Sensibilité au tempo en audition : mesure et modélisation

Abstract
The ability of listeners to detect slight changes in tempo of isochronous auditory sequences was investigated by measuring differential thresholds for tempi (with interonset intervals IOI ranging from 100 to 1500 ms) of sequences varying in the number of intervals they contain. A multiple-look model presented previously [3] predicts that sensitivity increases as the number of intervals in the sequence increases, since multiple observations afford the elaboration of a more precise mental representation involving the coding of the average duration and degree of dispersion of the intervals in the sequence. The results of the present study indicate that an additional parameter, that of the total duration of the sequence is also involved : the faster the tempo of the sequence, the more intervals are necessary to obtain the lowest JNDs. The upper limit of this "temporal window" is about one second for sequences of 50 to 300 ms IOI and about 2.5 seconds for sequences of 500 to 1500 ms IOI.