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Audio Technology & Psychoacoustics - ELE00063I

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  • Department: Electronic Engineering
  • Module co-ordinator: Prof. Andy Hunt
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: I
  • Academic year of delivery: 2024-25

Module summary

When planning the design of the next generation of music technology devices and systems, it's really helpful to know how they have developed so far, picking up technical principles along the way. Therefore this module introduces you to the history and development of music technology systems, and gives you practical experience in building software synthesisers, along with understanding the basics of sound, musical computing, and synthesis techniques. This module will also explore psychoacoustics; the science of the perception of sound. This will start with the fundamentals of pitch, loudness, and timbre perception, and build to an understanding of various psychoacoustic phenomena and the perception of music.At the end of the module you will not only understand how to build synthesisers but will also have a deep appreciation of how and why they sound different.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 2 2024-25

Module aims

Subject content aims:

  • To explore how music is created with technology and consider the history of technology in music making, synthesis and composition

  • To introduce students to the musical and technology changes of the 20th century, which have resulted in today's Music Technology state­of­the­art

  • To give students a basic grounding in fundamental concepts in audio processing and music technology

  • To give the students practical experience of a digital synthesis package in order to explore the basic underlying techniques of sampling and synthesis

  • To introduce the fundamentals of psychoacoustics, including the perception of pitch, loudness, and timbre.

  • To develop from these fundamental percepts to an understanding of the perception of musical sounds.

  • To introduce various psychoacoustic phenomena, the theory underpinning those phenomena and give the students practical experience of generating audio examples demonstrating them.

  • To give the students experience of analysing audio signals in the time- and frequency- domains.

Graduate skills aims:

  • To establish fundamental skills in gathering and presenting information from reliable sources and technical writing, recognising issues of plagiarism and collusion

  • To foster creativity, innovation and critical thinking

Module learning outcomes

Subject content learning outcomes

After successful completion of this module, students will:

  • Be able to describe the historical context of synthesis techniques and their application in contemporary music

  • Explain the theory behind sampling and synthesis systems

  • Be able to manipulate and analyse digital audio signals against target specifications

  • Be able to build a simple synthesis system in Pd and critically evaluate the results

  • Discuss the fundamentals of psychoacoustic perception.

  • Explain the perception of musical sounds.

  • Be able to develop an interactive demonstration of a psychoacoustic phenomenon in Pd.

  • Be able to make use of time- and frequency- domain analysis tools to evaluate audio signals, and relate this analysis to psychoacoustic features.

Graduate skills learning outcomes

After successful completion of this module, students will:

  • Be able to construct basic technical reports and identify reliable sources of information, recognising issues of plagiarism and collusion

  • Have developed skills in analysis, problem solving, critical evaluation, innovation and creativity

Module content

  • History of Music Technology (Early electronic instruments; Development of Synthesisers; History of Computing; Modern technology)

  • Digital Sound and Sampling

  • Audio Filters

  • Introduction to the Pd audiovisual programming language

  • Sound Representation and Recording

  • Synthesis Methods (Additive Synthesis, Envelope Generators, Subtractive Synthesis, Frequency Modulation (FM), Wavetable Synthesis, Karplus-Strong synthesis)

  • Composition with computers

  • Sequencing with Pd

  • Synthesisers of the future (including an overview of current research)

  • Introduction to psychoacoustics

  • Structure of the human auditory system

  • Perception of pitch, loudness, and timbre

  • Masking

  • Spatial hearing and auditory localisation

  • Timbral analysis

  • Time- and frequency- domain audio analysis (the fourier transform, spectral analysis, spectrograms)

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Essay : Psychoacoustic Phenomenon Exercise		 N/A 50
Essay/coursework
Essay : Synthesis Design Exercise		 N/A 50

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

There are 2 assessments for this module, which will be issued towards the start of the teaching sessions.

  1. Synthesis Design Exercise: Students will design, build and test a synthesiser in Pd, based on the synthesis methods taught in the module. The Pd code must be designed well for a new user, and contain its own documentation (structure and comments). Students write a short technical report to explain the design and construction, and to show evidence of user testing and evaluation.

  2. Psychoacoustic Phenomenon Exercise: Students will develop an interactive demonstration of a psychoacoustic phenomenon in Pd. The submitted Pd patch should be self documenting, and accessible to a lay audience. The students will submit an accompanying technical report explaining the design of their patch with reference to relevant academic literature. They will also make use of time- and frequency- domain analysis tools to relate the properties of the produced audio signal to the percepts of the phenomenon.

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Essay : Psychoacoustic Phenomenon Exercise		 N/A 50
Essay/coursework
Essay : Synthesis Design Exercise		 N/A 50

Module feedback

Formative Feedback

Regular labs allow you to engage with the programming material and receive verbal help and feedback on your coding and design.

Weekly quizzes on the module Wiki page help you to gain feedback on your understanding of the key module material covered in the lectures.

Emails to the Module Staff with Questions / Comments will be answered as soon as possible.

Questions can also be submitted at any time via the Question Box on the module Wiki page.

A draft version of your assignment can be submitted to the module staff before the end of term, who will confirm whether this is all in the correct format, along with some general written feedback comments, and a series of recommendations for improvement.

Summative Feedback

You will receive a customised feedback sheet, showing the mark breakdown in each of the key areas being assessed (For the Synthesis Design Exercise: Synthesiser Design & Programming Quality; Audio Demonstration; Report quality, For the Psychoacoustic Phenomenon Exercise: Effectiveness of the demonstration of the psychoacoustic phenomenon, programming quality, evidence of individual research, evaluation of the output, report quality) along with personalised feedback and suggestions for improvement. The comments explain how well you have met the learning objectives, and also give you feedback about the things you could improve in future assignments).

Indicative reading

The Module Wiki page gives a variety of reading, viewing, and listening material, paced throughout the semester.


Howard DM and Angus JAS, (2009). Acoustics and psychoacoustics, 4th Ed., Oxford: Focal Press.


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.