Auditory perception of biodiversity by human listeners

IntroductionThis study explored human auditory capacity to evaluate the number of biological sound sources in natural soundscapes.MethodsThis was achieved by measuring the ability of human participants to judge the number of birds when listening to soundscapes generated by an engineering algorithm t...

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Main Authors: Elie Grinfeder, Jérôme Sueur, Richard McWalter, Frédéric Apoux, Christian Lorenzi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-07-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1552329/full
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author Elie Grinfeder
Elie Grinfeder
Jérôme Sueur
Richard McWalter
Frédéric Apoux
Christian Lorenzi
author_facet Elie Grinfeder
Elie Grinfeder
Jérôme Sueur
Richard McWalter
Frédéric Apoux
Christian Lorenzi
author_sort Elie Grinfeder
collection DOAJ
description IntroductionThis study explored human auditory capacity to evaluate the number of biological sound sources in natural soundscapes.MethodsThis was achieved by measuring the ability of human participants to judge the number of birds when listening to soundscapes generated by an engineering algorithm that controlled for bird abundance, species richness, level disparities between songs, bird behavior and background noise.Results and discussionAlthough often inaccurate, numerosity judgments were generally affected by the number of birds, demonstrating sub-optimal sensitivity to biodiversity in humans. Numerosity judgments were robust to low-intensity background sounds, and higher when between-species acoustic disparities were introduced, suggesting that grouping mechanisms contribute to biodiversity perception.
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spelling doaj-art-ffcdf1a43f4849cea23432f85d55f4662025-08-20T03:33:27ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782025-07-011610.3389/fpsyg.2025.15523291552329Auditory perception of biodiversity by human listenersElie Grinfeder0Elie Grinfeder1Jérôme Sueur2Richard McWalter3Frédéric Apoux4Christian Lorenzi5Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs (LSP), CNRS, Ecole normale supérieure, Université Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL University), Paris, FranceCentre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la conservation (CESCO), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, Sorbonne Université, Paris, FranceCentre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la conservation (CESCO), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, Sorbonne Université, Paris, FranceLaboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs (LSP), CNRS, Ecole normale supérieure, Université Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL University), Paris, FranceLaboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs (LSP), CNRS, Ecole normale supérieure, Université Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL University), Paris, FranceLaboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs (LSP), CNRS, Ecole normale supérieure, Université Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL University), Paris, FranceIntroductionThis study explored human auditory capacity to evaluate the number of biological sound sources in natural soundscapes.MethodsThis was achieved by measuring the ability of human participants to judge the number of birds when listening to soundscapes generated by an engineering algorithm that controlled for bird abundance, species richness, level disparities between songs, bird behavior and background noise.Results and discussionAlthough often inaccurate, numerosity judgments were generally affected by the number of birds, demonstrating sub-optimal sensitivity to biodiversity in humans. Numerosity judgments were robust to low-intensity background sounds, and higher when between-species acoustic disparities were introduced, suggesting that grouping mechanisms contribute to biodiversity perception.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1552329/fullhuman auditory ecologysoundscape ecologybiodiversity perceptionbird chorusnoise pollution
spellingShingle Elie Grinfeder
Elie Grinfeder
Jérôme Sueur
Richard McWalter
Frédéric Apoux
Christian Lorenzi
Auditory perception of biodiversity by human listeners
Frontiers in Psychology
human auditory ecology
soundscape ecology
biodiversity perception
bird chorus
noise pollution
title Auditory perception of biodiversity by human listeners
title_full Auditory perception of biodiversity by human listeners
title_fullStr Auditory perception of biodiversity by human listeners
title_full_unstemmed Auditory perception of biodiversity by human listeners
title_short Auditory perception of biodiversity by human listeners
title_sort auditory perception of biodiversity by human listeners
topic human auditory ecology
soundscape ecology
biodiversity perception
bird chorus
noise pollution
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1552329/full
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