Detection of a Pulsed Auditory Signal in Noise as a Function of Duration and Frequency

The detectability of a pulsed sinusoidal signal in white noise was studied as a function of frequency for three signal durations (1000, 100, and 10 msec). For the two longer signal durations the data are consistent with results obtained in previous experiments; the results obtained with the shortest duration are not. At the higher frequencies the 10 msec signal is easier to hear than either the 100 or 1000 msec signal. At low frequencies the 10 msec signal is easier to hear than the 1000 msec signal but not the 100 msec signal. This interaction of signal frequency and signal duration somewhat complicates the problem of developing a simple model to account for the influence of signal duration on signal detectability. (This research was conducted at the Electronic Defense Group, University of Michigan, under a U. S. Air Force contract monitored by the Operational Applications Laboratory.)