Detection of unexpected tones with short and long durations.
The detectability of short and long unexpected tones masked by a continuous wideband noise was assessed using a probe-signal method. This method leads the listener to expect a target frequency by presenting the signal most often at that frequency, and only occasionally at other unexpected probe frequencies. The probe-signal contour (percent correct as a function of probe frequency) was considerably broader with 5-ms than with 295-ms signals. However, auditory filter shapes measured using the notched-noise technique were very similar for those two signal durations, indicating that the results obtained in the probe-signal conditions do not simply reflect peripheral frequency selectivity. Further supporting this interpretation, probe tones having the same frequency but a different duration from the target were poorly detected. It is proposed that the subject listens through a time-frequency window whose location and shape in the time-frequency plane is determined by the duration and frequency of the target.
Wright
B A
BA
Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611.
Dai
H
H
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D006801:Humans; D009622:Noise; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis