Perceptual recalibration in human sound localization: learning to remediate front-back reversals.
The efficacy of a sound localization training procedure that provided listeners with auditory, visual, and proprioceptive/vestibular feedback as to the correct sound-source position was evaluated using a virtual auditory display that used nonindividualized head-related transfer functions (HRTFs). Under these degraded stimulus conditions, in which the monaural spectral cues to sound-source direction were inappropriate, localization accuracy was initially poor with frequent front-back reversals (source localized to the incorrect front-back hemifield) for five of six listeners. Short periods of training (two 30-min sessions) were found to significantly reduce the rate of front-back reversal responses for four of five listeners that showed high initial reversal rates. Reversal rates remained unchanged for all listeners in a control group that did not participate in the training procedure. Because analyses of the HRTFs used in the display demonstrated a simple and robust front-back cue related to energy in the 3-7-kHz bandwidth, it is suggested that the reductions observed in reversal rates following the training procedure resulted from improved processing of this front-back cue, which is perhaps a form of rapid perceptual recalibration. Reversal rate reductions were found to generalize to untrained source locations, and persisted at least 4 months following the training procedure.
Zahorik
Pavel
P
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA. pavel.zahorik@louisville.edu
Bangayan
Philbert
P
Sundareswaran
V
V
Wang
Kenneth
K
Tam
Clement
C
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010898:Pitch Perception / Q000502:physiology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013017:Sound Localization / Q000502:physiology*; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors