Identification and Discrimination of Components of Elementary Auditory Displays

Abstract

The absolute identification and differential discrimination of the sound level of tones were studied over a wide range of sound levels under comparable experimental conditions, and the results of the two experiments were compared in comparable units. Absolute identification improves and differential discrimination deteriorates as the range of sound levels examined increases. The net effect of these complementary changes is that the information associated with differential discrimination is roughly of the same magnitude as that associated with absolute identification.