Processing strategies of the auditory system for improving the detection of masked signals

The processing of the auditory system allows the separation of complex acoustical scenes into so-called auditory objects. The goal of this thesis
was to shed some light on the ability of the auditory system to use combined across-frequency and binaural cues for the analysis of complex auditory
environments. The first and second part of the thesis addresses the investigation of the processing of combined across-frequency and binaural
signal properties in normally hearing listeners using psychoacoustical techniques and signal processing strategies. The third part concentrates on the
influence of cochlear processing on psychoacoustic effects using a physical nonlinear and active model of the cochlea. The results of this thesis point
out that the auditory system is able to process comodulation across frequency and interaural phase differences independently and over a broad frequency
range. Hence, improvements of masked thresholds can be used in an optimal manner. The ability of the developed cochlea model to account
for psychoacoustical data provides the basis to separate peripheral contributions to psychoacoustical effects from neural contributions