SPSC2003 Acoustics of Speech and Hearing

Web Tutorials

Web tutorials are interactive learning materials accessible with just a web browser over the Internet. They can be a useful and fun way of learning.

The "Lecture Room" at www.speechandhearing.net has references to a range of tutorials in Phonetics and Acoustics. It is a good place to make a start.

We will add below any other tutorials that we think you may find useful when studying this course. If you come across others please let us know with an e-mail.

1. Introductory Tutorial on Logarithms

This is an interactive tutorial on the basics of logarithms, if you complete this tutorial you should be able to:

  • Represent numbers like 1, 10, 100, 1000, etc as 'powers of ten'
  • Determine the logarithm of a power of ten
  • Estimate the logarithm of other numbers greater than 1
  • Multiply numbers using logarithms
  • Divide numbers using logarithms

2. Web Tutorial on Loudness

In this tutorial you will learn about our sense of the loudness of sounds. If you complete the tutorial, you will learn about

  • The subjectivity of loudness
  • Elements of the hearing mechanism important to loudness sensation
  • The limits and range of the sensation of loudness
  • The physical correlates of loudness
  • The Sound Pressure Level scale
  • Methods to estimate the loudness of pure tones and complex sounds
  • Spectral weighting measures used in sound meters
  • The meaning and cause of loudness recruitment

3. Web Tutorial on Pitch

In this tutorial you will learn about our sense of the pitch of sounds. If you complete the tutorial you will learn about

  • What we mean by our sense of pitch
  • What physical properties of sounds give rise to our sensation of pitch
  • The limits of pitch
  • The operation of our hearing mechanism relating to pitch
  • How pitch is encoded in the nerve signals sent from the ear to brain
  • A comparison of different ideas about how pitch arises
  • The possible origins of musical pitch intervals