Principal components analysis (PCA) is frequently used for modelling the magnitude of the head-related transfer functions (HRTFs). Assuming that the HRTFs are minimum phase systems, the phase is obtained from the Hilbert transform of the log-magnitude. In recent years, the PCA applied to HRTFs is also used to model individual HRTFs relating the PCA weights with anthropometric measurements of the head, torso and pinnae. The HRTF log-magnitude is the most used format of input data to the PCA, but it has been shown that if the input data is HRTF linear magnitude, the cumulative variance converges faster, and the mean square error (MSE) is smaller. This study demonstrates that PCA applied directly on HRTF complex values is even better than the two formats mentioned above, that is, the MSE is the smallest and the cumulative variance converges faster after the 8th principal component. Different objective experiments around all the median plane put in evidence the differences which, although small, seem to be perceptually detectable. To elucidate this point, psychoacoustic discrimination tests are done between measured and reconstructed HRTFs from the three types of input data mentioned, in the median plane between -45°. and +9°.

The present study consisted of two experiments. The goal of the first experiment was to establish the just noticeable differences for the fundamental frequency of the vowel /u/ by using the 2AFC method. We obtained the threshold value for 27 cents. This value is larger than the motor reaction values which had been observed in previous experiments (e.g. 9 or 19 cents). The second experiment was intended to provide neurophysiological confirmation of the detection of shifts in a frequency, using event-related potentials (ERPs). We concentrated on the mismatch negativity (MMN) - the component elicited by the change in the pattern of stimuli. Its occurrence is correlated with the discrimination threshold. In our study, MMN was observed for changes greater than 27 cents - shifts of ±50 and 100 cents (effect size - Cohen’s d = 2.259). MMN did not appear for changes of ±10 and 20 cents. The results showed that the values for which motor responses can be observed are indeed lower than those for perceptual thresholds.

Bierwiaczonek (2013: 201-202) proposed an analysis of the polysemy of the verb see based on propositional metonymic mappings. In Matusz (2020) I supported this claim with a short dictionary analysis. In the present paper, I propose a similar analysis of the polysemy of hear based on propositional metonymy processes. In order to do that a short dictionary analysis is performed to determine the basic non- metonymic meaning of the verb and to distinguish the senses motivated by metonymic mappings. The analysis performed on the basis of three dictionary sources shows that a significant number of senses of hear may plausibly be explained as cases of PART FOR WHOLE propositional metonymic patterns. The metonymic shift may be demonstrated on the basis of State-of-Affairs Scenarios (SASs), as proposed by Panther and Thornburg (1999), due to the fact that within such scenarios the stage of auditory perception constitutes a particularly salient stage (a stage of SAS for SAS). Alternatively, some dictionary samples are ambiguous between the PART FOR WHOLE metonymic interpretation and the metaphoric reading wherein metonymy plays an active role in the emergence of the metaphoric shift. Thus, reference to metonymy-metaphor interaction appears indispensable. In the paper, I propose an analysis of such cases based on Ruiz de Mendoza and Díez Velasco (2002), who consider the role of metonymic domain expansion within the source of the metaphoric mappings.

The situation of perception, its structure, types and their verbalization attract the attention of not only psychologists but also linguists. Hearing, like sight, is one of the main sensory channels in human life. In this study, carried out with the help of lexical-semantic analysis, semantic-stylistic analysis and contextual analysis, the role of the vocabulary describing sounds in defining the situation of a miracle is presented (“miracle-vision”, “miraclephenomenon”, “voices from heaven”, etc.) and its relation to miracle markers. Miracles were chosen from Житiя святыхъ на русском языке изложенные по руководству Четиӽ Миней святителя Димитрия Ростовского, in which miracles are manifestations of God’s omnipotence. The research focuses mainly on verbs that describe sound and verbs that describe auditory perception. The study found that in addition to verbs describing sound and verbs describing auditory perception, miracle markers are also verbs describing visual and tactile perception. The quantitative and qualitative analysis allowed us to conclude that the verb of intentional auditory perception слушать does not occur in the text as a marker of a miracle situation, which may indicate the hagiographer’s goal – to show the unpredictability of a miracle.

This paper proposes a speech enhancement method using the multi-scales and multi-thresholds of the auditory perception wavelet transform, which is suitable for a low SNR (signal to noise ratio) environment. This method achieves the goal of noise reduction according to the threshold processing of the human ear's auditory masking effect on the auditory perception wavelet transform parameters of a speech signal. At the same time, in order to prevent high frequency loss during the process of noise suppression, we first make a voicing decision based on the speech signals. Afterwards, we process the unvoiced sound segment and the voiced sound segment according to the different thresholds and different judgments. Lastly, we perform objective and subjective tests on the enhanced speech. The results show that, compared to other spectral subtractions, our method keeps the components of unvoiced sound intact, while it suppresses the residual noise and the background noise. Thus, the enhanced speech has better clarity and intelligibility.