1 An empirical study on the sensation of roughness

Background in Acoustics. Roughness is one of the fundamental hearing sensations and is of major importance for the sensory consonance of musical sounds. Various models exist for the calculation of roughness of a given sound; these are mainly used in the sound design industry. Background in Psychology. The aim of psychoacoustics is to find functional connections between physical stimuli and hearing sensations, and the quantitative description of these connections. Aims. The aim of this study is to explore which particular model of roughness corresponds best to the subjective sensation of clattering or roughness of electric engine units. In addition, we want to find out whether subjective clattering is a combination of various sensations. Method. In order to measure the sensation of roughness, a paired-comparison technique is used. Subjects are listening to sound pairs presented via headphones in random order and have to decide which stimulus sounds rougher. From these data – given the assumptions of the Bradley-Terry-Luce (BTL) model – a ratio scale of the attribute roughness is derived. Results. Comparison of the empirical results with calculated roughness shows a high correlation. In detail, among the different parameters of roughness, the model of R-roughness leads to the best correspondence with the empirical data (r = 0,94)