While the physical (acoustic) properties are objectively measurable, auditory sensations are subjective and can only be studied by asking listeners to report on their perceptions.
Auditory phonetics is concerned with both segmental (chiefly vowels and consonants) and prosodic (such as stress, tone, rhythm and intonation) aspects of speech.
If there is a distinction to be made between auditory phonetics and speech perception, it is that the former is more closely associated with traditional non-instrumental approaches to phonology and other aspects of linguistics, while the latter is closer to experimental, laboratory-based study.
[9] Herbert Pilch attempted to define auditory phonetics in such a way as to avoid any reference to acoustic parameters.
[10] In the auditory analysis of phonetic data such as recordings of speech, it is clearly an advantage to have been trained in analytical listening.