acoustic store

n. An inferred memory that contains all sound information heard within the last second or so which allows integration of sound over time into comprehensible wholes and the association of these wholes with immediately subsequent wholes. So we are able to create a perception of the first syllable of the word layer and then retain it until the word is completely said and so hear the entire word as a comprehensible whole instead of a series of sounds shorter than those meaningful to us, which might prevent formation of a meaningful perception of either syllable or word.