ACOUSTICS2008/401 Eects of reverberation on spatial release from masking

When sounds that we want to listen to (targets) and interfering sounds (maskers) are separated spatially, several advantages are observed relative to the baseline condition in which target and masker come from the same location. This paper will discuss how and to what extent these advantages are disrupted by room reverberation, which reduces better-ear signal-to-noise ratios and interaural intensity dierences, and obscures interaural time dierences. Statistical analysis of room acoustics combined with a model of binaural release from masking can, with the articulation index, help quantify expected reductions in speech recognition benefits of target/masker spatial separation in reverberation. This paper will also discuss some advantages of target/masker spatial separation that appear to be well preserved in reverberant rooms. Specifically, reverberation does not eliminate the perceptual dierences between target and masker that arise from their dierent physical locations. The advantages of perceived spatial dierences are seen when target and masking sounds share similar characteristics and are confusable with one another. In such cases spatial dierences appear to resolve the confusion. This paper will describe research indicating that barely discriminable spatial dierences between target and masker are sucient