Auditory and Cross-Modal Spatial Attention

Abstract

This final report summarizes results of experiments and theoretical analysis exploring the role of attention, to spatial location or other object attributes, in understanding auditory and auditory-visual objects in complex settings. Work examined how attention affected the ability to understand one (selective attention) or two (divided attention) spoken messages, as well as to identify complex spectro-temporal patterns. Other experiments explored how ambiguous sound mixtures are interpreted and how perceptual objects are formed in complex settings. Theoretical analysis explored the degree to which different acoustic features may help explain the abilities of listeners in complex settings with multiple, competing sources. We find that spatially and non-spatially directed attention, including attention cued through visual signals, enables listeners to better process and understand sound in a complex setting.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA461002

Entities

People

  • Barbara Shinn-Cunningham
  • Virginia Best

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Auditory Perception
  • Birds
  • Command And Control
  • Engineering
  • Environment
  • Health Services
  • Identification
  • Language
  • Military Research
  • Otorhinolaryngology
  • Psychology
  • Societies
  • Speech
  • Symposia
  • Task Performance And Analysis
  • Universities
  • Workshops

Readers

  • Neural Network Machine Learning.
  • Speech Processing/Speech Recognition.
  • Vision Science/Vision Psychology/Cognitive Neuroscience.