Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Auditory Perception01:17

Auditory Perception

903
The auditory system is essential for sound perception, utilizing various critical structures. When sound waves enter the outer ear, they travel through the ear canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are then transmitted to the middle ear, where three tiny bones – the malleus, incus, and stapes – amplify the sound. This amplification is crucial, as it ensures that the sound vibrations are strong enough to be conveyed to the inner ear. These vibrations then reach the...
903
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location01:21

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

823
The human brain perceives pitch through two primary mechanisms reflected in place theory and frequency theory. Each mechanism describes how sound waves are interpreted as specific pitches by the brain, offering insights into the intricate processes of auditory perception.
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...
823
Factors Affecting Perception01:25

Factors Affecting Perception

2.5K
Perception is influenced by perceptual set, context, motivation, and emotion. Perceptual set, or perceptual expectancy, refers to the tendency to perceive things in a particular way, influenced by previous experiences and expectations. This phenomenon affects the interpretation of stimuli, creating a set of mental tendencies and assumptions that impact sensory perceptions of sound, taste, touch, and sight.
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...
2.5K
Perception of Sound Waves01:01

Perception of Sound Waves

5.3K
The human ear is not equally sensitive to all frequencies in the audible range. It may perceive sound waves with the same pressure but different frequencies as having different loudness. Moreover, the perception of sound waves depends on the health of an individual's ears, which decays with age. The health of one's ears may also be affected by regular exposure to loud noises.
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same...
5.3K
Hearing01:31

Hearing

56.2K
When we hear a sound, our nervous system is detecting sound waves—pressure waves of mechanical energy traveling through a medium. The frequency of the wave is perceived as pitch, while the amplitude is perceived as loudness.
56.2K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Expertise provides resilience to sound source variability in music perception.

Attention, perception & psychophysics·2026
Same author

Speaking rate normalization with and without spatial segregation of simultaneous context sentences.

JASA express letters·2026
Same author

Independence of spectral contrast effects across different frequency regions in speech perceptiona).

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·2026
Same author

Multiple timescales of context influence perceptual sensitivity to common pairings of musical pitch and timbre.

PloS one·2025
Same author

The effects of variability on context effects and psychometric function slopes in speaking rate normalizationa).

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·2024
Same author

Musical training is not associated with spectral context effects in instrument sound categorization.

Attention, perception & psychophysics·2024

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 20, 2025

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody
09:09

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody

Published on: September 27, 2024

731

Evaluating peripheral versus central contributions to spectral context effects in speech perception.

Christian E Stilp1

  • 1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA.

Hearing Research
|May 29, 2020
PubMed
Summary

Auditory enhancement (EE) and spectral contrast (SCE) effects in speech perception are influenced by peripheral and central neural processing. Research indicates these effects are primarily driven by peripheral auditory processing.

Keywords:
Auditory perceptionContext effectContrast effectEnhancement effectPerceptual constancySpeech perception

More Related Videos

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology
05:38

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology

Published on: June 29, 2021

2.7K
A Two-interval Forced-choice Task for Multisensory Comparisons
07:13

A Two-interval Forced-choice Task for Multisensory Comparisons

Published on: November 9, 2018

11.3K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Dec 20, 2025

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody
09:09

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody

Published on: September 27, 2024

731
Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology
05:38

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology

Published on: June 29, 2021

2.7K
A Two-interval Forced-choice Task for Multisensory Comparisons
07:13

A Two-interval Forced-choice Task for Multisensory Comparisons

Published on: November 9, 2018

11.3K

Area of Science:

  • Auditory perception
  • Psychoacoustics
  • Speech processing
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Auditory perception is shaped by the spectral characteristics of surrounding sounds.
  • Auditory enhancement (EE) facilitates detection of frequencies introduced after absence.
  • Spectral contrast effect (SCE) magnifies perceived spectral differences between sounds.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the contributions of peripheral and central neural processing to EE and SCE in speech perception.
  • To determine the relative influence of peripheral versus central mechanisms on auditory context effects.

Main Methods:

  • Experiments manipulated ear of presentation (ipsilateral, contralateral, bilateral) for acoustic contexts and target sounds.
  • Consonant categorization tasks were used to measure EE and SCE magnitudes.
  • Dichotic presentation with competing contralateral contexts was employed to differentiate peripheral and central contributions.

Main Results:

  • Contralateral presentation of contexts and targets significantly diminished EE and SCE magnitudes in consonant categorization.
  • Competing contralateral contexts minimally reduced effect magnitudes, even when targets were presented unilaterally.
  • Both peripheral and central processing contribute to EE and SCE, with peripheral processing playing a dominant role.

Conclusions:

  • Auditory enhancement and spectral contrast effects in speech perception involve both peripheral and central neural mechanisms.
  • Peripheral auditory processing appears to be the primary driver of both EE and SCE.
  • Understanding these effects aids in comprehending how the auditory system processes complex acoustic environments.