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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 19, 2026

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses
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Absolute auditory threshold: testing the absolute.

Peter Heil1,2, Artur Matysiak3

  • 1Department of Systems Physiology of Learning, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, 39118, Germany.

The European Journal of Neuroscience
|November 3, 2017
PubMed
Summary

This study challenges the "hard threshold" theory for hearing in quiet. Findings suggest sound detection relies on a probabilistic model, not a minimum intensity, impacting auditory system models.

Keywords:
Poisson point processhard thresholdmodelingprobability summationtemporal integration

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Area of Science:

  • Auditory Neuroscience
  • Psychoacoustics
  • Signal Detection Theory

Background:

  • The precise mechanisms for detecting faint sounds in quiet are debated.
  • Existing models often assume a 'hard threshold' or direct neural response integration.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the validity of the 'hard threshold' concept in auditory detection.
  • To test models based on neural response integration versus probabilistic event detection.

Main Methods:

  • An adaptive forced-choice procedure was used.
  • Sound detection thresholds were measured in 95 normal-hearing humans for tones with varying temporal envelopes.
  • Data were analyzed using a probabilistic model based on a Poisson point process.

Main Results:

  • A probabilistic model accurately described the obtained thresholds.
  • No evidence for a 'hard threshold' was found; its inclusion did not improve model fit.
  • A sound-driven event rate proportional to the temporal amplitude envelope raised to an exponent of 3 was identified.

Conclusions:

  • The auditory system's detection of sounds in quiet is better explained by a probabilistic model than a hard threshold.
  • Findings challenge auditory models assuming direct proportionality between neural response and sound intensity at threshold.