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This is cool science, and useful. I wouldn't be surprised if better research in this area didn't unlock hearing for people born without it, for example. Cool quote from the article:

For the brain to interpret sounds, it needs nerves to bring it signals from the ear. But it is not just a one-way street. The auditory system also includes so-called efferent nerves, which carry signals from the brain back to the ear. This creates a feedback loop within the auditory system, which may play a role in selective attention.

"It's very hard, physiologically, to test that idea though," pointed out Jonathan Ashmore, a professor of biophysics at the University College London's Ear Institute. "And even harder to think about the mechanisms that might implement the idea."

Rather than attempting to solve this problem by looking at the biological auditory system, researchers at the University of Zurich in Switzerland tackled the issue from another angle: physics. They tested the cocktail party effect on a digital model of the cochlea.