Binaural detection of 500-Hz tones in broadband and in narrowband masking noise: Effects of signal/masker duration and forward masking fringes

Abstract

NoSpi thresholds for a 500-Hz tonal signal were measured with broadband and with narrowband maskers using a single-interval adaptive matrix procedure [C. Kaernbach, J Acoust. Soc. Am. 88, 2645-2655 (1990)]. The purpose of the study was to investigate and to account for the effects on thresholds of varying the durations of the signals and maskers and the durations of forward masking fringes that preceded the occurrence of signal-plus-noise. For detection in both broadband and narrowband noise, the addition of brief forward fringes of masking noise resulted in elevations in threshold for the shortest signal durations. Longer forward fringes led to larger decreases in threshold when the masker was broadband as compared to when the masker was narrowband. The complex patterning of the data was explained by the operation of: (1) "predetection" temporal integration associated with peripheral auditory filtering; (2) duration-dependent, across-frequency influences that differentially affect broadband and narrowband NoSpi thresholds, (3) "post-detection" temporal integration associated with the central binaural mechanism, and (4) consideration of the detection thresholds in terms of changes in interaural correlation rather than in terms of signal level or signal-to-noise ratio, per se.