A detection-theoretic analysis of the relation between multitone auditory streaming and masking

Abstract

Research on hearing has long been challenged with understanding our exceptional ability to “hear out” individual sounds in a mixture (the so-called cocktail party problem). Two general approaches to the problem have been taken using sequences of tones as stimuli. The first has focused on our tendency to hear sequences, sufficiently separated in frequency, split into separate cohesive streams (auditory streaming). The second has focused on our ability to detect a change in one sequence, ignoring all others (auditory masking). The two phenomena are clearly related, but that relation has never been specifically evaluated. The present paper offers a detection-theoretic analysis of the relation between multitone streaming and masking that underscores the expected similarities and differences between these phenomena and the predicted outcome of experiments in each case. The underlying premise of the analysis is that streaming is auditory system's way of maximizing the likelihood that sounds from separate sources are perceived as separate. Experiments are reported supporting some basic outcomes of the analysis.