Bidelman Gavin M, Jennings Skyler G, Strickland Elizabeth A
Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, Memphis TN, USA ; School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis TN, USA.
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Utah, Salt Lake City UT, USA.
Front Psychol. 2015 Oct 12;6:1498. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01498. eCollection 2015.
The demands of modern psychophysical studies require precise stimulus delivery and flexible platforms for experimental control. Here, we describe PsyAcoustX, a new, freely available suite of software tools written in the MATLAB(®) environment to conduct psychoacoustics research on a standard PC. PsyAcoustX provides a flexible platform to generate and present auditory stimuli in real time and record users' behavioral responses. Data are automatically logged by stimulus condition and aggregated in an exported spreadsheet for offline analysis. Detection thresholds can be measured adaptively under basic and complex auditory masking tasks and other paradigms (e.g., amplitude modulation detection) within minutes. The flexibility of the module offers experimenters access to nearly every conceivable combination of stimulus parameters (e.g., probe-masker relations). Example behavioral applications are highlighted including the measurement of audiometric thresholds, basic simultaneous and non-simultaneous (i.e., forward and backward) masking paradigms, gap detection, and amplitude modulation detection. Examples of these measurements are provided including the psychoacoustic phenomena of temporal overshoot, psychophysical tuning curves, and temporal modulation transfer functions. Importantly, the core design of PsyAcoustX is easily modifiable, allowing users the ability to adapt its basic structure and create additional modules for measuring discrimination/detection thresholds for other auditory attributes (e.g., pitch, intensity, etc.) or binaural paradigms.
现代心理物理学研究的需求需要精确的刺激呈现以及用于实验控制的灵活平台。在此，我们介绍PsyAcoustX，这是一套新的、可免费获取的软件工具套件，它是用MATLAB(®)环境编写的，用于在标准个人电脑上进行心理声学研究。PsyAcoustX提供了一个灵活的平台，可实时生成和呈现听觉刺激，并记录用户的行为反应。数据会根据刺激条件自动记录，并汇总到一个导出的电子表格中以便进行离线分析。在基本和复杂的听觉掩蔽任务以及其他范式（例如，幅度调制检测）下，几分钟内就能自适应地测量检测阈值。该模块的灵活性使实验者能够获取几乎所有可想象的刺激参数组合（例如，探测音 - 掩蔽音关系）。文中突出了行为应用的示例，包括听力阈值的测量以及基本的同时和非同时（即前向和后向）掩蔽范式、间隙检测和幅度调制检测。还提供了这些测量的示例，包括时间过冲的心理声学现象、心理物理调谐曲线和时间调制传递函数。重要的是，PsyAcoustX的核心设计易于修改，这使用户能够调整其基本结构，并创建用于测量其他听觉属性（例如，音高、强度等）或双耳范式的辨别/检测阈值的附加模块。
