Spatial release from informational masking along the front-back dimension

Abstract

When two independent speech samples are presented together from a single location in front of the listener, one will mask the other. The amount of masking can be reduced by presenting a repeated masker from a different location off to the side and shifting it slightly forward (+) or backward (−) in time compared to the masker in front. New experiments, using the coordinate response measure technique with a two-female-talker masker and a female target, show that masking release can also be obtained when the target and masker are in front and the repeated masker is directly in back. Release is seen for both forward and backward time shifts, ranging from −32 to 32 ms. The amount of release is somewhat more than half that obtained when the repeated masker is off to the side. Release from masking can also be seen when the repeated masker comes from a location directly above the target and masker in front, but only for a single value of time shift, namely ±2 ms. It is concluded that both spatial and spectral cues mediate release from informational masking in the front-back dimension. [Work supported by the NIDCD grant DC 00181.]