TITLE:
Emotional Reactions to Tonal and Noise Components of Environmental Sounds
AUTHORS:
Daniel Västfjäll
KEYWORDS:
Academic Procrastination; Self-Regulation; Active Procrastination; Self-Handicapping
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.4 No.12,
December
30,
2013
ABSTRACT: In the present
study, a two-dimensional model of human emotional reactions is used to predict
auditory perception. The models’ discriminant validity is tested in an
experiment where one group of participants use a two-dimensional emotion
measure to rate their reactions to sounds systematically varied in tone and
noise spectral level content. Another group of participants rated the same
sounds using a standard one-dimensional annoyance measure. The results showed
that both the one- and two-dimensional measures discriminated between reactions
to different sounds. Regression analyses showed that the two-dimensional
measure tapped aspects of human experience not covered by the annoyance
measure. In addition, it was shown that only modifications of the fundamental
frequency and the overall noise spectral level, but not modifications of
harmonics, had a marked effect on emotional reactions. The implications of
these findings for both auditory emotion research and noise control engineering
are discussed.