ABSTRACT
Tbe identification of sound source events such as rustling leaves or leaf blowers is reasonably commonplace. Despite the propensity of listeners to provide source identifications, psychoacoustic research has been concerned with the perception of properties of the sound (e.g., pitch, loudness) rather than perception of properties of the sound-source (e.g., size, shape, material). Nonetheless, it is sources that animals and humans perceive and source properties that have consequences for behavior (Gaver, 1993). Our research concerns accuracy in the perception of asound source, not in terms of identifying the event-a wooden dowel dropping onto a hard surface-but assessing a metrical property of the object itself-its size. The goal of the present research is twofold: (I) providing an empirical evaluation of the basic capability of size perception by sound (in particular, the lengths of dropped wooden dowels), and (2) identifying the physical properties of the objects that constrain that perception.
