The spatial unmasking of speech: evidence for better-ear listening

Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were measured for target speech presented concurrently with interfering speech (spoken by a different speaker). In experiment 1, the target and interferer were divided spectrally into high- and low-frequency bands and presented over headphones in three conditions: monaural, dichotic (target and interferer to different ears), and swapped (the low-frequency target band and the high-frequency interferer band were presented to one ear, while the high-frequency target band and the low-frequency interferer band were presented to the other ear). SRTs were highest in the monaural condition and lowest in the dichotic condition; SRTs in the swapped condition were intermediate. In experiment 2, two new conditions were devised such that one target band was presented in isolation to one ear while the other band was presented at the other ear with the interferer. The pattern of SRTs observed in experiment 2 suggests that performance in the swapped condition reflects the intelligibility of the target frequency bands at just one ear; the auditory system appears unable to exploit advantageous target-to-interferer ratios at different ears when segregating target speech from a competing speech interferer.     

The effect of age on auditory spatial attention in conditions of real and simulated spatial separation

The contributions of auditory and cognitive factors to age-dependent differences in auditory spatial attention were investigated. In conditions of real spatial separation, the target sentence was presented from a central location and competing sentences were presented from left and right locations. In conditions of simulated spatial separation, different apparent spatial locations of the target and competitors were induced using the precedence effect. The identity of the target was cued by a callsign presented either prior to or following each target sentence, and the probability that the target would be presented at the three locations was specified at the beginning of each block. Younger and older adults with normal hearing sensitivity below 4 kHz completed all 16 conditions (2-spatial separation method X 2-callsign conditions X 4-probability conditions). Overall, younger adults performed better than older adults. For both age groups, performance improved with target location certainty, with a priori target cueing, and when location differences were real rather than simulated. For both age groups, the contributions of natural spatial cues were most pronounced when the target occurred at "unlikely" spatial listening locations. This suggests that both age groups benefit similarly from richer acoustical cues and a priori information in difficult listening environments.     

The influence of spatial patterns of capillary networks on transverse relaxation

Tissue-inherent relaxation parameters offer valuable information about the arrangement of capillaries: in an external field, capillaries act as magnetic perturbers to generate local inhomogeneous fields due to the susceptibility difference of deoxygenated blood and the surrounding tissue. These field inhomogeneities influence the free induction decay in a characteristic way, and, conversely, the above tissue parameters can be recovered by multi-parametric fits of adequate theoretical models to experimentally sampled free induction decays. In this work we study the influence of different spatial patterns of capillary positions on the free induction decay. Starting from the standard single capillary approximation (Krogh cylinder) for a symmetric array of capillaries, the free induction decay is analyzed for increasingly random capillary positions, using a previously described Gibbs point field model. The effects of diffusion are implemented with a flexible and fast random walk simulation. We find that the asymmetric form of the obtained frequency distribution is more robust against variations of capillary radii than against shifts of capillary positions, and further that, for an inclusion of diffusion effects, the single capillary approximation models the uniform alignment of capillaries in the hexagonal lattice to great accuracy. An increase in randomization of capillary positions then leads to a significant change in relaxation times. This effect, however, is found less pronounced than that of changes in the off-resonance field strengths which are controlled by the oxygen extraction fraction, thus indicating that observed changes in BOLD imaging are more likely to be attributed to changes in oxygenation than to capillary alignment.     

LNG温度对冷能空分装置的影响分析

LNG冷能空分已成为国内LNG接收站配套冷能利用项目的首选,但受上游LNG接收站运行影响,冷能空分装置投产初期普遍存在产能不达标的问题。利用ASPEN PLUS软件,选择RKS-BM方程为物性方法,模拟冷能空分装置冷量供应系统,并用Sensitivity模块分析LNG温度对冷能空分装置的影响。结果表明,在不考虑NG出口温度等限制条件下,装置产量随LNG用量增加而增加。当LNG温度高于设计温度时,温度每上升1℃,冷能空分装置将减少13.69 t/d产量,当LNG温度高于-135℃时,关闭低压氮压机装置总体收益更高。     

