Creating an interleaved auditory staircase; how to calibrate decibel and PsychoPy values (builder)

[neuronerd10283]

OS (e.g. Win10): Linux Mint
PsychoPy version (e.g. 2024.2.4 Py 3.8): 2024.2.4
Standard Standalone Installation? (y/n) If not, then what?: Yes
Do you want it to also run online? (y/n) No
What are you trying to achieve?:

• I’m trying to generate an interleaved QUEST staircase, but I’m having trouble setting the parameters since it’s an auditory task. It’s a yes/no task where I would like to get the threshold at 0.75 and 0.50
• I found this link from an older topic, but I’m not sure how I would implement this in my conditions file since I’m using the builder; should I use the dB SPL (e.g. 60dB maxVal, 30dB minval, stepsize 1 dB SPL) as the values in the conditions and convert the $level to the PsychoPy value and use that variable in the $volume component in my stimulus?
• Why would I need to get the PsychoPy value of a 0.1Vrms change (please refer to old relevant thread)? I was looking for the equation for dB to linear value conversion, but I’m a little confused about how it works so I’d just like to get some clarity if that’s possible :).
• This experiment is also going to be done across two locations, so figuring out how to calibrate it would be very important for my study.

Link to the most relevant existing thread you have found:

Generating Sound

Hi There! I use Brown noise throughout my task so I have a few pointers that might help. Generating the sound/noise. I found it easiest to generate noise outside of psychopy using Audacity (free software available - http://www.audacityteam.org/). Here you can generate most kinds of noise (pink/white/brown) . I then use psychopy to play/stop/set the intensity of this. I found it better/easier to control the presentation of noise using a code component. You can adjust the sound following…

[stanley1O1]

Because this is in two different locations. The only reliable and ethical way to calibrate it, would be to use an external decibel meter to record the decibel levels for each testing environment. This is what was done in the original thread. They were able to determine the actual output from their headphones to get the values needed for proper psychopy outputs.

Even assuming the exact same computers (auditory drivers), speakers, speaker placement and direction, and distances to user, the shape of the room can affect decibel levels

If you are using a headset, similar things apply with regards to specs and drivers, and would still need a decibel meter to ensure similarity across sites.

Issac