Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R F Patchett.
205 subjects each chose a "most pleasant" sound delivered through an earphone by turning the control knob on a continuously variable audio oscillator. Most subjects chose a frequency in a relatively narrow (approximately 350 Hz) band centered on 399 Hz. The preferences did not appear to be influenced by sex or age.
To test the hypothesis that prior patterned or varied auditory experience was necessary for the development of discrimination of auditory frequency, Sprague-Dawley albino rats were deprived of patterned sound from birth by the technique of rearing them in white noise. The sound-deprived rats learned a frequency discrimination as easily as controls reared in varied sound conditions.