The Acoustics Features and Their Relationship to the Emotional Characteristics of Rain Sound Effects

MPhil Thesis Defence


Title: "The Acoustics Features and Their Relationship to the Emotional 
Characteristics of Rain Sound Effects"

By

Miss Wing Lam SIN


Abstract

Rain sound effects are commonly used in games, animations, and films, but are 
still relatively new area in that the relationship between their features and 
emotional characteristics has not been studied. This paper investigates the 
effects of several subjective and objective features on the emotional 
characteristics of rain sound effects via a listening test, linear regression 
analysis and spectral analysis. In the listening test, listeners rated the 
sounds over Arousal, Valence, six features, and sixteen emotional categories. 
Linear regression was performed afterward to validate and further investigate 
the results. Meanwhile, spectral analysis using seven acoustics features was 
performed to provide an objective understanding for the rain sound effects. The 
results showed that Arousal significantly increased with increases in the 
properties Density, Impact, Intensity, Loudness, and Quantity, while Valence 
decreased. It was also found that most of the emotional categories were 
significantly influenced by these properties. The emotional categories 
Agitated, Angry, Scary, Violent, Anxious, and Nervous significantly increased 
with these properties, while the categories Comforting, Calm, Gentle, Relaxed, 
and Tender decreased. However, Mysterious was not significantly effected by any 
property. Generally, related emotional categories were affected by rain 
properties in a similar way, especially for the Angry and Calm quadrants. For 
Negative emotional characteristics, Arousal-related properties increased with 
increasing RMS Amplitude and Spectral Flux. However, they decreased with 
increasing Spectral Irregularity. These results give some possible general 
suggestions for editing and choosing rain sound effects in computer games and 
films.


Date:			Tuesday, 6 August 2019

Time:			10:00am - 12:00noon

Venue:			Room 3494
 			Lifts 25/26

Committee Members:	Prof. Andrew Horner (Supervisor)
 			Dr. Raymond Wong (Chairperson)
 			Dr. Xiaojuan Ma


**** ALL are Welcome ****