Monaural and binaural temporal gap detection
Irwin W. Pollack · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1977
Temporal gap thresholds were obtained for four combinations: presentation of monopolar (M) versus random-polarity (R) pulse trains; and, presentation of signals before and after a temporal gap to the same (S) ear or to different (D) ears. Only when a spectral analysis of the signals and gaps is possible (condition M-S is extremely fine temporal gap sensitivity obtained (∼1 μsec). As expected with spectral processing, temporal gap sensitivity improves with longer and longer signals on each side of the gap. Sensitivity decreases markedly for the other conditions (about 103-fold for condition R-S; and, about 104-fold for condition M-D or R-D). Under these conditions, gap sensitivity decreases with longer and longer signals around the temporal gap. The poorer sensitivity with longer signals for binaural gap detection may be another representation of the binaural “precedence” effect. Strong asymmetrical effects upon gap detection were noted.