Neurally based acoustic and visual design

Abstract

Manfred Schroeder’s ideas concerning acoustics, auditory percepts and preferences, and acoustic design had profound influences on the development of Yoichi Ando’s theory of architectural acoustics. Building on Schroeder’s theoretical frameworks, over subsequent decades Ando formulated a systematic theory of architectural acoustics design that incorporates acoustics (the structure of sound and how it propagates through an enclosed space), psychoacoustical models of auditory percepts and listener preferences (what we hear, which perceptual attributes are most important for the design of enclosed spaces, what we like to hear, which percepts are most important to our overall satisfaction, how individualized are these preferences), and strategies for optimal design (how a design process can harness psychoacoustical knowledge in order to optimize listener preferences). In the last two decades, Ando’s theory has taken a neural turn in which monaural and binaural percepts are grounded respectively in putative central auditory autocorrelation and cross-correlation representations. Experimentally, Ando and co-workers have identified some observable neural correlates of relevant auditory percepts and preferences (e.g., EEG and MEG response latency patterns, spatial extent and temporal persistence of alpha rhythms, hemispheric lateralizations). In theory, the identification of neurophysiological signs of listener satisfaction permits neurally driven design processes that optimize acoustics such that neural processes responsible for listener satisfaction are fulfilled. Finally, the same battery of psychophysical methods, correlation-based representations, and neurophysiological experiments has been applied to problems of visual percepts and preferences. The visual results suggest deep similarities with auditory percepts. These many considerations lead to an integrative theory of spatial and temporal design.