Some observations on the lateralization of complex waveforms

Abstract

Consistent lateralization judgement can be obtained with interaural delays in the envelope but not in the carrier of high-frequency sinusoidal signals that are amplitude modulated. At low frequencies the situation is reversed and delays in the carrier, but not the envelope, can be detected. Delays in quasi-frequency-modulated or frequency-modulated waveforms allow lateralization by some observers but require much larger delays for performance as good as that obtained with amplitude-modulated signals. The implications of some of these observations for models of the envelope extraction process are discussed.