Classification Images of Data Collected Using the Method of Free Response

描述（由申请人提供）：人类听众易于分离环境中的多个声源，并专注于单个声音流。这一过程需要跨时间和频率整合信息。为了检验时间加工的作用，心理物理学实验采用了很少使用的自由反应方法。在这个过程中，掩蔽物被呈现几分钟，目标被随机呈现。受试者的任务是每当检测到目标时按下按钮。这个过程非常适合于声音分离的研究，因为呈现持续时间长，反映了“真实的世界”的情况。在拟议的实验中解决的主要兴趣的一个问题是是否连续性的自由反应的方法增加了“认知负荷”的主题。第二个主要问题是开发一种方法，确定收听者依赖于在竞争环境中检测目标的时间和频率“特征”。自由反应的方法具有的优势，按钮按下展开随着时间的推移，允许使用反向相关方法提取的功能，涉及按钮按下的时间，刺激之前it.The建议的实验将评估所获得的功能，第一步，对这个过程的有用的应用的统计可靠性。所提出的实验和分析仅限于正常听力的听众。如果该方法被证明是成功的，目前的结果将提供一个基本的数据集，从听力受损的听众的结果可能最终进行比较（未提出）。听力正常的听众能够分离声源的大脑机制（例如，在嘈杂的环境中听到讲话者）没有被完全阐明。此外，听力受损的听众分离声源的能力受损。拟议的研究将有助于了解声源分离，提供适用于辅助听力设备的基本理解的潜力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Human listeners are facile at segregating the multitude of sound sources in the environment, and attending to a single sound stream. This process requires the integration of information across time and frequency. In order to examine the role of temporal processing the proposed psychophysical experiments employ the rarely used method of free response. For this procedure a masker is presented for several minutes and a target is presented at random times. The subject's task is to press a button whenever the target is detected. This procedure is well suited to the study of sound segregation because the presentation duration is long, mirroring "real world" situations. One question of primary interest addressed in the proposed experiments is whether the continuous nature of the method of free response increases the "cognitive load" on the subjects. A second primary issue is the development of a method that determines which "features" in time and frequency listeners rely on to detect a target in a competing environment. The method of free response has the advantage that button presses unfold over time, allowing the features to be extracted using reverse correlation methods to relate the time of button presses to the stimulus preceding it. The proposed experiments will evaluate the statistical reliability of the obtained features, a first step towards the useful application of this procedure. The proposed experiments and analyses are restricted to normal-hearing listeners. Should the method prove to be successful, the current results will provide a basic data set against which results from hearing-impaired listeners might ultimately be compared (not proposed). The brain mechanisms by which normal-hearing listeners are able to segregate sound sources (e.g., hearing a talker in a noisy environment) are not fully elucidated. Moreover, the ability of hearing-impaired listeners to segregate sound sources is impaired. The proposed research will contribute to the understanding of sound source segregation, with the potential of providing a basic understanding applicable to assistive hearing devices.