Auditory fusion in children.

"Auditory fusion" was defined in terms of a listener's ability to distinguish paired acoustic events from single acoustic events. Children from the ages of 3-12 years listened to 270 pairs of tones controlled for frequency, intensity, and duration. Stimuli consisted of numerous pairs of tone pulses, separated by interpulse intervals that varied systematically from 0 through 40 msec. Results indicate that (a) auditory fusion improves rapidly and in an orderly fashion between 3 and 8 years of age, (b) signal intensity affects the fusion point, and (c) stimulus frequency--253 hertz through 4,000 hertz, at 5-octave intervals--does not affect the fusion point.