Publication Date

1999

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Lee, Lidia W.

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Communicative Disorders

LCSH

Auditory perception; Hearing; Hearing levels

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify a set of orthogonal descriptors of sound quality. One hundred normal-hearing college students listened to one spoken and nine musical stimuli. Each stimulus was rated on 15 Lykert scales of 0 to 51, each with six gradations. Ratings were made according to the subject?s impression of the stimulus in terms of the various sound-quality descriptors. Factor analysis of data from all ratings resulted in the extraction of three principal components, comprising 89.83% of the total variance. By analyzing the descriptors belonging to the three factors, Factor 1 was interpreted to be a rating of loudness, Factor 2 was interpreted to be a rating of clarity, and Factor 3 was interpreted to be a rating of comfort. Analysis of data by type of listening material was also performed, yielding three to five factors accounting for less variance.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references (pages [41]-43).

Extent

vi, 89 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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