title: Auditory velocity discrimination in the horizontal plane at very high velocities.
abstract: We determined velocity discrimination thresholds and Weber fractions for sounds revolving around the listener at very high velocities. Sounds used were a broadband white noise and two harmonic sounds with fundamental frequencies of 330 Hz and 1760 Hz. Experiment 1 used velocities ranging between 288°/s and 720°/s in an acoustically treated room and Experiment 2 used velocities between 288°/s and 576°/s in a highly reverberant hall. A third experiment addressed potential confounds in the first two experiments. The results show that people can reliably discriminate velocity at very high velocities and that both thresholds and Weber fractions decrease as velocity increases. These results violate Weber's law but are consistent with the empirical trend observed in the literature. While thresholds for the noise and 330 Hz harmonic stimulus were similar, those for the 1760 Hz harmonic stimulus were substantially higher. There were no reliable differences in velocity discrimination between the two acoustical environments, suggesting that auditory motion perception at high velocities is robust against the effects of reverberation.
authors.affiliation: Multimodal Interaction Lab, School of Information Studies, McGill University, 3661 Peel St, Montreal, Canada H3A 1X1; Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology, 527 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, Canada H3A 1E3. Electronic address: ilja.frissen@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Ilja
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Frissen
authors.affiliation: Multimodal Interaction Lab, School of Information Studies, McGill University, 3661 Peel St, Montreal, Canada H3A 1X1; Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology, 527 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, Canada H3A 1E3. Electronic address: feron@ircam.fr.
authors.forename: François-Xavier
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Féron
authors.affiliation: Multimodal Interaction Lab, School of Information Studies, McGill University, 3661 Peel St, Montreal, Canada H3A 1X1; Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology, 527 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, Canada H3A 1E3. Electronic address: catherine.guastavino@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guastavino
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004566:Electrodes; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000378:metabolism*; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D034381:Hearing Loss; D006317:Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception; D009622:Noise; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D013016:Sound; D013017:Sound Localization; D013136:Spiral Ganglion / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors