Spatial aspects of auditory salience

Models of auditory salience aim to predict which sounds attract people’s attention, and their proposed applications range from soundscape design to machine listening systems and object-based broadcasting. A few different types of models have been proposed, but one of the areas where most of them still fall short is spatial aspects of sound – they usually operate on mono signals and do not consider spatial auditory scenes. Part of the reason why this is the case might be that the relationship between auditory salience and position of sound is still not clear. In addition, methods used to measure auditory salience vary greatly, and authors in the field do not always use the same definition of salience.In Part I, this thesis aims to answer questions about the effect of spatial location of sound on auditory salience. This is done in four different experiments, which are based on previously published experimental methods but adapted to measure spatial effects. In general, the combined results of these experiments do not support the hypothesis that the spatial position of a sound alone influences how salient the sound is. However, they do show that unexpectedchanges in position might activate the deviance detection mechanism and therefore be salient. In addition, an experiment comparing three of the methods used reveals at least twodimensions of salience, which are measured by different methods to different extent. This emphasises the importance of carefully considering which experimental methods are used tomeasure auditory salience, and also providing a clear definition of what type of salience is of interest.Part II demonstrates how spatial position of sound can be incorporated into an auditory salience model. The results of experiments described in this thesis support the idea that the basis of auditory salience is the violation of expectations. The surprise caused by a sudden change in sound position can therefore be modelled by a Kalman-filter-based deviance detection model, which predicts experimental data discussed above with good accuracy.Finally, an example is given of how an application of such a model can improve the performance of a machine learning algorithm for acoustic event detection

Proceedings of the 19th Sound and Music Computing Conference

Proceedings of the 19th Sound and Music Computing Conference - June 5-12, 2022 - Saint-Étienne (France). https://smc22.grame.f

SPICA:revealing the hearts of galaxies and forming planetary systems : approach and US contributions

How did the diversity of galaxies we see in the modern Universe come to be? When and where did stars within them forge the heavy elements that give rise to the complex chemistry of life? How do planetary systems, the Universe's home for life, emerge from interstellar material? Answering these questions requires techniques that penetrate dust to reveal the detailed contents and processes in obscured regions. The ESA-JAXA Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) mission is designed for this, with a focus on sensitive spectroscopy in the 12 to 230 micron range. SPICA offers massive sensitivity improvements with its 2.5-meter primary mirror actively cooled to below 8 K. SPICA one of 3 candidates for the ESA's Cosmic Visions M5 mission, and JAXA has is committed to their portion of the collaboration. ESA will provide the silicon-carbide telescope, science instrument assembly, satellite integration and testing, and the spacecraft bus. JAXA will provide the passive and active cooling system (supporting the

The Apertif Surveys:The First Six Months

Apertif is a new phased-array feed for the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT), greatly increasing its field of view and turning it into a natural survey instrument. In July 2019, the Apertif legacy surveys commenced; these are a time-domain survey and a two-tiered imaging survey, with a shallow and medium-deep component. The time-domain survey searches for new (millisecond) pulsars and fast radio bursts (FRBs). The imaging surveys provide neutral hydrogen (HI), radio continuum and polarization data products. With a bandwidth of 300 MHz, Apertif can detect HI out to a redshift of 0.26. The key science goals to be accomplished by Apertif include localization of FRBs (including real-time public alerts), the role of environment and interaction on galaxy properties and gas removal, finding the smallest galaxies, connecting cold gas to AGN, understanding the faint radio population, and studying magnetic fields in galaxies. After a proprietary period, survey data products will be publicly available through the Apertif Long Term Archive (ALTA, https://alta.astron.nl). I will review the progress of the surveys and present the first results from the Apertif surveys, including highlighting the currently available public data