Panning values for Sound samplers

federoma10

I am building an experiment in which, for each trial, I would like to play a sound with a higher volume in one ear than the other ear. For example, let's say the sound is someone saying "cow", for one trial, I would like that sound played in both ears, but I want it to be played 3 times as loud in the left ear as the right ear. I know I can do this by changing the "Panning" value in the sound sampler node and that 0 is the default, but the documentation only says "Positive values toward the right; 'left' or 'right' for full panning". It gives no description about what values correspond to what ratios of volume between channels. I tried using random values such as 20, -20, 5, -5, 2, -2, 1, -1, etc. and comparing how they sound, but it's difficult to determine the actual ratio of volume for each one. Does anyone know what the values may be and what ratios they correspond to?

Fab

Hi @federoma10,

As far as I can tell, the panning values go from -1 (right) to 1 (left). At least that's what I'm experiencing. I think you'll find that if you use a stereo sound and play with the panning, you have the sound only on one side if you're setting the panning to -1 (or -10, or whatever).

So, my guess is that at panning = 0 you get full intensity in both channels, then you reduce it proportionally in channel A as you use panning towards channel B.

If you'd like precise control over the loudness of the left and right channels, my advice would be to solve that at the stage of sound design and build your stereo files using a sound editor and carefully control the intensity you want to use in each channel. Beware that the relationship between intensity and loudness is not linear and that the dB scale is logarithmic. I think that a ration factor of 3 is equivalent to about 15.6 dB but don't quote me on this; you'd have to look into it to be sure.

Hope this helps.

Fabrice.