This proposal describes a psychophysical experiment and modeling techniques designed to identify cues used by human listeners for detection of sounds in noisy environments. Understanding potential detection cues will help to develop effective signal-processing strategies for hearing aids, cochlear implants, noise-reduction systems, etc., by preserving cues that are vital for detection of sounds of interest. Here a psychophysical tone-in-noise detection experiment is proposed that utilizes prerecorded noise waveforms. The waveforms will be manipulated such that the contributions of temporal fine-structure and temporal envelope-based cues can be quantified while overall stimulus energy is held constant. Detection performance for individual masking waveforms will be characterized under several diotic and binaural conditions. The prerecorded noises will also be used to test critical modeling assumptions under a variety of stimulus configurations and bandwidths. Modeling efforts will incorporate results from the proposed (and other) experiments in order to predict multiple listeners' abilities and strategies, including identification of potential cues for extracting signals from noise waveforms. ? ? ?
