Perceptual dimensions of impulsive-source active sonar echoes

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2006-11, Vol.120 (5_Supplement), p.3125-3125
• Main Authors: Summers, Jason E., Brock, Derek, McClimens, Brian, Gaumond, Charles F., Baer, Ralph N.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.4787671

Recent findings [J. Pitton et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 119, 3395(A) (2006)] have joined anecdotal evidence to suggest that human listeners are able to discriminate target from clutter in cases for which automatic classifiers fail. To uncover the dimensions of the perceptual space in which listeners perform classification, a multidimensional scaling (MDS) experiment was performed. Subjects rated the aural similarity between ordered pairs of stimuli drawn from a set of 100 operationally measured sonar signals, comprising 50 target echoes and 50 false-alarm clutter echoes. Experimental controls were employed to evaluate consistency in judgments within and between subjects. To ensure that dimensions were discovered rather than imposed [Allen and Scollie, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 112, 211–218 (2002)], subjects were neither trained in classification nor made aware of the underlying two-class structure of the signal set. While training improves classification performance, prior work suggests that both expert and nave listeners use the same perceptual space [R. Mackie et al., ONR Tech. Rep. 2723-1, NR 197-060/4-18-79 (1981)]. Results of the MDS study are presented, including an evaluation of the number of perceptual dimensions and their interpretation in terms of perceptual and physical attributes of the signals. [Work supported by ONR.]