Microsecond temporal resolution in monaural hearing without spectral cues?
The auditory system encodes the timing of peaks in basilar-membrane motion with exquisite precision, and perceptual models of binaural processing indicate that the limit of temporal resolution in humans is as little as 10-20 microseconds. In these binaural studies, pairs of continuous sounds with microsecond differences are presented simultaneously, one sound to each ear. In this paper, a monaural masking experiment is described in which pairs of continuous sounds with microsecond time differences were combined and presented to both ears. The stimuli were matched in terms of the excitation patterns they produced, and a perceptual model of monaural processing indicates that the limit of temporal resolution in this case is similar to that in the binaural system.
Krumbholz
Katrin
K
Centre for the Neural Basis of Hearing, Department of Physiology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EG, United Kingdom.
Patterson
Roy D
RD
Nobbe
Andrea
A
Fastl
Hugo
H
D000328:Adult; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D001489:Basilar Membrane / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009622:Noise; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors