Robot Study of ‘Cocktail Party Problem’ Hints at Human Hearing
Glitch - 1:30 PM - Categories: Tech By Daniel Cossins,
ScienceNOW Scientists call it the “cocktail party problem.” To
understand the person talking to you in a noisy room, you’ve got
to filter out all of the conversations, clinking glass, and
other noises in the background. Fortunately, our brains are up
to the challenge, and now — thanks to a little help from a
humanoid robot — researchers have found new clues to how we do
it. A group of hearing scientists at NTT Communication Science
Laboratories in Kanagawa, Japan, conducted the study. The
researchers didn’t head out to their local bar to investigate
the cocktail party problem. Instead, they opted for a far more
antisocial environment. They recruited volunteers and asked them
to sit alone in a small room and face a speaker. Then the team
played a combination of two different tones (somewhat like the
sound file below). At first, just like people at a loud party,
the volunteers heard the sound as