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Automatic Frequency-Shift Detection in the Auditory System: A Review of Psychophysical Findings
Laurent Demany1, Catherine Semal1
1Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d'Aquitaine, CNRS and Université de Bordeaux (UMR 5287), Bordeaux, France.
Neuroscience
|September 6, 2017
Summary
The human brain uses automatic frequency-shift detectors (FSDs) to group sounds from the same source. These FSDs also help in separating different sound sources, aiding auditory scene analysis.
Area of Science:
- Auditory perception
- Neuroscience
- Psychoacoustics
Background:
- The brain binds successive sounds from a single source into a coherent stream.
- This binding process is selective, especially with multiple concurrent sound sources.
- Spectral proximity (frequency similarity) influences auditory binding.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the existence and properties of automatic frequency-shift detectors (FSDs).
- To understand the neural underpinnings of auditory binding and segregation.
- To explore the role of FSDs in auditory scene analysis.
Main Methods:
- Psychophysical studies using pure tones and informational masking.
- Experiments designed to test the detection of frequency shifts under challenging auditory conditions.
- Analysis of listener performance in identifying frequency directionality.
Main Results:
- Listeners can detect frequency shifts even when tones are masked.
- Frequency-shift detectors (FSDs) appear to rely on robust implicit sensory memory.
- Small frequency shifts can perceptually enhance tones within chords.
Conclusions:
- Automatic frequency-shift detectors (FSDs) are crucial for auditory binding.
- FSDs contribute to auditory scene analysis by both binding and segregating sound sources.
- The findings support the hypothesis of FSDs analogous to visual motion detectors.
Keywords:
auditory consciousnessauditory scene analysisfrequency-shift detectorimplicit memorypitch perceptiontemporal bindingMore Related Videos
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