The Times of Ira Hirsh: Multiple Ranges of Auditory Temporal Perception

Ira Hirsh was among the first to recognize that the auditory system does not deal with temporal information in a unitary way across the continuum of time intervals involved in speech processing. He identified the short range (extending from 1 to 20 milliseconds) as that of phase perception, the range between 20 and 100 milliseconds as that in which auditory patterns emerge, and the long range from 100 milliseconds and longer as that of separate auditory events. Furthermore, he also was among the first to recognize that auditory time perception heavily depended on spectral context. A study of the perception of sequences representing different temporal orders of three tones, by Hirsh and the author (e.g., Divenyi and Hirsh, 1978) demonstrated the dependence of auditory sequence perception on both time range and spectral context, and provided a bridge between Hirsh's view of auditory time and Bregman's view of stream segregation. A subsequent search by the author for psychophysical underpinnings of the cocktail-party phenomenon (e.g., Divenyi and Haupt, 1997) suggests that segregation of simultaneous streams of speech might rely on the ability to follow spectral changes in the demisyllabic-to-syllabic (100 to 200 milliseconds) range (i.e., Hirsh's long range).

KEYWORDS

Auditory time perception - multiple time ranges - peripheral versus central auditory processes - temporal order - stream segregation

REFERENCES

• 1 Hirsh I J. Auditory perception of temporal order.  J Acoust Soc Am. 1959;  31 759-767
• 2 Patterson J H, Green D M. Discrimination of transient signals having identical energy spectra.  J Acoust Soc Am. 1970;  48 894-905
• 3 Green D M. Temporal auditory acuity.  Psychol Rev. 1971;  78 540-551
• 4 Schreiner C E, Urbas R V. Representation of amplitude modulation in the auditory cortex of the cat. I. The anterior auditory field (AAF).  Hear Res. 1986;  21 227-241
• 5 Brosch M, Schreiner C E. Sequence sensitivity of neurons in cat primary auditory cortex.  Cereb Cortex. 2000;  10 1155-1167
• 6 Swisher L P, Hirsh I J. Brain damage and the ordering of two temporally successive stimuli.  Neuropsychologia. 1972;  10 137-152
• 7 Efron R. The minimum duration of a perception.  Neuropsychologia. 1970;  8 57-63
• 8 Hirsh I J. Temporal order and auditory perception. In: Moskowitz HR, Scharf B, Stevens JC Sensation and Measurement: Papers in Honor of S. S. Steven. Dordrecht, The Netherlands; D. Reidel 1974: 251-258
• 9 Divenyi P L, Hirsh I J. Some figural properties of auditory patterns.  J Acoust Soc Am. 1978;  64 1369-1385
• 10 Watson C S. Factors in the discrimination of word-length auditory sequences. In: Hirsh SR, Eldredge DH, Hirsh IJ, Silverman SR Hearing and Davis: Essays Honoring Hallowell Davis. St. Louis, MO; Washington University Press 1976: 175-189
• 11 Divenyi P L, Carré R, Algazi A P. Auditory segregation of vowel-like sounds with static and dynamic spectral properties. In: Ellis DPW IEEE Mohonk Mountain Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics. New Paltz, NY. IEEE; 1997 14: 1-4
• 12 Divenyi P L. Auditory segregation of streams with asynchronous single-formant transitions. Book of Abstracts, 17th International Congress on Acoustics Rome, Italy; Rivist Ital Acust 2001: 255
• 13 Warren R M, Obusek C J, Farmer R M, Warren R P. Auditory sequences: confusion of patterns other than speech and music.  Science. 1969;  164 586-587
• 14 Divenyi P L, Haupt K M. Audiological correlates of speech understanding deficits in elderly listeners with mild-to-moderate hearing loss. I. Age and laterality effects.  Ear Hear. 1997;  18 42-61
• 15 Divenyi P L. Beyond presbyacusis: non-hearing loss-related temporal processing deficits in the elderly.  J Acoust Soc Am. 2000;  107 2796-2797
• 16 Fitzgibbons P J, Gordon-Salant S. Auditory temporal processing in elderly listeners.  J Am Acad Audiol. 1996;  7 183-189
• 17 Smith R L, Brachman M L, Goodman D A. Adaptation in the auditory periphery.  Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1983;  405 79-93