Auditory frequency resolution follows relative change, not absolute Hz

Evidence

Frequency can be measured in Hz, as accurately and with as many decimal places as you please, so you might imagine that there’s no need for any other system. However, the way we actually hear intervenes and makes another way of measuring frequency much more useful. We are far more sensitive to small changes of a few Hz at lower frequencies than we are at higher frequencies. A 5 Hz shift in a 50 Hz tone is a 10% effect, but a 5 Hz shift in a 5000 Hz tone is a 0.1% effect. Most people can tell the difference easily between 50 and 55 Hz, but cannot tell the difference between 5000 and 5005 Hz. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2158

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Weber-Fechner law / Fechner’s proportional just-noticeable-difference principle, which applies across sensory modalities. — connects to: Hearing’s temporal resolution varies from 1-2 ms depending on frequency — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1603