A comparative study of eight human auditory models of monaural processing

TL;DR

This paper compares eight open-source monaural auditory models, analyzing their processing stages from outer ear to inferior colliculus, and offers recommendations for future model applications.

Contribution

It provides a systematic comparison of eight auditory models, highlighting their differences and similarities across key processing stages, and discusses how to make their outputs comparable.

Findings

Models differ in processing stages and parameters.

Comparison reveals strengths and limitations of each model.

Guidelines for selecting and applying auditory models are proposed.

Abstract

A number of auditory models have been developed using diverging approaches, either physiological or perceptual, but they share comparable stages of signal processing, as they are inspired by the same constitutive parts of the auditory system. We compare eight monaural models that are openly accessible in the Auditory Modelling Toolbox. We discuss the considerations required to make the model outputs comparable to each other, as well as the results for the following model processing stages or their equivalents: Outer and middle ear, cochlear filter bank, inner hair cell, auditory nerve synapse, cochlear nucleus, and inferior colliculus. The discussion includes a list of recommendations for future applications of auditory models.