Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Auditory Enhancement of Increments in Spectral Amplitude Stems from More Than One Source

  • Research Articles
  • Published:
Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A component of a test sound consisting of simultaneous pure tones perceptually “pops out” if the test sound is preceded by a copy of itself with that component attenuated. Although this “enhancement” effect was initially thought to be purely monaural, it is also observable when the test sound and the precursor sound are presented contralaterally (i.e., to opposite ears). In experiment 1, we assessed the magnitude of ipsilateral and contralateral enhancement as a function of the time interval between the precursor and test sounds (10, 100, or 600 ms). The test sound, randomly transposed in frequency from trial to trial, was followed by a probe tone, either matched or mismatched in frequency to the test sound component which was the target of enhancement. Listeners' ability to discriminate matched probes from mismatched probes was taken as an index of enhancement magnitude. The results showed that enhancement decays more rapidly for ipsilateral than for contralateral precursors, suggesting that ipsilateral enhancement and contralateral enhancement stem from at least partly different sources. It could be hypothesized that, in experiment 1, contralateral precursors were effective only because they provided attentional cues about the target tone frequency. In experiment 2, this hypothesis was tested by presenting the probe tone before the precursor sound rather than after the test sound. Although the probe tone was then serving as a frequency cue, contralateral precursors were again found to produce enhancement. This indicates that contralateral enhancement cannot be explained by cuing alone and is a genuine sensory phenomenon.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

FIG. 1
FIG. 2
FIG. 3
FIG. 4
FIG. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. During the experiment proper, in the Ipsi conditions, we actually used two slightly different ΔL values for each listener. We then selected a posteriori the ΔL value that minimized the difference in enhancement between the Ipsi and Contra conditions for the 10-ms ISI.

References

  • Antunes FM, Nelken I, Covey E, Malmierca MS (2010) Stimulus-specific adaptation in the auditory thalamus of the anesthetized rat. PLoS One 5:e14071

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Backus BC, Guinan JJ (2006) Time-course of the human medial olivocochlear reflex. J Acoust Soc Am 119:2889–2904

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne AJ, Stellmack MA, Viemeister NF (2011) The enhancement effect: evidence for adaptation of inhibition using a binaural centering task. J Acoust Soc Am 129:2088–2094

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carlyon RP (1989) Changes in the masked thresholds of brief tones produced by prior bursts of noise. Hear Res 41:223–235

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Demany L, Ramos C (2005) On the binding of successive sounds: perceiving shifts in nonperceived pitches. J Acoust Soc Am 117:833–841

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Durlach N (2006) Auditory masking: need for improved conceptual structure. J Acoust Soc Am 120:1787–1790

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Durlach NI, Mason CR, Kidd G Jr, Arbogast TL, Colburn HS, Shinn-Cunningham BG (2003) Note on informational masking. J Acoust Soc Am 113:2984–2987

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Erviti M, Semal C, Demany L (2011) Enhancing a tone by shifting its frequency or intensity. J Acoust Soc Am 129:3837–3845

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goupell MJ, Mostardi MJ (2012) Evidence of the enhancement effect in electrical stimulation via electrode matching. J Acoust Soc Am 131:1007–1010

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Green DM, Swets JA (1974) Signal detection theory and psychophysics. Krieger, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Guinan JJ (2011) Physiology of the medial and lateral olivocochlear systems. In: Ryugo DK, Fay RR (eds) Auditory and vestibular efferents. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartmann WM, Goupell MJ (2006) Enhancing and unmasking the harmonics of a complex tone. J Acoust Soc Am 120:2142–2157

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holt LL, Lotto AJ (2002) Behavioral examinations of the level of auditory processing of speech context effects. Hear Res 167:156–169

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jennings SG, Heinz MG, Strickland EA (2011) Evaluating adaptation and olivocochlear efferent feedback as potential explanations of psychophysical overshoot. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol 12:345–360

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kidd G Jr, Mason CR, Arbogast TL (2002) Similarity, uncertainty, and masking in the identification of nonspeech auditory patterns. J Acoust Soc Am 111:1367–1376

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kidd G Jr, Mason C, Richards VM, Gallun F, Durlach N (2007) Informational Masking. In: Yost WA, Popper AN, Fay RR (eds) Auditory perception of sound sources. Springer, New York, pp 143–189

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kidd G, Richards VM, Streeter T, Mason CR, Huang R (2011) Contextual effects in the identification of nonspeech auditory patterns. J Acoust Soc Am 130:3926–3938

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lilaonitkul W, Guinan JJ Jr (2009a) Reflex control of the human inner ear: a half-octave offset in medial efferent feedback that is consistent with an efferent role in the control of masking. J Neurophysiol 101:1394–1406

