PSYCH 3A03 Lecture : Critical Bands.docx

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH 3A03
• Professor: Paul Faure

Document Summary

Problem: signal energy not constant when duration is varied. Measuring auditory threshold, it is crucial to specify signal duration with changes in signal duration one can keep constant either signal energy or signal power, but not both. For constant power: e decreases as t decreases. For constant energy: p increases as t decreases. Problem: signal energy is not constant when duration is varied. Auditory system requires finite time period to integrate energy of signal. Finite integration time ( ) is expected based on auditory neurophysiology ( varies in cans) When signal duration (d) is less than integration time ( ) of auditory afferent (or other neurons in central auditory system), then signal power must be increased to reach detection threshold. Energy integration varies with duration loge = logp + logt. When t = 1s, log(t) = 0 and dbenergy = dbpower. When t <1s, energy is less than energy of 1s (standard) signal.