Sequential streaming due to manipulation of interaural time differences.

The effect of apparent spatial location on sequential streaming was investigated by manipulating interaural time differences (ITDs). The degree of obligatory stream segregation was inferred indirectly from the threshold for detecting a rhythmic irregularity in an otherwise isochronous sequence of interleaved "A" and "B" tones. Stimuli were bandpass-filtered harmonic complexes with a 100-Hz fundamental. The A and B tones had equal but opposite ITDs of 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, or 2 ms and had the same or different passbands. The passband ranges were 1250-2500 Hz and 1768-3536 Hz in experiment 1, and 353-707 Hz and 500-1000 Hz in experiment 2. In both experiments, increases in ITD led to increases in threshold, mainly when the passbands of A and B were the same. The effects were largest for ITDs above 0.5 ms, for which rhythmic irregularities in the timing of the A or B tones alone may have disrupted performance. It is concluded that the differences in apparent spatial location produced by ITD have only weak effects on obligatory streaming.

Frequency discrimination of complex tones; assessing the role of component resolvability and temporal fine structure.

Thresholds for discriminating the fundamental frequency (FO) of a complex tone, FODLs, are small when low harmonics are present, but increase when the number of the lowest harmonic, N, is above eight. To assess whether the relatively small FODLs for N in the range 8-10 are based on (partly) resolved harmonics or on temporal fine structure information, FODLs were measured as a function of N for tones with three successive harmonics which were added either in cosine or alternating phase. The center frequency was 2000 Hz, and N was varied by changing the mean FO. A background noise was used to mask combination tones. The value of FO was roved across trials to force subjects to make within-trial comparisons. N was roved by +/- 1 for every stimulus, to prevent subjects from using excitation pattern cues. FODLs were not influenced by component phase for N= 6 or 7, but were smaller for cosine than for alternating phase once N exceeded 7, suggesting that temporal fine structure plays a role in this range. When the center frequency was increased to 5000 Hz, performance was much worse for low N, suggesting that phase locking is important for obtaining low FODLs with resolved harmonics.