Monaural perception under dichotic conditions

Most people have two ears, but we can hear with only one ear. The ability to use two ears can substantially improve performance in many circumstances. There are times, however, when the addition of a second ear results in poorer performance (i.e., contra-aural interference). Contra-aural interference is of interest because it is not explained by current auditory models, it has theoretical ramifications, and its understanding could lead to improvements in the quality of life of the hearing-impaired. More generally, the techniques and results can be applied to fields in which information is combined across an array of sensors (e.g., vision with two eyes and radar arrays). This thesis includes both psychophysical measurements and black-box modeling of level discrimination. Level discrimination was chosen to study contra-aural interference since it has traditionally been considered a monaural task (dependent on only a single ear) even though the loudness of a sound depends on both ears (i.e., binaural). This thesis demonstrates that the ability to discriminate small changes in the level of a low-frequency target stimulus presented at one ear can be adversely affected by a distractor stimulus presented simultaneously and contra-aurally to the target.

Department dc:contributor.department

Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Shub, Daniel E. (Daniel Eric), 1974-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• H. Steven Colburn.

• Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/38864
• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Identifier URI

http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/38864

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/38864