Auditory Integration Explorer

by Chris Joseph (August 2025)

Our perception of time feels continuous because the brain stitches together a stream of discrete sensory snapshots. The auditory system holds incoming sound in a fleeting sensory memory buffer for roughly two to three hundred milliseconds before it decides whether separate events are part of the same moment. Within that window, rapid clicks, tones, or pulses are merged into a single percept, a smooth note, a buzz, or a blended rhythm, even though physically they are still discrete.

This piece lets you explore that integration boundary. By adjusting the rate of clicks, the frequency of amplitude modulation, or the spacing of brief sound bursts, you can find the point where your brain stops hearing individual events and starts fusing them into one. The perception meter provides a visual reference, mapping the timing of your chosen sound against a four hundred millisecond scale so you can compare what you hear with the underlying timing in the physical signal.