Auditory Induction: Perceptual Synthesis of Absent Sounds

Abstract

Within certain auditory patterns, fainter sounds may be "heard" clearly when replaced by louder sounds having appropriate spectral compositions. This auditory induction of fainter by louder sounds can cancel the perceptual effects of masking. Phonemic restorations, which have been reported previously, appear to be a specialized application to speech of the much broader phenomenon of auditory induction. The rules governing auditory induction indicate that it helps maintain stable auditory perception in our frequently noisy environment.

Auditory induction: Reciprocal changes in alternating sounds

“…However, reduction of the loudness of the inducer also occurred (to a lesser extent) when the inducee appeared to be discontinuous. This observation appears to conflict with the assumption made in studies reported by Houtgast (1972), Warren et al (1972), and others that restoration is an all-or-none phenomenon, as is indeed the case when it is measured as the continuity/discontinuity transition or "pulsation threshold" of the inducee (see Warren, 1984, for a review of this literature).…”

“…These studies have generally concentrated on apparent continuity of the inducee and have neglected to examine possible concomitant changes in the inducer. Although it has been suggested that a portion of the neural response to the inducer is subtracted and used for the perceptual synthesis of the inducee (Warren, Obusek, & Ackroff, 1972), direct experimental data supporting this hypothesis is lacking. The series of experiments described here examine consequences of the hypothesis that restoration is based on a reciprocal interaction involving the allocation of a portion of the auditory input produced by the inducer over to the inducee.…”

Object-based auditory and visual attention

“…Many natural sounds such as speech are spectro-temporally sparse, so energetic masking often affects only portions of the target, limited in both time and frequency [31]. Moreover, we perceptually fill in inaudible portions based on glimpses we hear (see Text Box 2) [32,33,34]. As a result, energetic masking is often not the main factor limiting performance.…”

Illusory Vowels Resulting from Perceptual Continuity: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

“…Over the last few decades, the continuity illusion has been extensively studied in behavioral experiments using a variety of stimuli, including pure and modulated tones, tone glides, and speech (Carlyon, Micheyl, Deeks, & Moore, 2002;Warren, Wrightson, & Puretz, 1988;Ciocca & Bregman, 1987;Powers & Wilcox, 1977;Houtgast, 1972;Warren, Obusek, & Ackroff, 1972;Vicario, 1960;Miller & Licklider, 1950). The results of all these studies have led to a firm understanding of the stimulus parameters that do and do not lead to a percept of illusory continuity.…”