em. Univ.-Prof. Mag. Gregor Widholm, Vienna (Austria)
Video opening ceremony
Keynote address at the opening ceremony
“Can I trust my ears?” (Part 1)
Based on selected auditory demonstrations, such as octave matching, influence of loudness on the perceived pitch, pitch shift through masking noise, this interactive presentation will explain some particularities of auditory functions, going on to describe which part of the ear is responsible for these phenomena. Sound examples and video clips will make it possible for you to judge for yourselves if your perception matches the actual sound produced by the speakers. If necessary, we shall also briefly discuss cerebral processing of neuronal patterns (coming from the ear).
Apart from dealing with hearing phenomena caused by the ear’s physiology, the second part (during the general meeting of the EUHA) will show that the ear is not only a “microphone”, but also part of a highly sophisticated sensorium which results from the mutual interaction of several sensory organs. Only in this way is it possible to clarify some seemingly unexplained phenomena.