Auditory memory for long‐period random waveforms

Recycled noise segments (RNs) are heard as a repetitive “whooshing” from the lower limit of effortless iterance detection (1 Hz) through 4 Hz [Guttman and Julesz, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 35, 610 (1963)]. The present study found that after listening to a whoosing range RN, the frozen noise segment could be identified at a later time (well beyond the limit of echoic storage) when it was presented as part of a longer “parent” frozen noise segment. For RNs with frequencies above the whooshing range, recognition of the frozen noise segment was difficult or impossible when presented as a portion of a longer parent. Implications concerning the nature of repetition detection at different iterance rates will be discussed.