The unknown effects of amplitude envelope: A survey of Hearing Research

Abstract

In auditory research, the use of amplitude-steady tones with abrupt onsets and offsets is quite common. While these types of “flat” tones offer a great deal of control, they are not representative of the types of sounds we hear outside the laboratory. In everyday listening we are much more likely to encounter “percussive” (i.e., exponentially decaying) sounds, with offsets conveying detailed information such as the materials and force used to produce the sounds—information that is absent in abruptly ending flat tones. Given that differences in perception have been reported when using different amplitude envelopes (Grassi and Pavan, 2012; Neuhoff, 1998; Schutz, 2009), we became interested in determining the prevalence of flat and percussive tones in auditory research publications. Here, we surveyed the journal Hearing Research and classified the temporal structure of sounds used into five categories: flat, percussive, click train, other, and undefined. We found 42.5% of sounds were flat (approximately 13% were click trains, 4% other, and 40% undefined). This finding is consistent with our previous surveys of Music Perception and Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, suggesting that flat tones dominate auditory research, and the perceptual effects of more naturalistic sounds are relatively unknown and ripe for future exploration.