This is a demonstration of a sound-discrimination experiment. You will be presented with pairs of computer-generated sounds and, after each pair, you will have to indicate if you think that the two sounds were exactly identical or different.

All items sound like an "ay" vowel, but actually they are slight acoustic differences between them. Listen very carefully because the differences can be subtle (otherwise it would be too easy!).

This demonstration lasts about 2 minutes. At the end, your score will be displayed (i.e. the rates of correct "Same" decisions and correct "Different" decisions).

Note that this is not a real experiment: I am not recording any data. But this is a demonstration of a real experiment that took place under precisely controlled conditions in the Laboratory of Speech Perception at the University of Barcelona. You can read about the results of this real experiment after running the demo.

The download of the java program may take a few moments; it is ready when the "Start" button appears between the two following bars. Press it and listen carefully for the first pair of sounds.

Only when the demo is finished, click here to know more about the actual experiment.