The role of perceived spatial separation in the unmasking of speech

Spatial separation of speech and noise in an anechoic space creates a release from masking that often improves speech intelligibility. However, the masking release is severely reduced in reverberant spaces. This study investigated whether the distinct and separate localization of speech and interference provides any perceptual advantage that, due to the precedence effect, is not degraded by reflections. Listeners' identification of nonsense sentences spoken by a female talker was measured in the presence of either speech-spectrum noise or other sentences spoken by a second female talker. Target and interference stimuli were presented in an anechoic chamber from loudspeakers directly in front and 60 degrees to the right in single-source and precedence-effect (lead-lag) conditions. For speech-spectrum noise, the spatial separation advantage for speech recognition (8 dB) was predictable from articulation index computations based on measured release from masking for narrow-band stimuli. The spatial separation advantage was only 1 dB in the lead-lag condition, despite the fact that a large perceptual separation was produced by the precedence effect. For the female talker interference, a much larger advantage occurred, apparently because informational masking was reduced by differences in perceived locations of target and interference.     

The influence of non-spatial factors on measures of spatial release from masking

This study tested the hypothesis that the reduction in spatial release from masking (SRM) resulting from sensorineural hearing loss in competing speech mixtures is influenced by the characteristics of the interfering speech. A frontal speech target was presented simultaneously with two intelligible or two time-reversed (unintelligible) speech maskers that were either colocated with the target or were symmetrically separated from the target in the horizontal plane. The difference in SRM between listeners with hearing impairment and listeners with normal hearing was substantially larger for the forward maskers (deficit of 5.8 dB) than for the reversed maskers (deficit of 1.6 dB). This was driven by the fact that all listeners, regardless of hearing abilities, performed similarly (and poorly) in the colocated condition with intelligible maskers. The same conditions were then tested in listeners with normal hearing using headphone stimuli that were degraded by noise vocoding. Reducing the number of available spectral channels systematically reduced the measured SRM, and again, more so for forward (reduction of 3.8 dB) than for reversed speech maskers (reduction of 1.8 dB). The results suggest that non-spatial factors can strongly influence both the magnitude of SRM and the apparent deficit in SRM for listeners with impaired hearing.     

Objective and subjective analysis of effects of listening angle on crosstalk cancellation in spatial sound reproduction

A comprehensive study was conducted to explore the effects of listening angle on crosstalk cancellation in spatial sound reproduction using two-channel stereo systems. The intention is to establish a sustainable configuration of crosstalk cancellation system (CCS) that best reconciles the separation performance and the robustness against lateral head movement, not only in theory but also in practice. Although crosstalk can in principle be suppressed using multichannel inverse filters, the CCS does not lend itself very well to practical application owing to the fact that the sweet spot is being so small. Among the parameters of loudspeaker deployment, span angle is a crucial factor that has a profound impact on the separation performance and sweet spot robustness achievable by the CCS. This paper seeks to pinpoint, from a more comprehensive perspective, the optimal listening angle that best reconciles the robustness and performance of the CCS. Two kinds of definitions of sweet spot are employed for assessment of robustness. In addition to the point source model, head related transfer functions (HRTF) are employed as the plant models in the simulation to emulate more practical localization scenarios such as the high-frequency head shadowing effect. Three span angles including 10, 60, and 120 deg are then compared via objective and subjective experiments. The Friedman test is applied to analyze the data of subjective experiments. The results indicate that not only the CCS performance but also the panning effect and head shadowing will dictate the overall performance and robustness. The 120-deg arrangement performs comparably well as the standard 60-deg arrangement, but is much better than the 10-deg arrangement.     

High-efficiency spatial color separation method based on fractional Talbot effect

Based on fractional Talbot effect, Talbot grating is adopted to realize spatial color separation with high light efficiency. For red and green colors, a two-step Talbot grating is optimized and the light efficiency reaches over 95%. The two-step Talbot grating is fabricated and tested. Experimental results show that the Talbot grating indeed has the good ability of spatial color separation.     

