Two experiments were performed to study short-term acoustic recognition memory using synthesized binary tone patterns within a three-interval, three-alternative forced choice psychophysical procedure. In Experiment 1, subjects showed as significant performance advantage in processing binary frequency patterns over intensity and duration patterns. In Experiment 2, we found that elements at the beginnings and ends of various length frequency pattern sequences were recognized better than those in the middle of the sequence (primacy and recency effects). Furthermore, we showed that performance on a serial position task may be a useful tool to demonstrate the limited capacity of information storage in acoustic short-term memory. Sensory memory typically has been examined using verbal stimuli and requiring immediate ordered recall. These results demonstrate the utility of studying sensory memory using complex nonverbal stimuli within a forced-choice recognition paradigm.