Binaural Interaction of a Click with a Click Pair

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Abstract
The binaural interaction between a single click and a click pair was examined. Two clicks with time separations of 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 8 msec were presented to one ear, and a single click of controllable interaural time was presented to the other. Two polarity patterns (rarefaction‐rarefaction vs rarefaction; and rarefaction‐condensation vs rarefaction) were used at pattern rates of 2/, 10/, and 50/sec. Four subjects were asked to adjust interaural time to center all discernable sound images. Lateralizations corresponding to temporal alignment with individual clicks in the pair were found for 8‐msec and sometimes for 4‐msec separation. For these conditions, the subjects were consciously aware of two images. With 1‐msec separation of the pair, subjects were aware of only one image, but in repeated adjustments temporally aligned at both clicks. With 2‐msec separation, however, no significant lateralizations were made at the time of the second click. Only one image was discernable corresponding to lateralization of the first click. Analog basilar‐membrane displacements produced by the stimuli correlate with some details of the results, but do not explain the absence of a second lateralization at the 2‐msec pair separation. The neural mechanisms usually invoked to explain a minimum time interval of about 3 msec are also not adequate to explain these results. Possible explanatory mechanisms such as temporal summation and a neural gate are discussed.

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