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lilaonitkul W, Guinan JJ Jr (2009b) Human medial olivocochlear reflex: effects as functions of contralateral, ipsilateral, and bilateral elicitor bandwidths. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol 10:459–470

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lilaonitkul W, Guinan JJ (2012) Frequency tuning of medial-olivocochlear-efferent acoustic reflexes in humans as functions of probe frequency. J Neurophysiol 107:1598–1611

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Malmierca MS, Cristaudo S, Pérez-González D, Covey E (2009) Stimulus-specific adaptation in the inferior colliculus of the anesthetized rat. J Neurosci 29:5483–5493

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mcfadden D, Wright BA (1990) Temporal decline of masking and comodulation detection differences. J Acoust Soc Am 88:711–724

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson PC, Young ED (2010) Neural correlates of context-dependent perceptual enhancement in the inferior colliculus. J Neurosci 30:6577–6587

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer AR, Summerfield Q, Fantini DA (1995) Responses of auditory-nerve fibers to stimuli producing psychophysical enhancement. J Acoust Soc Am 97:1786–1799

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Richards VM, Huang R, Kidd G Jr (2004) Masker-first advantage for cues in informational masking. J Acoust Soc Am 116:2278–2288

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Richards VM, Neff DL (2004) Cuing effects for informational masking. J Acoust Soc Am 115:289–300

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schouten JF (1940) The residue: a new component in subjective sound analysis. Proc Koninkl Ned Akad Wetenschap 43:356–365

    Google Scholar 

  • Scutt MJ, Palmer AR (2000) Physiological enhancement in cochlear nucleus using single tone precursors. Assoc Res Otolaryngol Abs:381

  • Serman M, Semal C, Demany L (2008) Enhancement, adaptation, and the binaural system. J Acoust Soc Am 123:4412–4420

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spence CJ, Driver J (1994) Covert spatial orienting in audition: exogenous and endogenous mechanisms. J Exp Psychol Human Percept Perform 20:555–574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strickland EA (2004) The temporal effect with notched-noise maskers: analysis in terms of input-output functions. J Acoust Soc Am 115:2234–2245

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Strickland EA (2008) The relationship between precursor level and the temporal effect. J Acoust Soc Am 123:946–954

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Summerfield Q, Haggard M, Foster J, Gray S (1984) Perceiving vowels from uniform spectra: phonetic exploration of an auditory after effect. Percept Psychophys 35:203–213

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Summerfield Q, Sidwell A, Nelson T (1987) Auditory enhancement of changes in spectral amplitude. J Acoust Soc Am 81:700–708

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ulanovsky N, Las L, Farkas D, Nelken I (2004) Multiple time scales of adaptation in auditory cortex neurons. J Neurosci 24:10440–10453

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ulanovsky N, Las L, Nelken I (2003) Processing of low-probability sounds by cortical neurons. Nat Neurosci 6:391–398

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Viemeister NF (1980) Adaptation of masking. In: van den Brink G, Bilsen FA (eds) Psychophysical, physiological and behavioural studies in hearing. Delft University Press, Delft, pp 190–199

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Viemeister NF, Bacon SP (1982) Forward masking by enhanced components in harmonic complexes. J Acoust Soc Am 71:1502–1507

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh KP, Pasanen EG, Mcfadden D (2010) Properties of a nonlinear version of the stimulus-frequency otoacoustic emission. J Acoust Soc Am 127:955–969

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang N, Kreft H, Oxenham AJ (2012) Vowel enhancement effects in cochlear-implant users. J Acoust Soc Am 131:EL421–EL426

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Warren RM, Bashford JA (1976) Auditory contralateral induction: an early stage in binaural processing. Percept Psychophys 20:380–386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson JP (1970) An auditory after image. In: Plomp R, Smoorenburg GF (eds) Frequency analysis and periodicity detection in hearing. Sijthoff, Leiden, pp 303–315

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright BA, Mcfadden D, Champlin CA (1993) Adaptation of suppression as an explanation of enhancement effects. J Acoust Soc Am 94:72–82

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Marcello Gallucci and Joel Swendsen for advice in the statistical analyses. This work was supported by a grant from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (LEAP, Programme Blanc 2010).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Bordeaux and CNRS, INCIA, 146 rue Léo Saignat, 33076, Bordeaux, France

    Samuele Carcagno, Catherine Semal & Laurent Demany

Authors
  1. Samuele Carcagno
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Catherine Semal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Laurent Demany
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samuele Carcagno.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Carcagno, S., Semal, C. & Demany, L. Auditory Enhancement of Increments in Spectral Amplitude Stems from More Than One Source. JARO 13, 693–702 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-012-0339-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-012-0339-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation