Are auditory percepts determined by experience?
Audition--what listeners hear--is generally studied in terms of the physical properties of sound stimuli and physiological properties of the auditory system. Based on recent work in vision, we here consider an alternative perspective that sensory percepts are based on past experience. In this framework, basic auditory qualities (e.g., loudness and pitch) are based on the frequency of occurrence of stimulus patterns in natural acoustic stimuli. To explore this concept of audition, we examined five well-documented psychophysical functions. The frequency of occurrence of acoustic patterns in a database of natural sound stimuli (speech) predicts some qualitative aspects of these functions, but with substantial quantitative discrepancies. This approach may offer a rationale for auditory phenomena that are difficult to explain in terms of the physical attributes of the stimuli as such.
Duke Scholars
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Related Subject Headings
- Pitch Perception
- Male
- Loudness Perception
- Humans
- General Science & Technology
- Female
- Auditory Perception
- Audiometry, Pure-Tone
- Acoustic Stimulation
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Pitch Perception
- Male
- Loudness Perception
- Humans
- General Science & Technology
- Female
- Auditory Perception
- Audiometry, Pure-Tone
- Acoustic Stimulation