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Time stretching: Illusory lengthening of filled auditory durations
Takayuki Sasaki1, Yoshitaka Nakajima, Gert ten Hoopen
1Miyagi Gakuin Women's University, Sendai, Japan. sasaki@mgu.ac.jp
Attention, Perception & Psychophysics
|July 6, 2010
Summary
Auditory perception can distort sound duration. A preceding noise can make a pure tone seem longer due to blurred onset processing, an effect termed time stretching.
Area of Science:
- Auditory perception
- Psychoacoustics
- Sensory processing
Background:
- The perceived duration of a sound can be influenced by preceding auditory stimuli.
- Previous research suggests temporal illusions can occur based on stimulus characteristics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the phenomenon of perceived duration overestimation in pure tones.
- To explore the influence of preceding frequency-band noise on pure tone duration perception.
Main Methods:
- Five experiments were conducted using heterophonic patterns.
- Stimuli consisted of a sine tone preceded by frequency-band noise.
- Variations in intensity, frequency differences, noise duration, and inter-stimulus intervals were employed.
Main Results:
- Significant overestimations of sine-tone duration were observed.
- Overestimation magnitude depended on intensity and frequency differences between noise and tone.
- Even short noises and specific gap durations influenced perceived duration.
Conclusions:
- The perceived overestimation is attributed to blurred auditory onset processing and subsequent perceptual restoration.
- This perceptual restoration requires mental processing time, adding to the subjective duration.
- The illusion, termed 'time stretching,' may be modulated by temporal assimilation and contrast effects.
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