Physical Correlates of Auditory Psychophysics and Performance

1. The behavioral absolute threshold is related to the minimum thresholds of single auditory nerve fibers, determined from the mean firing rate
2. The shape of the audiogram (the relation between the threshold and stimulus frequency) is, for the middle part of the audible frequency range, governed by the efficiency of the middle and outer ears in delivering energy to the cochlea. The cochlea itself has approximately equal sensitivity to energy of all frequencies except at low and very high frequencies.
3. Frequency resolution describes the ability to filter out, on the basis of frequency, one stimulus component from another in a complex stimulus. Psychophysical frequency resolving power, as shown by psychophysical filters or critical bands seem to approximately match the frequency resolving power of the mechanical traveling wave in the cochlea and that of auditory nerve fibers. However, the degree of correspondence varies with the psychophysical method used to measure the frequency resolution.
4. to be continued...