Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Sound Waves: Interference00:53

Sound Waves: Interference

4.5K
Sound waves can be modeled either as longitudinal waves, wherein the molecules of the medium oscillate around an equilibrium position, or as pressure waves. When two identical waves from the same source superimpose on each other, the combination of two crests or two troughs results in amplitude reinforcement known as constructive interference. If two identical waves, that are initially in phase, become out of phase because of different path lengths, the combination of crests with troughs...
4.5K
Interference and Decay01:16

Interference and Decay

394
Forgetting is a complex cognitive phenomenon influenced by several factors, among which interference and decay are particularly prominent. These processes explain why individuals often struggle to retrieve specific information from memory, leading to lapses in recall that can be observed in everyday situations.
Interference occurs when competing memories hinder the retrieval of particular information. It can be classified into two types: proactive and retroactive interference. Proactive...
394
Auditory Perception01:17

Auditory Perception

983
The auditory system is essential for sound perception, utilizing various critical structures. When sound waves enter the outer ear, they travel through the ear canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are then transmitted to the middle ear, where three tiny bones – the malleus, incus, and stapes – amplify the sound. This amplification is crucial, as it ensures that the sound vibrations are strong enough to be conveyed to the inner ear. These vibrations then reach the...
983
Echo01:06

Echo

849
The human ear cannot distinguish between two sources of sound if they happen to reach within a specific time interval, typically 0.1 seconds apart. More than this, and they are perceived as separate sources.
Imagine the sound is reflected back to the ears. Assuming that the source is very close to the human, the difference between hearing the two sounds—the emitted sound and the reflected sound—may be more than the minimum time for perceiving distinct sounds. If this is the case,...
849
Interference: Path Lengths01:10

Interference: Path Lengths

1.8K
Consider two sources of sound, that may or may not be in phase, emitting waves at a single frequency, and consider the frequencies to be the same.
Two special sources may be considered when they are in phase. This can be easily achieved by feeding the two sources from the same source. An example would be synchronizing the two speakers by feeding them with the same source, such as the sound waves produced by a tuning fork. This setup ensures that the two sources have the same frequency and are...
1.8K
Auditory Pathway01:15

Auditory Pathway

7.0K
Auditory pathways constitute the complex neural circuits responsible for transmitting and interpreting auditory information from the peripheral auditory system to the brain. Sound waves are initially captured by the outer ear, funneled through the ear canal, and reach the tympanic membrane (eardrum). These vibrations are transmitted via the middle ear's ossicles to the inner ear's cochlea.
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking...
7.0K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Surgical outcomes in gallbladder cancer: evidence from the UK nationwide CAPBIL study.

HPB : the official journal of the International Hepato Pancreato Biliary Association·2026
Same author

The first-in-human ENCIT01 trial comparing second- versus third-generation L1CAM-specific CAR T cells in patients with primary refractory or relapsed neuroblastoma.

Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research·2026
Same author

Effects of Task-Irrelevant Talker Identity and Continuity on Spatial Selective Attention Under Interruption.

Trends in hearing·2026
Same author

Large Differences in Pulsatility and Resistance of the Middle Cerebral Artery Assessed With Transcranial Doppler Versus Transcranial Color-Coded Doppler: Impact of Post-Processing Approaches.

Ultrasound in medicine & biology·2026
Same author

Management of incidental gallbladder cancer in a nationwide CAPBIL study.

The British journal of surgery·2026
Same author

Acoustic Salience Drives Pupillary Dynamics in an Interrupted, Reverberant Task.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same journal

A human-specific genetic modifier reconfigures large-scale cortical network dynamics underlying behavioral performance.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same journal

<i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> uses a eukaryotic-like uridyltransferase to make UDP-GlcNAc for cell wall synthesis.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same journal

Dynamic redistribution of eIF4F controls cap-dependent translation initiation.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same journal

When does additional information improve accuracy of RNA secondary structure prediction?

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same journal

Normative brain-state trajectories reveal deviation from healthy aging in Alzheimer's disease.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same journal

Noradrenergic infraslow rhythm during sleep is the critical link between heart-rate dynamics and memory consolidation.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 7, 2026

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition
07:14

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

Published on: October 29, 2018

6.8K

Reverberation exacerbates effects of interruption on auditory spatial selective attention.

Victoria Figarola1, Wusheng Liang2, Sahil Luthra3

  • 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.

Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|December 25, 2025
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Reverberation, or echo, makes distractions more disruptive to our ability to focus on speech. This is because echoes increase the difficulty of processing interrupted auditory information, impacting recall.

More Related Videos

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
10:38

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

14.0K
A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets
08:45

A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets

Published on: December 5, 2014

9.5K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jan 7, 2026

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition
07:14

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

Published on: October 29, 2018

6.8K
A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
10:38

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

14.0K
A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets
08:45

A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets

Published on: December 5, 2014

9.5K

Area of Science:

  • Auditory perception
  • Psychoacoustics
  • Speech processing

Background:

  • Everyday listening involves selective attention to speech amidst competing sounds.
  • Reverberation and distractions pose significant challenges to auditory selective attention.
  • Understanding how these factors interact is crucial for auditory scene analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether reverberation exacerbates the disruptive effects of auditory distractions.
  • To determine if reverberation reduces distraction salience or increases task difficulty.
  • To examine the impact of reverberation on recall of speech streams containing interrupters.

Main Methods:

  • Five online experiments were conducted using spatialized syllable streams.
  • Participants performed recall tasks under pseudo-anechoic and reverberant conditions.
  • Auditory streams were presented with or without intermittent distracting sounds (interrupters).

Main Results:

  • Interrupters consistently impaired recall performance across conditions.
  • The detrimental effect of interrupters was particularly pronounced for the syllable immediately following the distraction.
  • This post-interrupter disruption was significantly larger in reverberant conditions compared to anechoic conditions.

Conclusions:

  • Distractions are demonstrably more disruptive in reverberant acoustic environments.
  • Reverberation appears to compound the disruptive effects of distractions, likely by increasing overall task difficulty.
  • Findings highlight the challenges of speech perception and selective attention in complex acoustic settings.