Simultaneous Adaptive Threshold Estimation with Frequency Uncertainty
C. Douglas Creelman · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1973
An adaptive threshold tracking procedure (PEST) was used to adjust the amplitude of each of an ensemble of possible sinusoidal signals. The data were thresholds for each alternative in the context of the ensemble. This procedure avoids some of the problems in strategy for the observer and other problems in theoretical interpretation for the experimenter. Separate conditions involved variation in the number of alternative signals in the ensemble (3–33) and the spacing between lowest and highest member of the ensemble (50 Hz–5000 Hz). Within limits, prior findings are confirmed; loss in sensitivity due to uncertainty reaches a maximum of 3–5 dB with all but very narrow ranges of frequency, compared to detection of a fixed, known frequency.