Binaural release from masking in forward-masked intensity discrimination: Evidence for effects of selective attention

Oberfeld, Daniel; Stahn, Patricia; Kuta, Martha

doi:10.1016/j.heares.2012.09.004

Cited by 8 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Whereas the results of the present study are consistent with peripheral mechanisms leading to decreased WFs at the mid-level hump, previous studies have shown that WFs measured in the context of the Zeng Bump may be altered via more central mechanisms. Specifically, the Zeng Bump can be decreased by altering the perceived spatial separation of the masker and pedestal by manipulating masker interaural time difference while leaving the peripheral representations intact (Oberfeld et al, 2012(Oberfeld et al, , 2014 or by presenting a noise burst after the pedestal (Plack et al, 1995). In the present study, neither backward NN nor backward NBN led to decreased WFs at the midlevel hump.…”

Section: Comparison To Previous Intensity Discrimination Workcontrasting

confidence: 66%

Exploring the source of the mid-level hump for intensity discrimination in quiet and the effects of noise

Roverud

Strickland

2015

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Intensity discrimination Weber fractions (WFs) measured for short, high-frequency tones in quiet are larger at mid levels than at lower or higher levels. The source of this "mid-level hump" is a matter of debate. One theory is that the mid-level hump reflects basilar-membrane compression, and that WFs decrease at higher levels due to spread-of-excitation cues. To test this theory, Experiment 1 measured the mid-level hump and growth-of-masking functions to estimate the basilar membrane input/output (I/O) function in the same listeners. Results showed the initial rise in WFs could be accounted for by the change in I/O function slope, but there was additional unexplained variability in WFs. Previously, Plack [(1998). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 103(5), 2530-2538] showed that long-duration notched noise (NN) presented with the tone reduced the mid-level hump even with a temporal gap in the NN. Plack concluded the results were consistent with central profile analysis. However, simultaneous, forward, and backward NN were not examined separately, which may independently test peripheral and central mechanisms of the NN. Experiment 2 measured WFs at the mid-level hump in the presence of NN and narrowband noise of different durations and temporal positions relative to the tone. Results varied across subjects, but were consistent with more peripheral mechanisms.

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Section: Comparison To Previous Intensity Discrimination Workcontrasting

confidence: 66%

Exploring the source of the mid-level hump for intensity discrimination in quiet and the effects of noise

Roverud

Strickland

2015

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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“…According to this important concept from cognitive psychology, it is more difficult to selectively attend to a feature within an object than to attend to one object while ignoring another object (e.g., [16], [17]). Thus, our results [4], [5] suggest that the masker-induced impairment in performance might be caused by difficulties in directing selective attention to the targets while ignoring the task-irrelevant maskers [4], [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…The estimates of internal noise allow answering the question whether the maskers caused an increase in the variance of the target representations (effect B). Based on previous results suggesting an important role of attentional mechanisms [4], [5], [6], [24], [25], we expected a systematic contribution of masker intensity to the decision (effects A or C, evident in non-zero perceptual weights assigned to the maskers), but only a weak increase in the internal noise effective for the targets. We also expected the perceptual weights assigned to the maskers to be correlated with the masker-induced impairment in performance (i.e., the DL elevation).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Non-simultaneous maskers temporally separated from a target sound by less than 500 ms can have a dramatic impact on performance in an auditory intensity discrimination task, with the intensity difference limen (DL) being up to 20 dB higher than in quiet (e.g., [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]). An important finding is that the DL elevation (i.e., the difference between the intensity DL under masking and the DL in quiet) caused by an intense masker (e.g., 90 dB SPL) is higher for midlevel standards (e.g., 60 dB SPL) than for standards with a low (30 dB SPL) or high (90 dB SPL) sound pressure level [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, the impairment in performance might be due to the decision being influenced by the representations of masker intensity, although the maskers convey no information concerning the intensity of the targets and the masker-related intensity information should therefore be ignored. In two experiments [4], [5] we found that the effects of the maskers were increased in conditions where the maskers and targets were grouped together (i.e., a masker and the following target were perceived as one unitary object), relative to conditions favoring the processing of the maskers and the targets as two separate auditory objects [15]. These effects could be explained by object-based attention [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Why Do Forward Maskers Affect Auditory Intensity Discrimination? Evidence from "Molecular Psychophysics"

2014

Self Cite

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Nonsimultaneous maskers can strongly impair performance in an auditory intensity discrimination task. Using methods of molecular psychophysics, we quantified the extent to which (1) a masker-induced impairment of the representation of target intensity (i.e., increase in internal noise) and (2) a systematic influence of the masker intensities on the decision variable contribute to these effects. In a two-interval intensity discrimination procedure, targets were presented in quiet, and combined with forward maskers. The lateralization of the maskers relative to the targets was varied via the interaural time difference. Intensity difference limens (DLs) were strongly elevated under forward masking but less with contralateral than with ipsilateral maskers. For most listeners and conditions, perceptual weights measuring the relation between the target and masker levels and the response in the intensity discrimination task were positive and significant. Higher perceptual weights assigned to the maskers corresponded to stronger elevations of the intensity DL. The maskers caused only a weak increase in internal noise, unrelated to target level and masker lateralization. The results indicate that the effects of forward masking on intensity discrimination are determined by an inclusion of the masker intensities in the decision variable, compatible with the hypothesis that the impairment in performance is to a large part caused by difficulties in directing selective attention to the targets. The effects of masker lateralization are evidence for top-down influences, and the observed positive signs of the masker weights suggest that the relevant mechanisms are located at higher processing stages rather than in the auditory periphery.

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Effects of adding natural sounds to urban noises on the perceived loudness of noise and soundscape quality

Hong

Ong

Lam

et al. 2020

Science of The Total Environment

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Introducing pleasant natural sounds to mask urban noises is an important soundscape design strategy to improve acoustic comfort. This study investigates the effects of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) between natural sounds (signal) and the target noises (noise) and their temporal characteristics on the perceived loudness of noise (PLN) and overall soundscape quality (OSQ) through a laboratory experiment. Two types of urban noise sources (hydraulic breaker and traffic noises) were set to A-weighted equivalent sound pressure levels (SPL) of 55, 65, and 75 dB and then augmented with two types of natural sounds (birdsong and stream), across a range of SNRs. Each acoustic stimulus was a combination of noise and natural sound at SNRs from −6 to 6 dB. Averaged across all cases, the subjective assessment of PLN showed that augmenting urban noise separately with the two natural sounds reduced the PLN by 17.9%, with no significant differences found between the birdsong and stream sounds. Adding natural sounds increased the OSQ by on average 18.3% across the cases, but their effects gradually decreased as the noise level increased. The OSQ of the birdsong and stream sounds were similar for traffic noise, whereas the stream sound was rated higher than the birdsong for the breaker noise. The results suggest that increasing the dissimilarity in temporal structure between the target noise and natural sounds could enhance the soundscape quality. Appropriate SNRs were explored considering both PLN and OSQ. The results showed that the SNR of −6 dB was desirable when the A-weighted SPL of the noise rose to 75 dB.

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Binaural release from masking in forward-masked intensity discrimination: Evidence for effects of selective attention

Cited by 8 publications

References 57 publications

Exploring the source of the mid-level hump for intensity discrimination in quiet and the effects of noise

Exploring the source of the mid-level hump for intensity discrimination in quiet and the effects of noise

Why Do Forward Maskers Affect Auditory Intensity Discrimination? Evidence from "Molecular Psychophysics"

Effects of adding natural sounds to urban noises on the perceived loudness of noise and soundscape quality

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