A monaural masking release based on a similar mechanism as binaural unmasking
Abstract
Interaural temporal differences are known to play an important role in enhancing the detectability of signals in noise, but seem to have little contribution to the perceptual segregation of simultaneous sound sources. Conversely, pitch is commonly recognised for its role in simultaneous sound source segregation, while its potential effect on signal detectability has so far received little attention. The current study investigates the role of monaural pitch in signal detection with two experiments. The rst experiment demonstrates that pitch cues can greatly enhance the detectability of signals in noisy situations, equalling the potential unmasking reported for binaural cues. This pitch- based unmasking effect is independent of the discriminability of the signal and masker pitches, suggesting that it is based on the reduction in the serial correlation of the composite stimulus induced by the signal. Similarly, in binaural unmasking, the detectability of the signal increases as a result of the decrease in interaural correlation that it produces. The second experiment, which was based on non-simultaneous masking, con rmed that the spectral resolution of the cochlear lters could only account for a small portion of the unmasking measured in the rst experiment.
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