Web Activity 3.1 Dichotic listening task

A group of researchers led by Josef Bless at the University of Bergen has developed a dichotic listening app that can be downloaded at no cost to you. If you have access to an iOS device, you can download this app and use it to test whether you have a right-ear (left-hemisphere) advantage for processing speech.

The app is called iDichotic. You can visit the web page for this app here:

http://dichoticlistening.com/index.html

You need to listen to the stimuli over headphones. The first test simply asks you to report which one of six syllables you hear (different syllables are played simultaneously to the left and right ears). You will probably feel uncertain about your response on many of the trials.

Most people report the syllable that is played in the right ear more often than the one played in the left ear. You can find results collected by the research group using the app here:

http://dichoticlistening.com/app-results.html

The app has a second task that asks you to consciously direct your attention to the left and right ears in turn. Most people find it easier to pay attention to and accurately report sounds played to the right ear, but they can succeed in more accurately reporting sounds in their non-dominant ear when they focus attention on it. This shows that performance in a dichotic listening task is not simply a matter of “hard-wiring” but also depends heavily on how attention is being controlled by the individual.

You might be interested to see just how successfully you can “ignore” information that is outside the scope of your focus, as shown in an experiment conducted by Polly Dalton and Nick Fraenkel. You can try your hand at a version of this experiment here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGKADgFCoeU

As you will see in Chapter 7, directing your attention selectively to very specific aspects of the auditory signal is an important skill for being able to perceive speech in everyday situations.