title: Voice segregation by difference in fundamental frequency: evidence for harmonic cancellation.
abstract: Two experiments investigated listeners' ability to use a difference of two semitones in fundamental frequency (F0) to segregate a target voice from harmonic complex tones, with speech-like spectral profiles. Masker partials were in random phase (experiment 1) or in sine phase (experiment 2) and stimuli were presented over headphones. Target's and masker's harmonicity were each distorted by F0 modulation and reverberation. The F0 of each source was manipulated (monotonized or modulated by 2 semitones at 5 Hz) factorially. In addition, all sources were presented from the same location in a virtual room with controlled reverberation, assigned factorially to each source. In both experiments, speech reception thresholds increased by about 2 dB when the F0 of the masker was modulated and increased by about 6 dB when, in addition to F0 modulation, the masker was reverberant. Masker partial phases did not influence the results. The results suggest that F0-segregation relies upon the masker's harmonicity, which is disrupted by rapid modulation. This effect is compounded by reverberation. In addition, F0-segregation was found to be independent of the depth of masker envelope modulations.
authors.affiliation: Cochlear Implants and Psychophysics Lab, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA. mderoche@hesp.umd.edu
authors.forename: Mickael L D
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Deroche
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Culling
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception; D013069:Speech Reception Threshold Test; D013997:Time Factors; D014732:Vibration; D014831:Voice; D055815:Young Adult