Effect of interlateral time and intensity differences of distantly-presented bone-conducted ultrasound on lateralization

Abstract

Bone-conducted ultrasound (BCU) is perceived even by the profoundly sensorineural deaf and has been applied to the development of a novel hearing aid. In the BCU hearing aid, the vibrator is pressed onto the mastoid process of the temporal bone (the osseous bulge behind the ear). However, BCU can be heard on distal parts of the body; e.g., the muscle of the neck, the clavicle and the upper limbs. Some studies have been carried out to develop other BCU hearing devices using this "distant presentation". However, the possibility of the localization of distantly-presented BCU has not been verified. In this study, we investigated whether listeners could use the interaural time differences (ITDs) and intensity differences (IIDs) as cues for lateralization (left/right discrimination) of distantly-presented BCU. The results showed that lateralization based on ITDs and IIDs is possible to some extent, even for the distant presentation, whereas lateralization become difficult as the stimulus placement gets further from the head. Lateralization based on IIDs was more accurate than that based on ITDs. IIDs seem to give more effective cues than ITDs in the lateralization of BCU.