An understanding of how listeners divide their attention between two simultaneous talkers requires modelling the interaction between acoustic factors (energetic masking) and cognitive processes (control of auditory attention). The impact of spatial separation between the two talkers on this interaction is unclear, since separation is likely to create both acoustic benefits (release from energetic masking) and cognitive costs (increased demands on spatial attentional control). To explore this question, we manipulated the degree of energetic masking (high vs. low) and spatial separation (collocated to dichotic) between two simultaneous talkers. When energetic masking was high (Experiment 1, unmanipulated talker voices), transcription performance improved monotonically from collocated to dichotic, owing to a gradual release from energetic masking. When energetic masking was low (Experiment 2, bandpass-filtered talker voices), the benefit of spatial separation disappeared; performance even worsened in the dichotic condition. Additionally, across both experiments, individual differences in working memory best predicted transcription performance in conditions where energetic masking was low. These results suggest that energetic masking is the dominant challenge during divided-attention listening, but that the contribution of cognitive control and working memory can be observed when energetic masking is reduced, at least in the context of the current paradigm. The findings are discussed in light of Norman and Bobrow’s (1975) concept of data-limited vs. resource-limited tasks, which we propose is a promising framework for reinterpreting existing results from speech-in-noise perception research.

要了解听众如何在两个同时讲话的人之间分配注意力，需要对声学因素（能量掩蔽）和认知过程（听觉注意力的控制）之间的相互作用进行建模。两个说话者之间的空间分离对这种交互的影响尚不清楚，因为分离可能会产生声学效益（从能量掩蔽中释放）和认知成本（增加对空间注意力控制的需求）。为了探索这个问题，我们操纵了两个同时说话者之间的能量掩蔽程度（高与低）和空间分离（并置为二分法）。当能量掩蔽较高时（实验 1，未经处理的谈话者声音），由于能量掩蔽逐渐释放，转录性能从并置单调提高到双分法。当能量掩蔽较低时（实验 2，带通滤波说话者的声音），空间分离的好处消失了；在二分法条件下表现甚至恶化。此外，在这两个实验中，工作记忆的个体差异最好地预测了在能量掩蔽较低的条件下的转录性能。这些结果表明，能量掩蔽是分散注意力聆听期间的主要挑战，但至少在当前范式的背景下，当能量掩蔽减少时，可以观察到认知控制和工作记忆的贡献。根据 Norman 和 Bobrow (1975) 的数据受限任务与资源受限任务的概念讨论了这些发现，我们提出这是一个有前途的框架，用于重新解释噪声中语音感知研究的现有结果。