Properties of the structure of multi-tone sequential patterns that determine the difficulty of perceptually isolating single target components

A method of adjustment was used to establish the importance of each of several structural properties of the context tones, in nine-tone sequences, in determining the perceptual isolability of target components. Successful ‘‘perceptual isolation’’ of a target tone was assumed to be achieved when frequency matches were as accurate as those achieved for tones presented in isolation, generally meaning less than 1%–2% for the 50-ms tones in these sequences. The context property that was found to primarily affect the frequency matches was the separation, in Hz, between the target tone and both the local and (to a lesser degree) the remote context tones. Other than its bandwidth, the form of the local pitch contour (the target tone plus the single tones immediately before and after it) had no clear effect on the ability to ‘‘hear out’’ the target tone, i.e., whether the local context was ascending, descending, concave up, or concave down. The contours of the remote context tones (first and last three in the patterns) likewise had no effect on performance. Performance ranged from 25% target tones isolated for the most difficult conditions to 90% for the easiest.