The influence of temporal features of the signal on detectability: Data and signal-detection analyses

Dave Green had an enormous influence on auditory research via signal-detection theory. A major contribution of signal-detection theory is the concept and application of the ideal detector, which establishes the absolute optimal detection performance. To bridge between the ideal performance and the less-than-ideal human performance, Green and Swets (1966) described an energy detector. The energy-detector model relaxed assumptions of the ideal detector to account for the phase insensitivity and limited frequency selectivity of humans, but it retained the assumption that the time window is matched to the signal duration. However, the time-window assumption had no clear support from human data. To help fill this gap, we examined the detectability of signals with expected versus unexpected temporal properties. The results of experiments and signal-detection analyses suggest that listeners listen selectively to signal duration, implying that they match the time window to the overall signal duration as was assumed in the energy-detector model. Additional results suggest that listeners do not also listen selectively to the temporal structure of the signal, implying that the temporal constraint is based on overall signal duration. We are grateful for the opportunity to have worked with Dave.