Cuing in auditory detection

A traditional theory of auditory attention describes it metaphorically as the beam of an attentional searchlight. It underlies, for example, the logic of the auditory critical ratio, where subjects detect a tonal signal in a wideband masker, where the extent to which processing is restricted to a specific frequency‐region is inferred through calculation of the critical ratio between signal level at threshold and the spectrum level of the masker. Values so found correlate well with results from other techniques such as restriction of the masker by notched noise and presentation of unexpected probe signals that are presumably attenuated by the skirts of the listening band. Lower performance in response to subjective uncertainty about the signal’s frequency has been modeled by assumptions of a wider attentional searchlight, i.e., listening band, an idea supported by alleviation of uncertainty effects by cues that inform the subject about where to listen. The plan here is to review experiments in which variou...