The energy detector model fails because it accumulates interfering noise along with signal energy.

Evidence

Viemeister and Wakefield (1991) questioned the energy detector model and suggested that perhaps temporal integration is not based on long-term intensity integration. They noted that the energy detector is not a “smart” model, as it integrates energy rather than information. They noted that any type of stimulus energy, even if it comes from an interfering sound, would be accumulated into the energy detector. Rather, they proposed that over time, the ear conducts a series of short “snapshots” which provide more opportunities to detect the stimulus. In this way, snapshots that do not contain information could be discarded. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1062

Categorization

• XREF: The energy-vs-information critique parallels the signal-detection and information-processing critiques that motivated cognitive psychology’s shift from energy-based to information-based models.