Characterizing the dependence of pure-tone frequency difference limens on frequency, duration, and level

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between the difference limen for frequency (DLF) of pure tones and three commonly explored stimulus parameters of frequency, duration, and sensation level. Data from 12 published studies of pure-tone frequency discrimination (a total of 583 DLF measurements across 77 normal-hearing listeners) were analyzed using hierarchical (or “mixed-effects”) generalized linear models. Model parameters were estimated using two approaches (Bayesian and maximum likelihood). A model in which log-transformed DLFs were predicted using a sum of power-law functions plus a random subject- or group-specific term was found to explain a substantial proportion of the variability in the psychophysical data. The results confirmed earlier findings of an inverse-square-root relationship between log-transformed DLFs and duration, and of an inverse relationship between log(DLF) and sensation level. However, they did not confirm earlier suggestions that log(DLF) increases approximately linearly with the square-root of frequency; instead, the relationship between frequency and log(DLF) was best fitted using a power function of frequency with an exponent of about 0.8. These results, and the comprehensive quantitative analysis of pure-tone frequency discrimination on which they are based, provide a new reference for the quantitative evaluation of models of frequency (or pitch) discrimination.

Factors Affecting Sensitivity to Frequency Change in School-Age Children and Adults

“…Thresholds for these conditions were lower for adults with psychoacoustical listening experience: 0.3 and 0.6%, respectively. In trained adults, frequency discrimination thresholds are expected to be on the order of 0.2 and 0.3% at 500 and 5000 Hz, respectively (Micheyl, Xiao, & Oxenham, 2012; Wier, et al, 1977). The higher thresholds than observed previously could be due to the provision of relatively limited task-specific practice in frequency discrimination in the present study.…”

Training improves cochlear implant rate discrimination on a psychophysical task

“…As a reference, frequency DLs in normal-hearing listeners are generally less than 1% for pure tones between 250 and 4000 Hz (Sek and Moore, 1995;Micheyl et al, 2012). Perhaps a more appropriate comparison is to normal-hearing rate discrimination of bandpass filtered pulse trains, where DLs at low rates are on the order of 4% to 8%, but deteriorating above 300 Hz (Deeks and Carlyon, 2004;Deeks et al, 2013).…”

Auditory deficits in amusia extend beyond poor pitch perception

“…It may be that the advantage of control participants over amusics only holds in conditions where very fine discrimination is normally possible. Because the ability of normal participants to discriminate the pitch of pure tones worsens dramatically at high frequencies (e.g., Micheyl et al, 2012; Moore, 1973; Moore & Ernst, 2012), it may be that amusics perform more poorly at low frequencies but more similarly at high frequencies, as was found with spectrally resolved and unresolved components within a complex tone (Cousineau et al, 2015). We addressed this question by comparing the ability of amusic and normal control participants to discriminate changes in frequency of pure tones with frequencies of 500, 2000, and 8000 Hz.…”

“…Pitch is related to the repetition rate, or periodicity, of an acoustic waveform. For pure tones, or sinusoids that just have one frequency, the strength and accuracy of the tone’s pitch depends on attributes such as its duration and frequency (Micheyl et al, 2012; Moore, 1973; Moore and Ernst, 2012). …”