Temporal predictability enhances auditory detection

Periodic stimuli are common in natural environments and are ecologically relevant, for example, footsteps and vocalizations. This study reports a detectability enhancement for temporally cued, periodic sequences. Target noise bursts (embedded in background noise) arriving at the time points which fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2014-06, Vol.135 (6), p.EL357-EL363
Main Authors: Lawrance, Emma L A, Harper, Nicol S, Cooke, James E, Schnupp, Jan W H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic Stimulation
Adult
Audiometry
Auditory Perception
Auditory Threshold
Cues
Female
Humans
Male
Motion
Psychoacoustics
Signal Detection, Psychological
Sound
Time Factors
Time Perception
Young Adult
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Summary:Periodic stimuli are common in natural environments and are ecologically relevant, for example, footsteps and vocalizations. This study reports a detectability enhancement for temporally cued, periodic sequences. Target noise bursts (embedded in background noise) arriving at the time points which followed on from an introductory, periodic "cue" sequence were more easily detected (by ∼1.5 dB SNR) than identical noise bursts which randomly deviated from the cued temporal pattern. Temporal predictability and corresponding neuronal "entrainment" have been widely theorized to underlie important processes in auditory scene analysis and to confer perceptual advantage. This is the first study in the auditory domain to clearly demonstrate a perceptual enhancement of temporally predictable, near-threshold stimuli.
ISSN:0001-4966
1520-8524
DOI:10.1121/1.4879667