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Two-tone auditory spectral resolution
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|October 1, 1977
Summary
Auditory spectral resolving power was estimated using complex tones. Discrimination of complex tones relates to spectral resolving power, approximating the traveling-wave envelope width.
Area of Science:
- Auditory perception
- Psychoacoustics
- Signal processing
Background:
- Listener discrimination of complex tones depends on frequency and amplitude modulations.
- Previous research links discriminability to instantaneous frequency differences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate auditory spectral resolving power directly.
- To define just discriminable frequency separation as a measure of spectral resolution.
Main Methods:
- Synthesized two-component complex tones with identical amplitude and opposite frequency modulations.
- Measured the just discriminable (75%) frequency separation between tone components.
Main Results:
- Defined spectral resolving power without assumptions about masking or loudness.
- Found resolution bandwidths approximate the width of the traveling-wave envelope.
Conclusions:
- Listener-based frequency discrimination provides a direct estimate of spectral resolving power.
- Results offer implications for understanding auditory critical bandwidths.