Cross-spectral and temporal factors in the precedence effect: discrimination suppression of the lag sound in free-field

In an anechoic chamber, subjects were required to discriminate a 20 degrees azimuthal change in a lag sound's position in the presence of a lead sound coming from a different direction. Delay between lead and lag sounds was adaptively varied in several conditions to track discrimination suppression thresholds. In experiment 1, lead and lag stimuli were 5-ms, 1-octave, A-weighted noise bursts (65 dB), with lead and lag parametrically set to center frequencies of 0.5, 2.0, or 3.0 kHz. Discrimination suppression thresholds were higher when lead and lag center frequencies coincided (mean: 11.3 ms) than when they did not coincide (mean: 2.9 ms). These results support the "spectral overlap hypothesis" of Blauert and Divenyi [Acustica 66, 267-274 (1988)], but not the "localization strength hypothesis" later proposed by Divenyi [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 91, 1078-1084 (1992)]. Spectral overlap and localization strength appear to be two relatively independent factors governing discrimination suppression. It is proposed here that localization strength is weighted more when stimuli are presented via headphones and the only cue to lateral position is the interaural temporal difference, while spectral overlap is weighted more for free-field presented stimuli. In experiment 2, lead and lag stimuli were 8-ms, 1.5-kHz A-weighted tone bursts (65 dB), with lead and lag rise times parametrically set to 0, 2, or 4 ms. In this case the amount of discrimination suppression increased as lead rise time became more abrupt or as lag rise time became more gradual. These results support the localization strength hypothesis: The greater the localization strength of the lead stimulus (independently assessed by measuring its minimum audible angle in isolation), the greater suppression it exerted on discriminability of the lag sound's position. It appears that for stimuli presented in the free-field, spectral overlap is the primary factor affecting discrimination suppression, but when overlap is held constant, abruptness of stimulus onsets governs the amount of suppression.