Tone-in-noise detection has been studied for decades; however, it is not completely understood what cue or cues are used by listeners for this task. Model predictions based on energy in the critical band are generally more successful than those based on temporal cues, except when the energy cue is not available. Nevertheless, neither energy nor temporal cues can explain the predictable variance for all listeners. In this study, it was hypothesized that better predictions of listeners' detection performance could be obtained using a nonlinear combination of energy and temporal cues, even when the energy cue was not available. The combination of different cues was achieved using the logarithmic likelihood-ratio test (LRT), an optimal detector in signal detection theory. A nonlinear LRT-based combination of cues was proposed, given that the cues have Gaussian distributions and the covariance matrices of cue values from noise-alone and tone-plus-noise conditions are different. Predictions of listeners' detection performance for three different sets of reproducible noises were computed with the proposed model. Results showed that predictions for hit rates approached the predictable variance for all three datasets, even when an energy cue was not available.

1.
Blodgett
,
H. C.
,
Jeffress
,
L. A.
, and
Taylor
,
R. W.
(
1958
). “
Relation of masked threshold to signal-duration for interaural phase combination
,”
Am. J. Psychol.
71
,
283
290
.
2.
Blodgett
,
H. C.
,
Jeffress
,
L. A.
, and
Whitworth
,
R. H.
(
1962
). “
Effect of noise at one ear on the masked threshold for tone at the other
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
34
,
979
981
.
3.
Breebaart
,
J.
,
van der Par
,
S.
, and
Kohlrausch
,
A.
(
2001
).“
Binaural processing model based on contralateral inhibition I. Model structure
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
110
,
1074
1088
.
4.
Carney
,
L. H.
,
Heinz
,
M. G.
,
Evilsizer
,
M. E.
,
Gilkey
,
R. H.
, and
Colburn
,
H. S.
(
2002
). “
Auditory phase opponency: A temporal model for masked detection at low frequencies
,”
Acta. Acust. Acust.
88
,
334
347
.
5.
Colburn
,
H. S.
(
1973
). “
Theory of binaural interaction based on auditory-nerve data. I. General strategy and preliminary results on interaural discrimination
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
54
,
1458
1470
.
8.
Dau
,
T.
,
Kollmeier
,
B.
, and
Kohlrausch.
A.
(
1997
). “
Modeling auditory processing of amplitude modulation. I. Detection and masking with narrow-band carriers
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
102
,
2892
2905
.
6.
Dau
,
T.
,
Püschel
,
D.
, and
Kohlrausch
,
A.
(
1996a
). “
A quantitative model of the ‘effective’ signal processing in the auditory system. I. Model structure
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
99
,
3615
3622
.
7.
Dau
,
T.
,
Püschel
,
D.
, and
Kohlrausch
,
A.
(
1996b
). “
A quantitative model of the “effective” signal processing in the auditory system. II. Simulations and measurements
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
99
,
3623
3631
.
9.
Davidson
,
S. A.
,
Gilkey
,
R. H.
,
Colburn
,
H. S.
, and
Carney
,
L. H.
(
2006
). “
Binaural detection with narrowband and wideband reproducible noise maskers. III. Monaural and diotic detection and model results
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
119
,
2258
2275
.
10.
Davidson
,
S. A.
,
Gilkey
,
R. H.
,
Colburn
,
H. S.
, and
Carney
,
L. H.
(
2009a
). “
An evaluation of models for diotic and dichotic detection in reproducible noises
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
126
,
1906
1925
.
11.
Davidson
,
S. A.
,
Gilkey
,
R. H.
,
Colburn
,
H. S.
, and
Carney
,
L. H.
(
2009b
). “
Diotic and dichotic detection with reproducible chimeric stimuli
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
126
,
1889
1905
.
12.
Dolan
,
T. R.
, and
Robinson
,
D. E.
(
1967
). “
Explanation of masking-level difference that result from interaural intensive disparities of noise
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
42
,
977
981
.
13.
Evilsizer
,
M. E.
,
Gilkey
,
R. H.
,
Mason
,
C. R.
,
Colburn
,
H. S.
, and
Carney
,
L. H.
(
2002
). “
Binaural detection with narrowband and wideband reproducible maskers: I. Results for human
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
111
,
333
345
.
14.
Fletcher
,
H.
(
1940
). “
Auditory patterns
,”
Rev. Mod. Phys.
12
,
47
65
.
15.
Gilkey
,
R. H.
, and
Robinson
,
D. E.
(
1986
). “
Models of auditory masking: A molecular psychophysical approach
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
79
,
1499
1510
.
16.
Gilkey
,
R. H.
,
Robinson
,
D. E.
, and
Hanna
,
T. E.
(
1985
). “
Effects of masker waveform and signal-to-masker phase relation on diotic and dichotic masking by reproducible noise
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
78
,
1207
1219
.
17.
Heinz
,
M. G.
,
Colburn
,
H. S.
, and
Carney
,
L. H.
(
2001
). “
Evaluating auditory performance limits: I. one-parameter discrimination using a computational model for the auditory nerve
,”
Neural Comput.
13
,
2273
2316
.
18.
Kidd
,
G.
 Jr.
,
Mason
,
C. R.
,
Brantley
,
M. A.
, and
Owen
,
G. A.
(
1989
). “
Roving-level tone-in-noise detection
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
86
,
1310
1317
.
19.
Nelson
,
P. C.
, and
Carney
,
L. H.
(
2004
). “
A phenomenological model of peripheral and central neural responses to amplitude-modulated tones
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
116
,
2173
2186
.
20.
Neter
,
J.
,
Kutner
,
M. H.
,
Nachtsheim
,
C. J.
, and
Wasserman
,
W.
(
1996
).
Applied Linear Statistical Models
(
WBC McGraw-Hill
,
Boston, MA
),
641
pp.
21.
Richards
,
V. M.
(
1992
). “
The detectability of a tone added to narrow bands of equal energy noise
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
91
,
3424
3435
.
22.
Siebert
,
W. M.
(
1970
). “
Frequency discrimination in the auditory system: place or periodicity mechanisms?
Proc. IEEE
58
,
723
730
.
23.
Spiegel
,
M. F.
, and
Green
,
D. M.
(
1981
). “
Two procedures for estimating internal noise
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
70
,
69
73
.
24.
Van Trees
,
H. L.
(
1968
).
Detection, Estimation, and Modulation Theory. Part I. Detection, Estimation and Linear Modulation Theory
(
Wiley
,
New York
), Chap. 2, pp.
26
36
.
25.
Viemeister
,
N. F.
(
1979
). “
Temporal modulation transfer function based upon modulation thresholds
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
66
,
1364
1380
.
26.
Viemeister
,
N. F.
, and
Wakefield
,
G. H.
(
1991
). “
Temporal integration and multiple looks
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
90
,
858
865
.
27.
Wojtczak
,
M.
, and
Viemeister
,
N. F.
(
1999
). “
Intensity discrimination and detection of amplitude modulation
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
106
,
1917
1924
.
28.
Yuille
,
A. L.
, and
Bulthoff
,
H. H.
(
1996
). “
Bayesian decision theory and psychophysics
,” in
Perception as Bayesian Inference
, edited by
Knill
,
D. C.
, and
Richards
,
W.
, (
Cambridge University Press
,
London
), Part 1, pp.
123
161
.
29.
Zhang
,
X.
(
2004
). “
Cross-frequency coincidence detection in the processing of complex sounds
,” Ph.D. thesis,
Boston University, Boston, MA
.
30.
Zilany
,
M. S.
,
Bruce
,
I. C.
,
Nelson
,
P. C.
, and
Carney
,
L. H.
(
2009
). “
A phenomenological model of the synapse between the inner hair cell and auditory nerve: Long-term adaptation with power-law dynamics
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
126
,
2390
2412
.
You do not currently have access to this content.