Scientific Understanding of Consciousness |
Hearing and Speech
Cocktail party problem: concurrent complex sounds, which are completely mixed upon entering the ear, are re-segregated and selected from within the auditory system. The resulting percept is that we selectively attend to the desired speaker while tuning out the others. Separating out a speaker of interest from other speakers in a noisy, crowded environment is a perceptual feat that we perform routinely. The ease with which we hear under these conditions belies the intrinsic complexity of this process. |