Temporal Processing

Temporal processing refers to the encoding of the time-varying features of sounds by the auditory system. Temporal cues in acoustic stimuli are important for pitch perception and sound localization. Moreover, temporal cues in speech signals carry crucial information for speech understanding, including the manner and place of articulation, voicing, prosody, and intonation. Therefore, temporal processing is one of the fundamental aspects of auditory perception and plays an essential role in speech communication.

Temporal features contained in an acoustical signal are typically classified into two types: temporal envelope and temporal fine structure. Temporal envelope reflects the intensity of fluctuations over time. For example, the temporal envelope of a brief sound event describes how the sound is gated on and off. Temporal fine structure describes the periodicity information ...