Short sound durations necessarily produce broad frequency bandwidths.

Evidence

The spectrum illustrated in Figure 2–2 represents a pure tone of infinite duration. However, it is physically impossible to generate a sound of infinite duration. Therefore, we must also consider the effect that the duration of a sound stimulus has on the representation of that sound. The longer the duration of a pure tone, the more frequency specific that pure tone will be. The time-frequency tradeoff governs this relationship in the following way: a short-duration sound must have a broad bandwidth spectrum. The only way to achieve a narrow bandwidth spectrum is to provide a long duration. However, longduration sounds can, and often do, have broad spectra, such as white noise. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 177

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the time-frequency tradeoff, a foundational psychoacoustic concept.