Auditory images:How complex sounds are represented in the auditory system

Abstract

When an event occurs in the world around us, say a lion roars or a cat meows, information about the event flows to us in light waves and sound waves.Our eyes form a visual image of the event, our ears form an auditory image of the event, and the two are combined with any other sensory inputs to produce our initial experience of the event.The purpose of this paper is to describe:1)the three natural categories of sounds:noises, transients, and tones, 2)a computer model designed to explain how the auditory system converts sounds into auditory images, 3)the characteristics of the auditory images of noises, transients and tones, and 4)the role of auditory image construction in the initial segregation of tones and noises.