Daniel Menzel

Influence of vehicle color on loudness judgments

This experiment investigates the effect of images of differently colored sports cars on the loudness of a simultaneously perceived car sound. Still images of a sports car, colored in red, light green, blue, and dark green, were displayed to subjects during a magnitude estimation task. The sound of an accelerating sports car was used as a stimulus. Statistical analysis suggests that the color of the visual stimulus may have a small influence on loudness judgments. The observed loudness differences are generally equivalent to a change in sound level of about 1 dB, with maximum individual differences of up to 3 dB.

Are absolute thresholds and loudness judgements influenced by different colours

Previous experiments showed that images of differently colored trains and sports cars can influence the loudness ratings given by subjects via free magnitude estimation. Red vehicles caused subjects to rate the loudness of simultaneously presented train or car sounds higher relative to green vehicles. To investigate whether these loudness differences correspond to shifts in absolute threshold, subjects threshold in quiet was measured via Bekesy‐tracking while viewing red, green, and neutral color patches. Also, the influence of color on the loudness of broadband noise was measured using a method of adjustment, in which subjects had to adjust the level of a test sound until it was perceived as loud as a reference sound. In both cases, no influence of color on either absolute threshold or loudness perception measured via adjustment could be found. These results support the hypothesis that, compared to previously used methods like magnitude estimation, methods that require subjects to concentrate on the aud...