title: Tracking of multiple sound sources defined by interaural time differences: brain potential evidence in humans.
abstract: Among other cues, interaural time differences (ITD) can be used to compute the location of a sound. To investigate whether ITD can be used for the preattentive detection of sounds coming from a different location than standard sounds (P=0.7, no ITD), left and right 'far' (900 micros ITD, 80 degrees excentricity) and 'near ' (300 micros ITD, 30 degrees ) deviant stimuli (each deviant P=0.075) were presented via headphones. While 15 young healthy subjects passively listened to these sequences, the mismatch negativity (MMN) of the event-related potential was obtained for the deviant sounds. MMN was reliable for all four deviants but larger for the far-lateralized sounds. Moreover, MMN was larger contralateral to the location of the deviant. This indicates a role of preattentive mechanisms in the spatial analysis of auditory scenes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical School Hannover, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Wido
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nager
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kohlmetz
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Joppich
authors.forename: Janine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Möbes
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Münte
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013017:Sound Localization; D013997:Time Factors