Human auditory ecology: Extending hearing research to the perception of natural soundscapes by humans

A “natural soundscape” refers to the case where the contribution of acoustic events resulting from human activity can be considered as negligeable. As a consequence, natural soundscapes are only composed of biological sounds and geophysical sounds shaped by the specific way sounds propagate within the habitat under study. Within this framework, studying soundscape perception in humans aims at unveiling the relationship between the features of sound mixtures picked up at a given place and time by the peripheral auditory system of a human listener and the characteristics of the auditory percept evoked by these features. We will present a research program based on large and ecologically-valid acoustic databases recorded in protected areas aiming to (i) better understand the mechanisms involved in auditory perception of natural soundscapes; (ii) characterize and explain the effects of sensorineural hearing loss on perception of natural soundscapes; and (iii) assess the extent to which alterations in soundscape perception can be restored back to normal via hearing aids. This programme combines modelling and psychophysical methods to explore our ability to distinguish between habitat, time of day and season, to detect the presence of biological sound sources and to assess levels of biodiversity in the habitat.