Model Of Binaural Interaction Research Articles

Binaural fusion: its limits as defined by signal duration and signal onset.

The results of two experiments on the interaural frequency limits for binaural fusion indicate that (1) the limits for binaural fusion decrease as a direct function of signal duration for both low- and high-frequency sine waves, and (2) signal onset is a significant factor in the determination of the spectral limits for binaural fusion only for high-frequency sine waves and low-frequency sine waves of short duration. In general, these results are consistent with a model of binaural interaction in which fusion is determined by a tonotopically organized mechanism, fusion being the product of binaural activity in a channel of limited bandwidth.

Inability of Listeners to Trade Completely Interaural Time for Interaural Intensity in a Detection Task

The classical “binaural trading ratio” measures a supposed trade of interaural temporal discrepancies for opposing differences in interaural intensity. Implicit in these measures is the assumption that information is somehow transposed from one dimension, either time or intensity, to the other; if this is so, then the constraint of a time-to-intensity or intensity-to-time conversion must be placed on any viable model of binaural interaction. The information-conversion assumption implies that a tone centered by opposing time with intensity will not be detectably different from a diotic tone. We tested this assertion using 500-Hz, 125-msec tone bursts. For a given value of Δt a subject was tested over a wide range of ΔI's. For all values ΔI, subjects were able to detect differences between the test tones and diotic tones of the same frequency and duration.

Variation on a Theme of Békésy: A Model of Binaural Interaction

The model of binaural interaction proposed by Békésy in 1930 which has received very little attention in modern theories is re-examined the light of recent anatomical and physiological findings. A modified model is proposed in which time and intensity are mapped independent of each other in the accessory nuclei of the superior olive; excitatory and inhibitory neural signals interact at the accessory nucleus neurons, giving rise to time-intensity trade. The behavior of the model is in qualitative accord with psychophysical and physiological observations.