Identification of random auditory waveforms
Irwin W. Pollack · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1975
Listeners quickly learn to identify, apparently on an absolute basis, the ordering of a pair of sounds, where one sound is a specific random selection which is constant over successive observations, and where the other sound varies over successive observations. The accuracy of identification is not directly related to the uncertainty of the pool of possible waveforms. A wide range of sample durations and spectra characterize the identifiable pools. Increasing the predictability of the sequences does not improve identification accuracy. Listeners also can identify one of two selections from the same pool and can identify departures from a prototype which they have never heard. Since all random selections from the same pool have nearly identical long-term average spectra, it is concluded that the listener must perform a short-term, or running, spectrum analysis upon the signals. Subject Classification: 65.22, 65.75, 65.68.