And, on top of the excellent info above, is the trick used by most digitally-reproduced music, whereby only some frequencies (out of the collection that would be recorded and discernable in an analogue recording) are recorded. The ear (brain, actually) "reinstates" much of what is "missed".

I suspect a similar "ability" is at play in other circumstances, such as where relatively elderly musicians can perceive frequencies even though age has removed those elements in the cochlear that are required to detect such frequencies. The ear's/brain's ability to detect harmonics plays some part in this but the effect persists for pure tones for some musicians.

But I'm not sure whether minimal "duration" affects this.

And, for frequencies below 26Hz, the human ear is known to be able to detect the sound but not discriminate between pitches; I have no information about minimal durations here, either.

Cheers, Rowan