Abstract
The deterioration of sound localization accuracy during a listener’s head/body rotation is independent of the listener’s rotation velocity. However, whether this deterioration occurs only during physical movement in a real environment remains unclear. In this study, we addressed this question by subjecting physically stationary listeners to visually induced self-motion, i.e., vection. Two conditions—one with a visually induced perception of self-motion (vection) and the other without vection (control)—were adopted. Under both conditions, a short noise burst (30 ms) was presented via a loudspeaker in a circular array placed horizontally in front of a listener. The listeners were asked to determine whether the acoustic stimulus was localized relative to their subjective midline. The results showed that in terms of detection thresholds based on the subjective midline, the sound localization accuracy was lower under the vection condition than under the control condition. This indicates that sound localization can be compromised under visually induced self-motion perception. These findings support the idea that self-motion information is crucial for auditory space perception and can potentially enable the design of dynamic binaural displays requiring fewer computational resources.
Highlights
The results showed that the main effect of the experimental condition was significant (F (2, 18) = 5.50, p < 0.05, η 2 = 0.38), and multiple comparison analysis (Bonferroni’s method, p < 0.05) [28] revealed that just noticeable difference (JND) was smaller for the control condition (M = 1.06) than for the vection condition
If self-motion information is crucial for auditory space perception [7,25], the deterioration of sound localization accuracy can be observed in the case of self-motion perception, even if the motion is not physically induced
In terms of detection thresholds of the subjective midline, the sound localization accuracy was lower under the vection condition than under the control condition
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The influence of visual, proprioceptive, and vestibular systems on sound localization has been investigated in various studies [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8], including a good review to overview this issue [2]. Wallach [7] reported that sound-source localization requires an interaction of auditory-spatial and head-position cues. His study revealed that the construct of auditory space is dependent upon self-motion; despite movement of the head, listeners can perceive a stable auditory environment and use it to accurately localize sounds [7,9]
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