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E. Colin Cherry: 2 ideas worth knowing

2 ideas from E. Colin Cherry, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

• Your brain can pick your own name out of a room full of noise

  In 1953 Colin Cherry played two different spoken messages into each ear at once and asked listeners to repeat back just one. They followed the chosen message easily and were almost…

  — E. Colin Cherry, Some Experiments on the Recognition of Speech, with One and with Two Ears

• You can track one voice in a room full of noise, and catch your own name in another

  In 1953, Colin Cherry played different messages into each ear of test subjects at once and found they could follow one and almost entirely ignore the other. His work named the 'coc…

  — Colin Cherry, Some Experiments on the Recognition of Speech, with One and with Two Ears

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