The auditory continuity phenomenon: Role of temporal sequence structure

The auditory continuity phenomenon occurs when listening to a series of alt ernating high- and low-level tones: instead of perceiving this intermittenc e, listeners Often report hearing a continuous tone upon which is superimpo sed a series of intermittent tones. The temporal limits to the perception o f this phenomenon are investigated, as well as effects of task instructions on it. A loudness-matching paradigm developed previously [MCAdams et al., J. Acoust, Soc. Am. 130, 1580-1591 (1998)] provided both an objective indic ation of this phenomenon and an indication of its strength. In the studies reported here, the phenomenon:was observed reliably when the low-level tone s were at least half the duration of the high-level tones: the greater the duration ratio between low-level and high-level tones, the stronger the phe nomenon. Duty-cycle duration did not affect the strength of this phenomenon . It proved to be particularly robust as its strength was unaffected by tas k instructions, level of expertise, and repetition. A model, is proposed in which adjusted levels depend on the relative levels of the high- and low-l evel tones weighted by relative duration and attentional focusing. (C) 1999 Acoustical Society of America. [S0001-4966(99)00412-9].