How we perceive sounds — a short listening experiment

0. Introduction & Consent

Information Sheet

Institution: Department of Audio & Visual Arts, Ionian University. The research is conducted within the framework of Athanasios Epitideios' doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Professor Apostolos Loufopoulos.

Purpose: we are studying how we perceive various sounds, how natural they sound, and what they remind us of.

What it involves: you will listen to short audio excerpts and answer simple questions. It takes about 15–18 minutes, using headphones. You must be 18 years of age or older.

Voluntary participation: you can stop at any time by closing the page, without any consequences.

Data & anonymity: we only collect your age group, self-reported data (experience, equipment), and your answers to the listening tasks. No name, email, IP address, or device data is collected. Responses are completely anonymous.

Storage: anonymous responses are stored via Google services, accessible only by the researcher, kept until the completion of the dissertation, and then deleted. Because they are anonymous, withdrawal is technically impossible after submission.

Hearing safety: set the volume to a comfortable level and do not turn it up excessively.

Contact / complaints: atha.epitideios@ionio.gr

Before proceeding, audio initialization is required.

Audio initialization (required)

This button is required due to iOS/Safari audio-playback restrictions.

Audio has not been initialized yet.

Consent (required) I am 18 years old or older, I have read and understood the above information, I participate voluntarily, and I allow the use of my anonymous answers for research purposes.

1. Demographics

Q1.1 Age group (required)

Q1.2 Do you usually have difficulty hearing high-pitched sounds? (required)

No A little A lot I'm not sure

Q1.3 Experience with audio (required)

None in particular Amateur Serious amateur Professional

Q1.4 Exposure to nature (required)

Rarely Occasionally Often Very often

Q1.5 Listening equipment (required) (Headphones are recommended)

Over-ear headphones In-ear headphones Bluetooth headphones Speakers

2. Volume Calibration & Audibility Check

Volume Calibration (Pink Noise)

Play the following audio sample (Pink Noise) and set the volume of your headphones/speakers to a comfortable level.
Important: From this point on, do not change the volume at all, to ensure the validity of the experiment. For the safety of your hearing, do not increase the volume excessively.

I confirm that I have set the volume and will not change it.

High-Frequency Audibility Check (12 kHz)

The following sample is a pure tone at 12 kHz. Can you hear it clearly?

Yes, clearly Very faintly No

3. Single sounds

Listen to each sound and answer the questions.

4. Sound pairs

Compare each pair of sounds and state your preference.

5. Audio Excerpts

Listen to each sound and answer spontaneously.

6. Real or synthetic?

In the following pairs, one sample comes from a natural recording, while the other is a product of algorithmic synthesis.
Choose which version you consider synthetic and (optionally) justify your choice.

7. Sound recognition

In this final section, you will hear some short sounds. For each sound, write in your own words what you think you hear, i.e., what you believe is producing the sound. There is no right or wrong answer; we are interested in your spontaneous impression. Try to be as specific as possible (e.g., the type of animal, object, or phenomenon), but if you are not sure, just write whatever comes to mind. If you don't recognize something, write "I don't know".

8. Closing

Did you experience any technical issues during playback? (optional)

Audio dropouts Delay/latency Background noise File loading issue

Other (optional):

Equipment Verification (required)

Exclusively with headphones Partially (I also used speakers) Studio monitors External speakers (e.g. PC speakers, hi-fi) Laptop speakers Mobile phone / tablet speaker

Comments or remarks (optional)