Binaural hearing yields up to 18 dB detection advantage for low-frequency signals

Evidence

In complex acoustical environments, the auditory system makes use of various cues to group sound components from one particular sound source. These cues, sometimes referred to as object binding cues, are often associated with characteristics of the sound such as coherent level fluctuations in different frequency regions (as, e.g., observed in speech), or the location of the sources in space. Differences in location result, among others, in interaural differences. Psychoacousticians developed experiments to study how the human auditory system makes use of the information. For example, the ability to use interaural disparities is shown in experiments on binaural masking level differences (BMLD). The BMLD is a well investigated phenomenon that signifies the reduction in masked thresholds when a tonal signal and masker have disparate interaural cues. For a diotic narrowband masker, a tonal target can be detected at a 25 dB lower level when the interaural target phase is changed from 0 to ∏ (e.g. van de Par and Kohlrausch 1999 ). — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3465 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

Related

• Binaural listening improves source audibility by 0–8 dB in multi-source scenes (similarity 0.95)
• Binaural phase disparities improve tone detection by up to 25 dB. (similarity 0.93)
• Interaural phase disparities lower masked thresholds by up to 25 dB for overlapping targets (similarity 0.89)
• Binaural masking level differences reach 25 dB only for overlapping masker and target (similarity 0.89)
• The BMLD arises from subjects using channels where the masker’s interaural effect is reduced (similarity 0.89)
• Anti-phase signals vs diotic noise yield 18 dB binaural detection advantage around 200-300 Hz (similarity 0.88)
• Binaural listening yields a 5-7 dB intelligibility advantage over monaural (similarity 0.88)
• Interaural noise correlation inversely drives the magnitude of binaural release from masking. (similarity 0.87)
• Binaural listening yields only 5–7 dB advantage over monaural spatially-separated sources (similarity 0.87)
• Loudspeaker level differences become inter-ear phase differences via cross talk (similarity 0.86)
• Binaural masking release is 2 to 4 dB smaller in older listeners (similarity 0.85)
• BMLDs are smaller for older listeners by 2 to 4 dB (similarity 0.85)
• Out-of-phase binaural tones can double perceived loudness (similarity 0.84)
• Spatially separated sources reveal speech components audible only via binaural processing (similarity 0.83)
• Binaural unmasking depends on masker duration but not signal duration (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Binaural squelch adds 3 to 5 dB by using the poorer ear’s signal #qualifies (0.85)
• Binaural phase disparities improve tone detection by up to 25 dB. #corroborates (0.78) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3465
• Binaural detection advantages act on small spectro-temporal units, not whole frequency bands #complicates (0.75)
• Signal subtraction after equalization can cancel masking noise in binaural detection #expands (0.72)
• Binaural listening improves source audibility by 0–8 dB in multi-source scenes #qualifies (0.72)
• Binaural masking release is 2 to 4 dB smaller in older listeners #qualifies (0.72)
• Binaural processing can be modeled by equalisation-cancellation followed by low-pass filtering #expands (0.70) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3478