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"watch king" wrote:

.....snip to content......

By the way let me restate that no one should be trying to concentrate
on listening tests for more than an hour at a time. Remember the ear
canal closes down under periods of stress of many kinds, changing the
sensitivity, frequency response and comb filter responces of the
ears. Test for an hour max and then rest for an hour is a good rule
of thumb. Also don't run 3 minutes of testing and then figure you've
finished. Even the most professionally trained listeners usually need
a time to "zero their sonic focus" so the results during the fisrt
few minutes of testing are usually suspect though not totally
worthless.

Because of the human sensory system is highly adpatable sensitvity is generally
highest at first exposure or at change of state. It is true that some effects
may require training (some people have be 'taught' to hear a phantom image for
example) but once learned acoustical effects are most strongly apparent at
change of state.

Listening fatique is also an interesting factor. But I think it's useful to
differentiate it from listening 'stress.' Fatique may occur with long testing
periods because of repetitive tasks but is exaggerated by the difficulty of the
task. IME most listening fatique and listening stress occurs when subjects are
attempting to "hear" an inaudible effect.

IME, with multiple subjects, boredom, and loss of attention, is a larger factor
with highly sensitive listeners.

There is also much misunderstanding about the role of stress in sensory
perception. A himan wil be at his most sensitive to any physical stimuli when
under the greates stress imaginable .... a case of life or death.

I once had a Proponent argue that a bias-controlled listening test introduced
sensitivity reducing stress akin to pointing a gun at the subject. My response
was that if the effect were truly audible a gun-to-the-head would be the most
sensitivity enhancing device possible.
The stress factor would only be debilitating only IF the stimulus were NOT
audible.