Communications Biophysics

Contains reports on six research projects.National Institutes of Health (Grant 2 P01 GM-14940-01)Joint Services Electronics Programs (U. S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force) under Contract DA 28-043-AMC-02536(E)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NsG-496)National Institutes of Health (Grant 2 ROl NB-05462-03

Communications Biophysics

Contains research objectives, summary of six research projects and reports on three research projects.National Institutes of Health (Grant 2 P01 MH-04737-06)Joint Services Electronics Programs (U. S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force) under Contract DA 36-039-AMC-03200(E)National Science Foundation (Grant GK-835)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NsG-496)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 ROI NB-05462-03

Communication Biophysics

Contains reports on five research projects.National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 RO1 NB-05462-02)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NsG-496)National Science Foundation (Grant GP-2495)National Institutes of Health (Grant MH-04737-05

A metric for predicting binaural speech intelligibility in stationary noise and competing speech maskers

One criterion in the design of binaural sound scenes in audio production is the extent to which the intended speech message is correctly understood. Object-based audio broadcasting systems have permitted sound editors to gain more access to the metadata (e.g., intensity and location) of each sound source, providing better control over speech intelligibility. The current study describes and evaluates a binaural distortion-weighted glimpse proportion metric -- BiDWGP -- which is motivated by better-ear glimpsing and binaural masking level differences. BiDWGP predicts intelligibility from two alternative input forms: either binaural recordings or monophonic recordings from each sound source along with their locations. Two listening experiments were performed with stationary noise and competing speech, one in the presence of a single masker, the other with multiple maskers, for a variety of spatial configurations. Overall, BiDWGP with both input forms predicts listener keyword scores with correlations of 0.95 and 0.91 for single- and multi-masker conditions, respectively. When considering masker type separately, correlations rise to 0.95 and above for both types of maskers. Predictions using the two input forms are very similar, suggesting that BiDWGP can be applied to the design of sound scenes where only individual sound sources and their locations are available

Communications Biophysics

Contains reports on five research projects.National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 P01 GM14940-03)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 TOl GM01555-03)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NGL 22-009-304

Communications Biophysics

COntains reports on six research projects.National Institutes of Health (Grant 2 P01 MH-04737-06)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 ROl NB-05462-02)Joint Services Electronics Programs (U. S. Army, U. S. Navy, and U. S. Air Force) under Contract DA 36-039-AMC-03200(E)National Science Foundation (Grant GK-835)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NsG-496

Supporting dynamic change detection: using the right tool for the task

Detecting task-relevant changes in a visual scene is necessary for successfully monitoring and managing dynamic command and control situations. Change blindness—the failure to notice visual changes—is an important source of human error. Change History EXplicit (CHEX) is a tool developed to aid change detection and maintain situation awareness; and in the current study we test the generality of its ability to facilitate the detection of changes when this subtask is embedded within a broader dynamic decision-making task. A multitasking air-warfare simulation required participants to perform radar-based subtasks, for which change detection was a necessary aspect of the higher-order goal of protecting one’s own ship. In this task, however, CHEX rendered the operator even more vulnerable to attentional failures in change detection and increased perceived workload. Such support was only effective when participants performed a change detection task without concurrent subtasks. Results are interpreted in terms of the NSEEV model of attention behavior (Steelman, McCarley, & Wickens, Hum. Factors 53:142–153, 2011; J. Exp. Psychol. Appl. 19:403–419, 2013), and suggest that decision aids for use in multitasking contexts must be designed to fit within the available workload capacity of the user so that they may truly augment cognition

From presence to consciousness through virtual reality

Immersive virtual environments can break the deep, everyday connection between where our senses tell us we are and where we are actually located and whom we are with. The concept of 'presence' refers to the phenomenon of behaving and feeling as if we are in the virtual world created by computer displays. In this article, we argue that presence is worthy of study by neuroscientists, and that it might aid the study of perception and consciousness