Slow change deafness

• Published in: Attention, perception & psychophysics Vol. 77; no. 4; pp. 1189 - 1199
• Main Authors: Neuhoff, John G., Wayand, Joseph, Ndiaye, Mamoudou C., Berkow, Ann B., Bertacchi, Breanna R., Benton, Catherine A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.05.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Adult; Auditory Perception; Auditory Stimuli; Auditory Threshold - physiology; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Blindness; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive Psychology; Cues; Deafness; Deafness - physiopathology; Ears & hearing; Female; Humans; Listening; Listening Comprehension; Male; Native Language; Psychology; Semantics; Semiotics; Speech; Stimuli; Word Processing; Young Adult; Divided attention; Audition; Inattention
• ISSN: 1943-3921; 1943-393X
• DOI: 10.3758/s13414-015-0871-z

In four experiments, we demonstrated a new phenomenon called “slow-change deafness.” In Experiment 1 we presented listeners with continuous speech that changed three semitones in pitch over time, and we found that nearly 50 % failed to notice the change. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated the finding, demonstrated that the changes in the stimuli were well above threshold, and showed that when listeners were alerted to the possibility of a change, detection rates improved dramatically. Experiment 4 showed that increasing the magnitude of the change that occurred in the stimulus decreased the rate of change deafness. Our results are consistent with previous work that had shown that cueing listeners to potential auditory changes can significantly reduce change deafness. These findings support an account of change deafness that is dependent on both the magnitude of a stimulus change and listener expectations.