Discrimination of five‐component tonal complexes differing in crest factor

Abstract

Hartman et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 79, 1915–1925 (1986)] presented data on discrimination of tonal complexes differing only in number of spectral components within a fixed bandwidth. The Hartmann et al. data suggested that discrimination could be based upon perception of temporal fluctuations in the intensity levels of the sounds, or upon the detail of the spectral structure of the complexes. The present experiment assessed discrimination of tonal complexes that differed in only the phase relationships among five fixed frequency components. The phase relationships established a range of crest factors (peak/rms amplitude) for the complexes. When presented at equal loudness, the tonal complexes were easily discriminable by a musically trained subject, and were discriminable by all subjects with training. The data from the current study support a model of discrimination based only upon the temporal fluctuations in the complex envelopes. Discrimination between tonal complexes can be made for complexes differing either in rate or depth of such fluctuations, as long as the fluctuations are within the limits of temporal integration of the car.