An evaluation of models for diotic and dichotic detection in reproducible noises Available to Purchase

Several psychophysical models for masked detection were evaluated using reproducible noises. The data were hit and false-alarm rates from three psychophysical studies of detection of 500-Hz tones in reproducible noise under diotic $(N0S0)$ and dichotic $(N0Sπ)$ conditions with four stimulus bandwidths (50, 100, 115, and 2900 Hz). Diotic data were best predicted by an energy-based multiple-detector model that linearly combined stimulus energies at the outputs of several critical-band filters. The tone-plus-noise trials in the dichotic data were best predicted by models that linearly combined either the average values or the standard deviations of interaural time and level differences; however, these models offered no predictions for noise-alone responses. The decision variables of more complicated temporal models, including the models of Dau et al. [(1996a). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 99, 3615–3622] and Breebaart et al. [(2001a). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110, 1074–1088], were weakly correlated with subjects’ responses. Comparisons of the dependencies of each model on envelope and fine-structure cues to those in the data suggested that dependence upon both envelope and fine structure, as well as an interaction between them, is required to predict the detection results.