Perceptual processing time in audition

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that time is required to resolve the pitch or loudness of pure tones and the sound of vowels, consonant-vowel, and vowel-consonant syllables. The task involves a backward recognition masking paradigm in which a short test sound is followed by an equally loud masking sound after a variable silent intersound interval. The identification of the test sound as one of a fixed number of alternatives improves with increases in the duration of the silent interval out to roughly 1/4 sec. Similar results are found in a successive same-different comparison task when the masking sound is presented after the second sound. The time to resolve the spatial location of a sound was also measured in these tasks. Subjects localized a short test sound followed by a masking sound, after a variable silent interval. The results are discussed in terms of current theories of auditory information processing.