Upper limits of auditory rotational motion perception.

Three experiments are reported, which investigated the auditory velocity thresholds beyond which listeners are no longer able to perceptually resolve a smooth circular trajectory. These thresholds were measured for band-limited noises, white noise, and harmonic sounds (HS), and in different acoustical environments. Experiments 1 and 2 were conducted in an acoustically dry laboratory. Observed thresholds varied as a function of stimulus type and spectral content. Thresholds for band-limited noises were unaffected by center frequency and equal to that of white noise. For HS, however, thresholds decreased as the fundamental frequency of the stimulus increased. The third experiment was a replication of the second in a reverberant concert hall, which produced qualitatively similar results except that thresholds were significantly higher than in the acoustically dry laboratory.