Analysis of aural mode operation of passive sonar

The steps which a sonar operator goes through in finally calling "target" while using a trainable beam passive sonar in the aural mode are described. Three distinct processes are identified: (a) single observation, (b) multiple sequential observation, and (c) multiple sweep. Using these concepts and data from two-alternative forced-choice psychoacoustic experiments, one can calculate a transition curve for realistic sonar operator performance. These calculations are compared with transition curves obtained from sonar performances on a more realistic sonar mock-up. The significance of the paper is in the detailed description of the aural process and in the method for calculating aural detection performance.