Localization by harmonic structure and its application to harmonic sound stream segregation

Sound stream segregation is essential for understanding auditory events in the real-world. In this paper, we present a new method for sound stream segregation using harmonic structure and localization, or direction, in the horizontal plane. The direction of the sound source is determined by using the harmonic structure extracted from binaural inputs. The fundamental frequency of each sound is then refined by using the direction of its source. This paper discusses how the effectiveness of the harmonic-based stream segregation system (HBSS) is improved by incorporating the new method and presents the binaural HBSS (Bi-HBSS). In particular, experimental results show that the Bi-HBSS reduces the spectrum distortions and the fundamental frequency errors, compared with the HBSS and with a direction-based stream segregation system