Re: sound events database

[Brian Gygi <bgygi@xxxxxxxxx>]

Ernesto ( and all)

Some colleagues and I are in the process of putting our database of environmental sounds online in a searchable format.  The address is desra.org.  It is still in the developmental stages, but you will able to search for a different types of sounds and get a variety of information about those sounds.  

If you trouble finding what you need there, you can contact me directly and I can see what I have that might suit you.

As for the specific data regarding the recording conditions, it is extremely rare  to get that information about sounds collected secondhand .  We hired a professional recordist to get some sounds and mandated that he note the recording distance, which he did reluctantly (we also wanted him to use a calibration tone, which he did not do) so some sounds have that noted.  Although knowing the recording level and distance can help to recapture the initial listening conditions, it is not necessary if one is just looking for identifiable tokens, since identifiability is quite robust to distance from the source.

 

Brian Gygi, Ph.D.
Speech and Hearing Research
Veterans Affairs Northern California Health Care System
150 Muir Road
Martinez, CA 94553
(925) 372-2000 x5653

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Ernesto Accolti [mailto:ernestoaccolti@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 07:33 AM
To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: sound events database

Dear Neil.You are right. Both, the sound events database and an SPL at knowndistances database can be sufficient. However I'm not sure if it iseasy to access to this two databases and adapt each data or makingmyself the (calibrated) recordings.I think that I will need more than 100 sound events.How did you solved the problem of the ground traffic? Did you had tomeasure yourself the typical SPL at known distances?Thanks!Ernesto.2010/4/22 Neil Waterman :> Surely what you really need is a database of typical SPL levels for certain> sound sources at known distances?> I work for a company producing Level D certifiable sound systems for use in> the highest fidelity sound systems, and reproduction must EXACTLY match the> source aircraft, but once you accept general sounds (as opposed to SPECIFIC> ones) there is no reference SPL only representative levels - I face this> problem when representing the ground traffic around the aircraft while on> the ground (push-back trucks, luggage carts, etc)> - Neil