The influence of spatial hole-burning in single mode Q-switch operation

The influence of spatial hole-burning effects on the output of Q-switched giant pulse lasers is investigated. Generalised fundamental equations are established and analytically treated to obtain the total output energy and the remaining inversion density. The results are completed by numerical computations which made it possible to obtain the time-dependent output intensity and the width of the pulses. The solutions of the modified equations are compared with earlier calculations where spatial hole-burning has not been included. It is shown that the formation of standing waves inside the cavity leads to a reduction of the total output energy but does not affect the pulse width of the laser emission.     

The influence of the discharge parameters on the plasma spatial structuring in argon DBDs

The plasma parameters, discharge plasma uniformity and filamentation processes in high pressure (near atmospheric pressure) dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) in argon are studied using the developed two-dimensional 2D(r, z) model. The applied voltage frequency, the voltage shape, the dielectric layers material and its thickness are varied and the effects of such variations on plasma uniformity, discharge structure and operation are studied. The DBD discharges with different dielectric layers thickness, dielectric constants and secondary electron emission coefficients are simulated. It was shown that the dielectric layer thickness is an important parameter for producing high pressure discharges uniform over the radius. The possibility of the radially uniform discharges at atmospheric pressure was shown in the present study.     

主观空间分离下的汉语信息掩蔽效应

基于听觉优先效应中的融合现象,探讨了主观空间分离下的汉语信息掩蔽效应。实验用左右两个扬声器来播放目标言语信号和掩蔽声音,并通过改变两个扬声器之间的延迟来操作掩蔽声音的主观空间位置。结果显示,尽管言语信号和掩蔽声音都由同样的扬声器播放而没有实际的空间分离,这种利用优先效应所产生的主观空间分离却可以提高言语识别的正确率。在信息掩蔽条件下由主观空间分离所造成的言语识别的改善显著地高于在能量掩蔽条件下的改善。这些结果为如何分离对言语信号的能量掩蔽与信息掩蔽,以及为相关的建筑声学和通讯技术的研究与应用提供了听觉心理学的参考。     

大气湍流对部分相干厄米-高斯光束空间相干性的影响

基于广义惠更斯-菲涅耳原理,并采用Rytov相位结构函数二次近似,推导出了部分相干厄米-高斯(H-G)光束通过大气湍流传输的光谱相干度公式,研究了湍流对光束的空间相干特性的影响.研究表明,部分相干H-G光束通过大气湍流传输其光谱相干度会出现振荡和相位奇异现象,但随着湍流的增强,振荡减弱,直至振荡和相位奇异现象消失,这一特性与高斯-谢尔模型光束的差异很大.光束的相干参数越小,光束空间相干性受湍流的影响也越小.此外,还研究了光谱相干度二阶矩宽度与光谱强度二阶矩宽度间的关系,得到一些有意义的结果,并给出了合理的 关键词： 部分相干厄米-高斯光束 大气湍流 光谱相干度 二阶矩宽度     

The effects of spatial separation in distance on the informational and energetic masking of a nearby speech signal

Although many studies have shown that intelligibility improves when a speech signal and an interfering sound source are spatially separated in azimuth, little is known about the effect that spatial separation in distance has on the perception of competing sound sources near the head. In this experiment, head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) were used to process stimuli in order to simulate a target talker and a masking sound located at different distances along the listener's interaural axis. One of the signals was always presented at a distance of 1 m, and the other signal was presented 1 m, 25 cm, or 12 cm from the center of the listener's head. The results show that distance separation has very different effects on speech segregation for different types of maskers. When speech-shaped noise was used as the masker, most of the intelligibility advantages of spatial separation could be accounted for by spectral differences in the target and masking signals at the ear with the higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). When a same-sex talker was used as the masker, the intelligibility advantages of spatial separation in distance were dominated by binaural effects that produced the same performance improvements as a 4-5-dB increase in the SNR of a diotic stimulus. These results suggest that distance-dependent changes in the interaural difference cues of nearby sources play a much larger role in the reduction of the informational masking produced by an interfering speech signal than in the reduction of the energetic masking produced by an interfering noise source.     

