Psychoacoustic tuning curves directly reflect cochlear mechanical processing.

Evidence

The filters indicated at the left side of Fig. 3.6 reflect a situation that is often relevant in physiological studies, where it is much easier to keep the location of observation constant and to observe the influence of frequency changes. With some approximation, such conditions can be fulfilled in special psychoacoustical measurements like psycho acoustical tuning curves. The frequency dependence found in this way is known as the frequency resolving power of the hearing system. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 223

The task of the listener is to adjust the level of noise so that the test tone is just audible. The resulting functions obtained with this set-up are shown in Figure 9.14. The cochlear gains for the lowest signal levels in Figure 7.11 and psychoacoustic tuning curves in Figure 9.14 are clearly approximately reciprocal to each other, which verifies the validity of the approaches. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1031

The cochlear gains for the lowest signal levels in Figure 7.11 and psychoacoustic tuning curves in Figure 9.14 are clearly approximately reciprocal to each other, which verifies the validity of the approaches. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1031

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies what psychoacoustical tuning curves measure and links them to frequency resolving power.
• XREF: Connects physical basilar-membrane mechanics to the perceptual phenomenon of masking — the bridge between acoustics and psychoacoustics relevant to applications like audio coding. — connects to: Frequency-domain analysis mirrors how the human ear processes sound — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 377; Human efferent tuning measured psychoacoustically matches otoacoustic-emission measures; Cochlear otoacoustic emissions measurably shift behavioral thresholds, selectivity, and loudness — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5757 (+8 more)
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 223; Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1031

Broader Connections

• Human efferent tuning measured psychoacoustically matches otoacoustic-emission measures #corroborates (0.85)
• Cochlear otoacoustic emissions measurably shift behavioral thresholds, selectivity, and loudness #corroborates (0.80) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5757
• Timbre perception arises from basilar membrane vibration patterns, not pitch alone #exemplifies (0.80) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 783
• Psychoacoustic measures probe efferent function even where OAEs fail #qualifies (0.80)
• Individual listening styles partially stem from cochlear micromechanical irregularities rather than attention alone #corroborates (0.75) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5755
• An auditory spectrum maps cochlear excitation level against ERB-scaled frequency #expands (0.75)
• The notched-noise method directly measures auditory filter shape. #expands (0.75) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 490
• Faster-fluctuating sounds trigger less cochlear compression, trading sensitivity for better dynamic encoding #qualifies (0.70) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3637