Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 22, 2026

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses
Published on: January 23, 2017
Human auditory evoked mismatch field amplitudes vary as a function of vowel duration in healthy first-language
Mayako Inouchi1, Mikio Kubota, Katsuya Ohta
1International Student Center, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo, Japan.
Abstract:
Previous auditory studies demonstrated that vowel shortening elicited a more prominent mismatch component than its lengthening in event-related potentials (ERP) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). Based on these findings, the current study investigated whether the magnetic mismatch field (MMF) component would be generated by vowel shortening of various degrees to determine a neuronal response threshold of pre-attentive deviation detection. Behavioral pre-test data revealed that while listening to Japanese short-duration (100%: reference), long-duration (180%), and other in-between duration-synthesized types, healthy native speakers of Japanese failed to clearly categorize 140-124% durations as either short or long words, while categorizing 108-116% durations as short words and 148-172% durations as long. Following these results, MEG responses were recorded with a whole-head 148-channel magnetometer, as subjects listened to 100% standard and five deviant durations (124, 132, 140, 148, 180%). MEG results showed that the above-32% duration decrements (180-->100%, 148-->100%) elicited a more prominent MMF than the others, the MMF amplitudes increasing linearly to the degree of duration deviance, and that neuronal responses correlated with behavioral word-categorization accuracy.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
The Cochlea
Perception of Sound Waves
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same frequency...
Interference: Path Lengths
Two special sources may be considered when they are in phase. This can be easily achieved by feeding the two sources from the same source. An example would be synchronizing the two speakers by feeding them with the same source, such as the sound waves produced by a tuning fork. This setup ensures that the two sources have the same frequency and are...
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by identifying...