The influence of non-Kolmogorov turbulence on the entanglement of spatial two-qubit states in a slant channel

The effects of atmospheric turbulence on the entanglement of spatial two-qubit states that are prepared using the signal and idler photons produced by parametric down-conversion are studied. Utilizing the non-Kolmogorov model for atmospheric turbulence and Rytov approximation method, we quantify the effects of atmospheric turbulence on the entanglement of the two-qubit state in terms of Wootters's concurrence. Our results show that the effects of the zenith angle of communication channel and the outer scale of turbulence on the concurrence of a spatial two-qubit state can be ignored and the smaller inner scale of turbulence, the smaller refractive-index power α, the shorter wavelength of beams and the longer propagation distance will lead to the larger fluctuations of the concurrence of a spatial two-qubit state.     

High speed holocinematography using spatial multiplexing for image separation

Up to eight holograms are successively recorded at maximum repetition rates of 20kHz. A multiply Q-switched ruby laser is used to produce the series of coherent light pulses for hologram exposure. All holograms are recorded on the same plate. Image separation of different holograms is achieved by spatial multiplexing using a rotating disk with apertures directly in front of the holographic plate. The performance of the technique is demonstrated by reconstructions of a hologram series taken of laser produced cavitation bubbles following optical breakdown in water.     

Biochip fluorescence detection system with spatial and spectral separation

A novel optical arrangement for fluorescence detection that employs spatial separation as well as spectral filter to increase the signal to noise ratio is proposed. Using a prism and two mirrors, the elliptical laser beam of a laser diode, as an excitation light, is homogenized and the transmitted excitation light is separated from the fluorescence not to reach the collecting optics. Uncooled CCD can capture the fluorescence image of up to 40 fluorescently-labeled protein patterns without scanning or mechanical translation. This paper presents the simulation, construction and measurement results of the developed optical system. The measurements show that the combination of prism and mirrors converts the excitation light from the laser diode to uniform illumination on the specimen, and provides the separation between excitation and fluorescence light to give high signal to noise ratio. It is also possible to assay various protein concentrations ranging from 1000 to 10 ng/ml reliably. We believe that the proposed fluorescence detection system can be used to build a commercially valuable, low cost, hand-held or miniature fast detection device for point-of-care applications.     

The influence of particle size on separation and dustiness in powder mixtures during nonelectrostatic and electrostatic coating

Common food powders and their mixtures, consisting of two powders with the same composition but different in particle size: fine (51–95 μm) and coarse (244–401 μm) NaCl, KCl, sucrose, rice starch, maltodextrin, whey protein, casein and soy protein, were coated on a target at 0 and −25 kV. Over half of the mixtures showed separation due to a difference in particle size. Separation was caused by the difference in individual transfer efficiency of the powders and interactions during coating. Both composition and differences in size were found to be important. Being in a mixture did not change the amount of dust formed.     

The infrared absorption spectra of finely divided manganese borate

Journal of Applied Spectroscopy -     

Holography with local reference beam obtained by spatial frequency separation

The holographic method disclosed in this paper allows holographic recording with a very high reference-to-object wave energy ratio without attenuating the rays diffracted by the object. In those holographic methods permitting local generation of the reference beam, which have been proposed so far, the reference beams are obtained by either wavefront or amplitude division of the wave of coherent radiation impinging onto the optical apparatus. It is readily seen that most of the incident energy is used to process the reference beam reducing drastically the energy of the object bearing wave. In the novel method proposed here the reference wave is obtained by separation of the low spatial frequency components from the high-order spatial frequency components which bear the object information. As a result of the removal of the low frequency components, a dark-field image is recorded and later reconstructed by the holographic plate. Even though the configuration is of the off-axis type, proper design may reduce the coherence requirements of the source of radiation to those for in-line holography. The paper discusses the basic properties of the method and experimental results are presented. This work forms part of a dissertation to be submitted by M. L. A. Gassend in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree. It has been supported by the National Research Council of Canada under Grants Nos. A 7240 and T 0409, and by the Department of External Affairs (Award No. 759193 administered by the Canada Council).