The perception of uniform rhythm tracks envelope rises, not onsets

Evidence

A comparison of the data shown in Fig. 13.1f and 13.1h reveals the main influence of the temporal envelope on the perception of subjectively uniform rhythm: in Fig. 13.1h, both burst A and burst B show a steep increase of the temporal envelope. In this case, the time shift, Llt, is zero. This means that for a steeply rising temporal envelope, the equality of the temporal distance between the rising parts of the envelope leads to the perception of subjectively uniform rhythm. However, as illustrated in Fig. 13.1f, a temporal shift as large as 60 ms occurs for a gradual increase of the temporal envelope of burst B. In this case, it is not the physical starting point of burst B, but a temporal position 60 ms later which produces subjectively uniform rhythm. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1497

Categorization

• XREF: The idea that perceived timing tracks the perceptually salient part of a sound (rise) rather than physical onset connects broadly to work on perceptual centers (P-centers) in speech timing research.