On the influence of interaural differences on temporal perception of noise bursts of different durations

The perception of a composite sound's temporal cues, like synchronous onsets, is considered essential to correct perceptual grouping of its constituent components. The processing of a single sound's spatial cues, already present at its onset, may interact with temporal perception of the onset. The current study investigated the influence of interaural differences on temporal perception of a sound's onset. As a measure of temporal perception, the ability to position the onset of a temporally displaced target sound to the regular meter of diotic reference marker sound onsets was measured for various target sound lateralizations, sensation levels, and target and marker sound durations. For target sounds presented in quiet, no influence of interaural differences on temporal positioning of the onset was found. However, increasing a sound's duration systematically shifted the perceived onset position into its "interior." For target sounds presented at low sensation levels in a noise masker, the precision of temporally positioning the onset generally degraded, though faster for dichotic conditions and for longer durations. The level below which temporal perception precision starts to degrade was found to depend on signal-to-noise ratio rather than on sensation level or duration, and is influenced by the presence of interaural differences.