Effects of spatial asymmetry and voice-gender differences between talkers on spatial release from masking in normal-hearing listeners

This study investigated how a listener's spatial release from masking (SRM) performance is affected by spatial asymmetry and voice-gender differences between talkers in multi-talker listening situations. The amounts of SRM were measured with symmetric and asymmetric (toward the right or left) masker configurations in same-gender and different-gender target-masker conditions. The results showed that the SRM was co-varied by talkers' voice-gender differences and spatial asymmetry cues: maximized in the same-gender and asymmetrical target-maskers condition and minimized in the different-gender and symmetrical target-maskers condition. Those findings suggest that the talkers' asymmetry and voice-gender differences could contribute to the variation in SRM independently.