Illusory discontinuity

Example of illusory discontinuity stimulus: continuous tone with spectrally remote noise. The tone sounds discontinuous to some listeners.
Example of illusory discontinuity stimulus: continuous tone with spectrally remote noise. The tone sounds discontinuous to some listeners.

Illusory discontinuity is an auditory illusion in which a continuous ongoing sound becomes inaudible during a brief, non-masking noise. The illusion is perceived only by some listeners, but not by others, reflecting individual variation in hearing abilities. It has been estimated that among young adults 24% are susceptible to illusory discontinuity.[1] The most susceptible listeners describe their sensations in terms of the sound actually containing a physical gap. The illusory discontinuity is strongest when the interrupting sound is short (50ms). Longer sounds elicit weaker illusory discontinuity; this effect may be related to better auditory segregation.[2]

  1. ^ Vinnik E, Itskov PM, Balaban E (2011). "Individual differences in sound-in-noise perception are related to the strength of short-latency neural responses to noise." PLoS One. 6(2): e17266. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017266. PMID 21387016
  2. ^ "Sounds in noise: Behavioral and neural studies of illusory continuity and discontinuity. Vinnik, Ekaterina PhD thesis, SISSA, 2009-11-02" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-07-28.