Temporal integration and discrimination of equally detectable, equal-energy stimuli: The effect of frequency

The results of several experiments are reported which indicate: 1) complete auditory temporal summation for threshold of up to 32 msec for tones of 493, 1967, and 7874 Hz using a three-alternative forced-choice technique. 2) Equal-energy, equally detectable stimuli constructed of different intensities and durations within the range of complete integration are discriminable from one another. 3) Discrimination level increases as a function of the overall energy level and, consequently, as a function of detection level. 4) When discrimination level is plotted against detection level on normal-normal coordinates, the result is a straight line with a slope (b) greater than unity (1.41≤b≤1.68). 5) The extent of the discrimination capability, as well as the slope of the function relating discrimination level to detection level, was found to be independent of the frequency of the tone.