Sonogram window width is a calculated tradeoff between time and frequency resolution.

Evidence

There is no universal best setting for the window width T. Often a good choice for a width is the typical time for the source to change its spectral content significantly. Figure 5.3 shows sonograms for a short section of the soundtrack for the movie The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, in which a whistle oscillates rapidly between two pitches. If the time window is taken to be too long, the rapid variation is washed out, smeared in the time direction. If, on the other hand, the time resolution is too short, the frequency difference between the two notes is washed out. The window on the left is a good compromise between the time and frequency uncertainties for this passage. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 447

Categorization

• XREF: The resolution tradeoff echoes uncertainty principle discussions in physics and signal processing; parallels the reader’s work on perception and precision limits.