Subject: Rationale for Critical Bands From: Daniel Bowling <danielliubowling@xxxxxxxx> Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 09:46:56 +0800 List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>--001636d340b1f9ed8b0488f3a9ea Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Dear List, Has anyone considered why humans exhibit critical bands in psycho-acoustical experiments (e.g. masking, loudness summation, detectability of phase changes)? Is the assumption that the origin of critical bands is in the physiology of the cochlea? If so, how is this justified? If critical bands result from overlap/interference of vibrations on the basilar membrane one would expect their bandwidths to change significantly at different sound pressure levels (because more auditory nerve afferents over longer portions of the cochlea are activated by higher SPLs, and fewer afferents within restricted areas of the cochlea are activated by lower SPLs), but this does not seem to be the case. In vision, attempts to rationalize psychophysical phenomena in terms of retinal physiology have had very limited success. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks, Dan --001636d340b1f9ed8b0488f3a9ea Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <meta charset=3D"utf-8">Dear List,<div><br></div><div>Has anyone considered= why humans exhibit critical bands in psycho-acoustical experiments (e.g. m= asking, loudness summation, detectability of phase changes)? Is the assumpt= ion that the origin of critical bands is in the physiology of the cochlea? = If so, how is this justified? If critical bands result from overlap/interfe= rence of vibrations on the basilar membrane one would expect their bandwidt= hs to change significantly at different sound pressure levels (because more= auditory nerve afferents over longer portions of the cochlea are activated= by higher SPLs, and fewer afferents within restricted areas of the cochlea= are activated by lower SPLs), but this does not seem to be the case.</div> <div><br></div><div>In vision, attempts to rationalize psychophysical pheno= mena in terms of retinal physiology have had very limited success.</div><di= v><br></div><div>Any thoughts would be much appreciated.</div><div><br> </div><div>Thanks,</div><div><br></div><div>Dan</div> --001636d340b1f9ed8b0488f3a9ea--