Abstract
Binaural pitch fusion is the perceptual integration of stimuli that evoke different pitches between the ears into a single auditory image. This study was designed to investigate how steady background noise can influence binaural pitch fusion. The binaural fusion ranges, the frequency ranges over which binaural pitch fusion occurred, were measured with three signal-to-noise ratios (+15, +5, and −5dB SNR) of the pink noise and compared with those measured in quiet. The preliminary results show that addition of an appropriate amount of noise can reduce binaural fusion ranges, an effect called stochastic resonance. This finding increases the understanding of how specific noise levels can sharpen binaural pitch fusion in normal hearing individuals. Furthermore, it elicits more pathways for research to explore how this benefit can practically be used to help improve binaural auditory perception.
Highlights
Stochastic resonance is a phenomenon where a signal transmission in a nonlinear system is enhanced by the addition of an external noise
Our main question was can we find stochastic resonance effects on binaural pitch fusion, or can we use the addition of noise to sharpen binaural pitch fusion? We hypothesized that adding a nonzero noise would reduce the breadth of fusion by enhancing binaural pitch discrimination ability, due to a suprathreshold stochastic resonance effect, in which an optimal amount of added noise results in enhanced signal transmission through binaural auditory pathways
Some subjects (4 out of 10) showed broadened fusion ranges at the lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (−5 dB SNR), in which the background noise might be too loud to discriminate pitch differences across ears
Summary
Stochastic resonance is a phenomenon where a signal transmission in a nonlinear system is enhanced by the addition of an external noise This effect has been observed in many human sensory functions including visual perception (Kitajo et al, 2003; Sasaki et al, 2006; Aihara et al, 2008), somatosensation (Collins et al, 1996), and auditory perception (Zeng et al, 2000; Chatterjee and Robert, 2001; Allingham et al, 2003; Paglialonga et al, 2010; Tanaka et al, 2010; Martignoli et al, 2013; Oh et al, 2015; Othman et al, 2019). The CI is a surgically implanted electronic device (e.g., auditory prosthetic) that is inserted into the damaged cochlea to aid signal transmission through the auditory pathways
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