Development of frequency discrimination at 250 Hz is similar for tone and /ba/ stimuli

Abstract

Frequency discrimination was measured in 5- to 11-year-olds and adults with normal hearing. The standard stimulus was either a 250-Hz tone or the syllable /ba/ with a fundamental frequency (F0) of 250 Hz. Target stimuli were higher in frequency than the standard, and the threshold for frequency discrimination was determined adaptively for each of the two stimulus types separately. For both the tone and /ba/ stimuli, thresholds improved approximately linearly with the log of child age, reaching adult levels by 11.5 years of age. There was no evidence of an effect of stimulus type.