Auditory Perception
William A. Yost · The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology · 2010
Abstract The world is a noisy place. Almost all objects vibrate, and those vibrations can produce audible sound. Hearing allows an organism to process information about these sound sources. Hearing assists animals in navigation, seeking prey, avoiding predators, finding a mate, and in communication (e.g., speech and language). Sound can also add an aesthetic quality, as in music. The study of auditory perception seeks to understand the auditory system's ability to process the sound from sound sources. Such processing turns out to be a challenging task. The sound pressure wave that radiates from a vibrating object (e.g., the string of a violin) does not have physical parameters that directly indicate the physical dimensions of the source. Sound is defined by its frequency, amplitude, and temporal dimensions.