Auditory Intensity Discrimination

This chapter summarizes what is known about the discrimination of sounds that differ in intensity. The topics are: (1) differential intensity limens for pure tones; (2) intensity discrimination tasks in which random noise is used as a masker; and (3) discrimination of intensity changes in complex signals. For each topic, a summary of the principal facts will be provided, as well as a discussion of the most important stimulus parameters and how they influence the experimental outcomes. The emphasis will be on the empirical over the theoretical. Although I will try to indicate the theoretical approaches that have been used to explain certain facts, the theories will not be covered in sufficient detail to permit anything more than a general appreciation of the method of attack.