On the perception of the direction of sound / by C.S. Myers and H.A. Wilson.

  • Myers, Charles S. (Charles Samuel), 1873-1946.
Date:
[1908?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: On the perception of the direction of sound / by C.S. Myers and H.A. Wilson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    hand side of the middle point, while with x between £ \ and \ \ it would appear to be on the left, and so on for other values of x. If we denote the lateral effect by </>, and consider right effects positive and left effects negative, the connection between and x should be, according to Lord Rayleigh’s results, <f> = A sin (firux/v), where A is a constant. It would, perhaps, be more correct to say that <£ should be equal to a Fourier’s sine series, of which the above is the first term, but experiment shows that the other terms are probably unimportant, if they exist at all. One of us acted as observer while the other placed the T-piece in a series of positions, in each of which the observer said on which side the sound of the fork appeared to him to be. A record of the results was kept, and the series of observations was usually repeated. The sensations were usually described as follows :—“ Full right,” “ half right,” “ middle or half right,” “ middle,” “ middle or half left,” “ half left,” “ full left.” “ Half right ” meant that the perception of direction was only moderately definite, while “ middle or half left ” meant that there was only a doubtful perception of direction. “ Middle ” meant that the sound seemed to come from in front or behind, or that there was no lateral effect. The following is a typical series of observations:— Fork 512. Observer facing away from fork. Scale reading. 100 . .. M (1) 105 . .. R (2) R (26) 95 . .. L (3) L (25) 90 . ... L (4) L (24) 110 . .. B(5) R (23) 85 . ... L (6) L (22) 80 . .. L(7) 115 . .. L (8) L(21) 120 . .. L (9) L (20) 125 . .. L (10) L (19) 75 . .. R (11) R (18) 70 . .. R (12) R (17) 130 . ... M (13) r (is) 65 . ... M or | L (14) M or i L (15) 135 . ... R (27) M or $ R (34) 140 . ... R (28) R (33) 145 . ... L (29) M or | L (32) 150 . ... L (30) L (31)