Human spectral analysis resolution runs about 10–15 percent of center frequency

Evidence

However, for acoustic communication technologies, it seems to be a fair assumption that the frequency window in human hearing used in the spectral analysis of complex sound signals is around 10–15% of the centre frequency. This is not to be confused with the other frequency scale in humans, the pitch scale, which will be discussed in the next chapter. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1048

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to acoustic communication engineering: this is the usable resolution limit for designing spectral features in sound. Connects to the reader’s stated goal of acoustic communication applications.