A Zwicker tone is a short-term auditory illusion which resembles tinnitus (ringing of the ears). It was discovered in 1964 by Eberhard Zwicker at Bell Labs. The Zwicker tone can be described as follows: while listening to broadband noise ("white noise") with a spectral gap, if it is switched off, a faint tone lasting for several seconds can be heard. In the silence, most listeners hear a tone corresponding to the spectral gap. The pitch strength corresponds to the pitch strength of a pure tone of same pitch and sensation level.
References
- Zwicker, Eberhard (September 1964). "Negative Afterimage in Hearing". Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 36 (12): 2413-&. doi:10.1121/1.1919373.
- Psychoacoustics: Facts and Models. Springer. 2007. p. 130. ISBN 978-3-540-68888-4. Retrieved 2013-07-03.