HSF: Hearing and Music (W7)

Structures involved in hearing (image)

Inner ear bone + common name:

• malleus - hammer

• incus - anvil

• stapes - stirrup

the cochlea

• is made up of 2 fluid filled chambers separated by a cochlear duct

• has hairs with different flexibilities = so can tell difference between sounds + frequencies

Vibrations

• vibrations from the stapes → causes vibrations to the oval window on the surface of the cochlea

• this creates pressure waves to the fluid inside the cochlea

how do films use music to create a mood?

• sensory coding:

  • low visual processing

  • detection of stimulus at retina/eardrum

  • the stimulus itself

• cognitive coding:

  • content + context

  • cognitive coding decides whether you like music or not e.g. some people really like loud music

How do we feel emotions?

Chat GPT explanation of the model

This diagram from Redies (2015) explores how aesthetic experiences (like perceiving something as beautiful) arise from a mix of sensory, cognitive, and cultural processes. It links external stimuli with internal brain processing to explain how we perceive and interpret beauty.

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🔄 Left to Right Flow: From Stimulus to Aesthetic Experience 🔹 1. External Information

• Stimulus (e.g., a beautiful form): The physical appearance or structure of something.

• Context: Includes meaning, setting, or cultural background.

These two are input into our perception system.

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🔹 2. Internal Representation

This is how our brain and sensory systems process the input:

🔵 Sensory perception (red arrow)

• Immediate processing of form, color, shape, etc.

• Leads to sensory coding — basic recognition of the object.

🔵 Cognitive processing (purple arrow)

• Involves memory, learning, expertise, and prior knowledge.

• Heavily shaped by culture and environment.

🔁 Adaptation & Familiarization

• Over time, exposure to certain types of stimuli (like cultural norms) shapes what we perceive as aesthetically pleasing.

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🎯 Aesthetic Experience

At the center of the diagram is the emergence of aesthetic experience, a combination of:

• Perceptual processing (bottom-up, fast, sensory) → universal and biological

• Cognitive processing (top-down, slow, meaning-based) → personal, cultural

This results in the subjective feeling of beauty, filtered through both innate responses and learned preferences.

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🧠 Right Side Labels: Two Processing Models 📏 Formalist Model

• Focuses on sensory and universal aspects.

• Relies on object recognition and biological mechanisms.

• Example: Everyone finds symmetry or certain patterns visually appealing.

🌍 Conceptual Model

• Emphasizes cognitive, cultural, and individual influences.

• Beauty is affected by learning, context, and social norms.

• Example: Cultural variation — e.g., less nudity in Asian films compared to Western ones due to different norms.

Test - Can background music affect our feelings towards characters?

• Watch same vid with different background music

conclusions:

• different music changes how we feel towards the character

• music in film contributes to the aesthetics + can influence how we feel towards a character

• demonstrates importance of music + context in film

Test M - does music affect perception of morality?

• Showed 2 clips with different music

• 252 (113 female)

• music: negative, positive or no music

• i called it test M just bc its about morality its not acc called that

Test M - emotional choices (image)

Test M - ANOVA

Hypothesis 1: Music can influence the emotions felt when watching a scene

• found no significant difference between the videos

Test M - Pearsons

Hypothesis 2: Emotions induced by stimuli affect perceived moral righteousness

• did see significant difference between the 2 videos

• money video → 2x more likely to be affected by emotions

Can music influence perceived morality?

• results for test M = inconclusive

• positive emotions associated with perceived righteousness of scene

• were the clips too controversial?

Causes of hearing loss

• anything that causes blockages to auditory canal → stop sound getting in

• damage to structures e.g. eardrum → stops sound from being transferred to cochlea

Can be corrected:

• e.g. if hearing loss sustained through too much loud music or from birth → using a hearing aid

Example causes of hearing loss (image)

Music in film for deaf/hard of hearing individuals

• film mood boosted by music

• accessible through subtitling

  • description (e.g. ‘suspenseful music’)

  • details (e.g. name)

  • writing out lyrics

Different companies have different guidelines for music in subtitles

• Netflix - transcribe song lyrics +/ provide artist + title

• BBC - transcribe song lyrics and give author + title of identifiable music

  • if only for atmosphere - describe

Which subtitles are most useful: Survey 1 (Szarkowska + Laskowska, 2014)

• Survey of 160 deaf (d), 78 hard of hearing (h), Polish ppts

conditions:

• mood of music (e.g. ‘cheerful music’)

  • d - 65.5%

  • h - 61.4%

• type of music (e.g. ‘guitar music’)

  • d - 40.6%

  • h - 29.5%

• presence of music (e.g. ‘music’)

  • d - 17.5%

  • h - 28.2%

Which subtitles are most useful: Survey 2 (Szarkowska, Pietrulewicz + Laskowska, 2015)

• Survey of 110 deaf (d), 45 h Polish ppts

conditions:

• title of song on screen - 49%

• info on what type of music it is - 11%

• musical notes - 16%

• none - 16%

What is most useful: Test 3 clips (Aleksandrowicz, 2020)

• 3 clips

• E1 - The Shining (REDRUM) = fear

• E2 - Dead man walking (execution) = sadness

• Control clip - The Shining (car on mountain road)

Conditions:

• 20 d + 20 h → control

  • scary music + name

• 20 d + 20 h → emotive clip 1

  • scary music + name

• 20 d + 20 h → E2

  • sad music + name

• 26 control (hearing) → all 3 clips

  • all no subs

Conclusions from Aleksandrowicz, 2020 study

• no significant difference between emption felt + subtitling or c,h or d ppts

• found that use of subtitling alone could NOT influence emotion if this is not reflected on screen

• details od music playing was most useful

• caption (e.g. ‘scary music’) → built up anticipation

Are there differences in music appreciation in cochlea ear implant patients with significant prelingual + post lingual (later in life) hearing loss?

• Prelingual significant hearing loss = loss before 3 years old

• Varies causes + individual modes of communication

• Long term auditory depravation → degeneration of auditory system → reduced development of language processing areas of auditory cortex

STUDY - Are there differences in music appreciation in cochlea ear implant patients with significant prelingual + post lingual (later in life) hearing loss? (Moran et al, 2006)

• 30 patients with Cochlea implants

  • 15 preL + 15 postL onset

• findings:

  • hearing impairments + enjoyment of music impacts post lingual individuals the most

Does PreL / PostL affect music recognition?

• PostL recognised + identified melody/style more readily than PreL group

Conclusions from Moran et al, 2006 study

• hearing loss affects music listening participation more greatly in PostL individuals

• Cochlea implant makes larger implant on music participation in PostL

• PreL individuals identified melody / style less readily compared to postL

• Music enjoyment comparable for both

Summary

• human structures link sensory info + allow for this to be processed by nervous system

• emotions are not just a physical response, but have environmental input

• music can help to promote some emotions in film

• however - no formula of exact emotion by any musical addition