Remanence

A continuation of a sound that is no longer heard. After the extinction of both emission and propagation, the sound gives the impression of remaining "in the ear." Remanence is neither an anamnesis (sounds heard in the present that evoke the past), nor a phonomnesis (remembered sound without physical listening). Remanence does not involve deep and early memory. It is simply the mnestic trace of barely subsided sound signals. This effect is often used in music: the permanence of a tonal or modal climate of reference; the impression of hearing a continuous drone; or melismatic movements that make an absent sound virtually present.