Differential Sensitivity to Duration of Acoustic Signals

Abstract

Experiments were conducted to assess differential sensitivity to acoustic signal duration under various combinations of reference duration, sensation level, and signal frequency, and to determine whether hearing impairment, ostensibly due to cochlear pathology, affects such discrimination. The absolute DL (difference limen) was linear as a function of reference duration at both 10 dB and 50 dB sensation levels in normal subjects and in those with presumed cochlear pathology. When a 10 dB SL signal was used, the mean absolute DL increased at the rate of 2.63 msec per 100-msec increase in reference duration. A concomitant increase of 2.38 msec per 100-msec increase in reference duration was observed when a 50 db SL signal was employed. Neither the signal frequency nor the presence of sensorineural hearing loss affected the duration DL, whereas a sensation level effect was exhibited by both types of subject. A smaller limen was obtained at 50 dB SL than at 10 dB SL.

Age Effects on Measures of Auditory Duration Discrimination

“…The absence of systematic effects of hearing loss in the present study is in agreement with previous observations by Abel et al (1990) and Ruhm et al (1966). Abel et al attempted to separate the effects of age and hearing loss by comparing the duration DLs of groups of older listeners with normal hearing and different degrees of sensitivity loss; no group differences were observed.…”

“…No effects of hearing loss or degree of loss were evident in the discrimination data. An earlier study by Ruhm, Mencke, Milburn, Cooper, and Rose (1966) also reported that the difference limens for tonal durations were relatively normal in listeners of unspecified age with noise-induced hearing loss. By contrast, a later study by Tyler, Summerfield, Wood, and Fernandes (1982) reported significant effects of hearing loss on duration discrimination for filtered noises and reference durations similar to those employed by Abel et al (1990).…”

Development of the Adaptive Music Perception Test

“…These results align with Ruhm et al (1966) who concluded that hearing impairment has no effect on the discrimination of acoustic signals on the basis of duration. The trend, however, was not significant.…”

Speaker normalization in the perception of Mandarin Chinese tones

“…According to Kratochvil ͑1971͒, who tested perception of synthetic tones with durations from 90 to 240 ms, a duration of between 50 and 100 ms is required for perception of isolated Mandarin tones. Weber ratios for duration have been reported for 100-ms signals as 0.026 by Ruhm et al ͑1966͒, and for 400-ms signals as 0.12 by Stott ͑1935͒, corresponding to approximately 10-60 ms for the 400-ms stimuli in experiment 2. If the initial 20-40-ms portion of the tone is imperceptible ͑below threshold͒, subjects may hear only a rise, not the initial fall, since ⌬F0 is equivalent to 0 at the earliest turning points.…”