Dichotic listener reception of simultaneous messages was studied as a function of attenuation of the signal level of one of the messages. Listeners, serving in panels, received two messages simultaneously through dichotic headset circuits. The signal level of one message was attenuated in five steps of three decibels each relative to the level of the other message. The simultaneous messages were groupings from the multiple-choice intelligibility tests. Listeners heard the messages under conditions of quiet and noise. The noise was simulated aircraft noise. The general effect upon listener reception of attenuating one of two simultaneous messages was to decrease the reception of the attenuated signal and increase the reception of the unattenuated signal. This effect was more pronounced in noise than in quiet, and yielded linear functions under noise conditions but nonlinear functions in quiet.
Listeners responded to two simultaneous messages through dichotic headset circuits. Each message consisted of word groupings from the multiple-choice intelligibility tests. The signal level of one of the messages remained constant while the level of the contralateral message was attenuated in five steps of three decibels each step. The variable under study was the effect of these attenuation levels upon the reception of the two messages. The simultaneous messages were received under conditions of noise and quiet. The findings were that the general effect of attenuating one of the simultaneous messages was that of decreasing the reception scores of the attenuated message and increasing the reception of the unattenuated message. The effect was more pronounced in noise than in quiet.
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