TY - JOUR
T1 - Binaural interference and auditory grouping
AU - Best, Virginia
AU - Gallun, Frederick J.
AU - Carlile, Simon
AU - Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Deafness and Communication Disorders (NIDCD) to Barbara G. Shinn-Cunningham (R01 DC05778-02). Frederick Gallun was supported by F32 DC006526 from NIDCD. Laura Stupin collected a large amount of preliminary data that shaped the final experiment. Andrew Oxenham, Toby Dye, and one nearly anonymous reviewer (CJD) provided extremely valuable feedback on previous versions of the manuscript.
PY - 2007
Y1 - 2007
N2 - The phenomenon of binaural interference, where binaural judgments of a high-frequency target stimulus are disrupted by the presence of a simultaneous low-frequency interferer, can largely be explained using principles of auditory grouping and segregation. Evidence for this relationship comes from a number of previous studies showing that the manipulation of simultaneous grouping cues such as harmonicity and onset synchrony can influence the strength of the phenomenon. In this study, it is shown that sequential grouping cues can also influence whether binaural interference occurs. Subjects indicated the lateral position of a high-frequency sinusoidally amplitude-modulated (SAM) tone containing an interaural time difference. Perceived lateral positions were reduced by the presence of a simultaneous diotic low-frequency SAM tone, but were largely restored when the interferer was "captured" in a stream of identical tones. A control condition confirmed that the effect was not due to peripheral adaptation. The data lend further support to the idea that binaural interference is affected by processes related to the perceptual organization of auditory information. Modifications to existing grouping-based models are proposed that may help account for binaural interference effects more successfully.
AB - The phenomenon of binaural interference, where binaural judgments of a high-frequency target stimulus are disrupted by the presence of a simultaneous low-frequency interferer, can largely be explained using principles of auditory grouping and segregation. Evidence for this relationship comes from a number of previous studies showing that the manipulation of simultaneous grouping cues such as harmonicity and onset synchrony can influence the strength of the phenomenon. In this study, it is shown that sequential grouping cues can also influence whether binaural interference occurs. Subjects indicated the lateral position of a high-frequency sinusoidally amplitude-modulated (SAM) tone containing an interaural time difference. Perceived lateral positions were reduced by the presence of a simultaneous diotic low-frequency SAM tone, but were largely restored when the interferer was "captured" in a stream of identical tones. A control condition confirmed that the effect was not due to peripheral adaptation. The data lend further support to the idea that binaural interference is affected by processes related to the perceptual organization of auditory information. Modifications to existing grouping-based models are proposed that may help account for binaural interference effects more successfully.
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U2 - 10.1121/1.2407738
DO - 10.1121/1.2407738
M3 - Article
C2 - 17348529
AN - SCOPUS:33846655689
SN - 0001-4966
VL - 121
SP - 1070
EP - 1076
JO - Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
JF - Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
IS - 2
ER -