 sounds in clips of 8s interspersed with 16s of silence while their heart rate, respiratory rate and skin conductance were measured and they recorded the subjective pleasantness of the sound. The sounds were in three categories, natural (eg birdsong) human (eg crying) and transportation (eg aircraft take-off). There were highly significant decreases in heart rate and significant increases in respiratory rate with some gender differences in response to the sounds. Initial analysis showed no significant correlation between the physiological measures and the subjective evaluations of the pleasantness of the sounds.

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: Institute of Acoustics Spring Conference 2008
• Start Date: Apr 10, 2008
• End Date: Apr 11, 2008
• Deposit Date: Nov 20, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 20, 2009
• Related Public URLs: http://www.positivesoundscapes.org/
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference