Presenting multiple auditory signals using multiple sound cards in Visual Basic 6.0

In auditory research, it is often desirable to present more than two auditory stimuli at any one time. Although the technology has been available for some time, the majority of researchers have not utilized it. This article provides a simple means of presenting multiple, concurrent, independent auditory events, using two or more different sound cards installed within a single computer. By enabling the presentation of more auditory events, we can hope to gain a better understanding of the cognitive and attentional processes operating under more complex and realistic scenes, such as that embodied by the cocktail party effect. The software requirements are Windows 98SR2/Me/NT4/2000/XP, Visual Basic 6.0, and DirectX 7.0 or above. The hardware requirements are a Pentium II, 128 MB RAM, and two or more different sound cards.