The ear detects binaural delays finer than individual neuron timing supports

Evidence

By comparing the timing and intensity of a sound at each ear, listeners can locate its source on the horizontal plane, and exploit these differences to hear out signals in background noise—an important component of ‘cocktail party listening’. Sensitivity to interaural time differences (ITDs) in particular has received much attention, due in part to the exquisite temporal performance observed; for sound frequencies lower than about 1.3 kHz, ITDs of just a few tens of microseconds are discriminable, observed both at the neural and behavioural levels. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2949 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The brain measures interaural delay via coincidence-detector neurons and delay-line axons; Humans can detect interaural timing differences as small as ten to twenty microseconds — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2949; Interaural delay estimation is emulated mathematically by the normalized cross-correlation function (+2 more)

Related

• Humans can detect interaural timing differences as small as ten to twenty microseconds (similarity 0.93)
• Just-noticeable interaural delay is about 50 microseconds below 1.5 kHz (similarity 0.91)
• The brain measures interaural delay via coincidence-detector neurons and delay-line axons (similarity 0.89)
• Group delay audibility threshold is 1.6 to 2 milliseconds (similarity 0.88)
• Click stimuli achieve neural timing precision of about twenty microseconds (similarity 0.87)
• Interaural time difference maps derive from precise phase delays, not absolute latencies (similarity 0.87)
• Listeners can discriminate interaural time differences of just tens of microseconds below 1.3 kHz. (similarity 0.86)
• Interaural phase differences can produce time-delay sensations measured at threshold. (similarity 0.85)
• Interaural envelope timing responses weaken with rising carrier frequency and ear mismatch (similarity 0.84)
• Only harmonics separated by more than the ear’s critical bandwidth are resolved (similarity 0.84)
• Directional hearing rests on interaural time and intensity differences. (similarity 0.83)
• Interaural correlation-change detection is a viable temporal processing measure (similarity 0.83)
• Microsecond ITD precision arises from phase-delay matching, not absolute latency (similarity 0.83)
• Forward temporal structure is essential to auditory scene analysis. (similarity 0.83)
• Ears detect direction changes as small as 5 degrees via 50-microsecond delays (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Humans can detect interaural timing differences as small as ten to twenty microseconds #corroborates (0.85) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2949
• The brain measures interaural delay via coincidence-detector neurons and delay-line axons #expands (0.80)
• Interaural delay estimation is emulated mathematically by the normalized cross-correlation function #expands (0.70)
• Output-dependent inhibition creates amplificatory feedback that sharpens binaural asymmetries #complicates (0.70)