Informational Masking

Kidd, Gerald; Mason, Christine R.; Richards, Virginia M.; Gallun, Frederick J.; Durlach, N. I.

doi:10.1007/978-0-387-71305-2_6

Cited by 238 publications

(222 citation statements)

References 108 publications

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“…Strongly improved SRTs (∼10 dB) for the co-located target and masker condition were found for the rhyme test, which is assumed to produce lower confusability of target and maskers. These data for spatial masking conditions, together with the current findings, indicate that the more intelligible the maskers are, the larger the masking, a finding that is likely related to informational masking (Best et al 2015;Culling et al 2004;Hawley et al 2004;Kidd et al 2008). Such involvement of informational masking and associated cognitive effects is also reflected in the current simulation results which are based on spectral masking in T-F segments (including benefits of EC processing): while the full BSIM can predict the SRM for all masker conditions (Fig.…”

Section: Effect Of the Masker Conditions On Srtssupporting

confidence: 66%

Binaural Glimpses at the Cocktail Party?

Lingner

Grothe

Wiegrebe

et al. 2016

JARO

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Humans often have to focus on a single target sound while ignoring competing maskers in everyday situations. In such conditions, speech intelligibility (SI) is improved when a target speaker is spatially separated from a masker (spatial release from making, SRM) compared to situations where both are co-located. Such asymmetric spatial configurations lead to a 'better-ear effect' with improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at one ear. However, maskers often surround the listener leading to more symmetric configurations where better-ear effects are absent in a long-term, wideband sense. Nevertheless, better-ear glimpses distributed across time and frequency persist and were suggested to account for SRM (Brungart and Iyer 2012). Here, speech reception was assessed using symmetric masker configurations while varying the spatio-temporal distribution of potential better-ear glimpses. Listeners were presented with a frontal target and eight single-talker maskers in four different symmetrical spatial configurations. Compared to the reference condition with colocated target and maskers, an SRM of up to 6 dB was observed. The SRM persisted when the frequency range of the maskers above or below 1500 Hz was replaced with stationary speech-shaped noise. Comparison to a recent short-time binaural SI model showed that betterear glimpses can account for half the observed SRM, while binaural interaction utilizing phase differences is required to explain the other half.

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Section: Effect Of the Masker Conditions On Srtssupporting

confidence: 66%

Binaural Glimpses at the Cocktail Party?

Lingner

Grothe

Wiegrebe

et al. 2016

JARO

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“…Given that the spectro-spatial configuration of our stimuli was designed specifically to exclude the possibility of an explanation in terms of energetic masking, the observed effects of F2C+F3C may be characterized as involving primarily informational masking (Pollack 1975; for a recent review, see Kidd et al 2008). A useful distinction can be made between those aspects of informational masking that cause difficulty in auditory object formation and those that cause difficulty in object selection (e.g., Ihlefeld and Shinn-Cunningham 2008).…”

Section: Informational Masking Of Speechmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most experiments on informational masking of or by speech have focused on the challenge faced when listening to a talker in the presence of one or more concurrent talkers (Kidd et al 2008). It was demonstrated early on that when responding to the speech of one of two talkers presented dichotically, the contralateral masking talker has little effect (Cherry 1953).…”

Section: Informational Masking Of Speechmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of the Rate of Formant-Frequency Variation on the Grouping of Formants in Speech Perception

Summers

Bailey

Roberts

2011

JARO

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How speech is separated perceptually from other speech remains poorly understood. Recent research suggests that the ability of an extraneous formant to impair intelligibility depends on the modulation of its frequency, but not its amplitude, contour. This study further examined the effect of formant-frequency variation on intelligibility by manipulating the rate of formant-frequency change. Target sentences were synthetic three-formant (F1+F2+F3) analogues of natural utterances. Perceptual organization was probed by presenting stimuli dichotically (F1+F2C+F3C; F2+ F3), where F2C+F3C constitute a competitor for F2 and F3 that listeners must reject to optimize recognition. Competitors were derived using formant-frequency contours extracted from extended passages spoken by the same talker and processed to alter the rate of formantfrequency variation, such that rate scale factors relative to the target sentences were 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 (0= constant frequencies). Competitor amplitude contours were either constant, or time-reversed and rate-adjusted in parallel with the frequency contour. Adding a competitor typically reduced intelligibility; this reduction increased with competitor rate until the rate was at least twice that of the target sentences. Similarity in the results for the two amplitude conditions confirmed that formant amplitude contours do not influence across-formant grouping. The findings indicate that competitor efficacy is not tuned to the rate of the target sentences; most probably, it depends primarily on the overall rate of frequency variation in the competitor formants. This suggests that, when segregating the speech of concurrent talkers, differences in speech rate may not be a significant cue for across-frequency grouping of formants.

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“…If HI listeners were operating "close to the edge" because the sensation levels of the stimuli were low, the experimental uncertainty produced by roving level may have disrupted performance in a manner not experienced by NH listeners, who were immune to such interference when listening at a high SL. This mostly cognitive effect would be closely related to informational masking (see, e.g., Kidd et al 2002Kidd et al , 2008 or perhaps to other attentional factors that might have been less than optimal due to a combination of causes including low SL, stimulus uncertainty, and the consequence of longterm hearing loss or aging of the auditory system. Indeed, several studies have suggested that HI listeners are less able than NH listeners to use available perceptual cues to overcome the effects of informational masking (Kidd et al 2002;Arbogast et al 2005).…”

Section: Effects Of Roving Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discrimination of Time-Reversed Harmonic Complexes by Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Listeners

Lauer

Molis²,

Leek³

2009

JARO

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Normal-hearing (NH) listeners and hearing-impaired (HI) listeners detected and discriminated timereversed harmonic complexes constructed of equalamplitude harmonic components with fundamental frequencies (F0s) ranging from 50 to 800 Hz. Component starting phases were selected according to the positive and negative Schroeder-phase algorithms to produce within-period frequency sweeps with relatively flat temporal envelopes. Detection thresholds were not affected by component starting phases for either group of listeners. At presentation levels of 80 dB SPL, NH listeners could discriminate the two waveforms nearly perfectly when the F0s were less than 300-400 Hz but fell to chance performance for higher F0s. HI listeners performed significantly poorer, with reduced discrimination at several of the F0s. In contrast, at a lower presentation level meant to nearly equate sensation levels for the two groups, NH listeners' discrimination was poorer than HI listeners at most F0s. Roving presentation levels had little effect on performance by NH listeners but reduced performance by HI listeners. The differential impact of roving level suggests a weaker perception of timbre differences and a greater susceptibility to the detrimental effects of experimental uncertainty in HI listeners.

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Informational Masking

Cited by 238 publications

References 108 publications

Binaural Glimpses at the Cocktail Party?

Binaural Glimpses at the Cocktail Party?

Effects of the Rate of Formant-Frequency Variation on the Grouping of Formants in Speech Perception

Discrimination of Time-Reversed Harmonic Complexes by Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Listeners

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