A sound must decay enough before a following sound stops fusing with it

Evidence

If the gap between the two sounds is not sufficiently long, a listener will hear the second sound blend into the first sound. In this case, the two sounds may fuse together, and the gap will not be perceived. However, if the gap is sufficiently long, a listener will hear the interruption of the pulse pair. The just detectable gap reflects how much temporal separation can be between the two sounds before the first sound has decayed enough to allow for the listener to hear the silent gap in between them. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 946

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the mechanism linking auditory persistence to temporal fusion.