Localization of speech in noise with and without self-directed room exploration

Abstract

The auditory system adapts to reflections by suppressing them in favor of the direct sound, aiding greatly in sound localization and speech understanding in reverberation. Previous studies have shown an increase in the echo threshold over repeated exposure to a reflection pattern, and the breakdown of this effect when the pattern changes suddenly. These studies examined this effect as a low-level cognitive process. The current study gives listeners a more active role in adapting to reflections, to see if this can engage higher-level processes more durable over time. In a psychoacoustic test, listeners localized a short speech signal in the presence of either point-like or diffuse noise in a simulated room, using the Simulated Open Field Environment for simulation and playback over a loudspeaker array. In the “Block” condition, subjects heard stimuli from the same room in all trials. In the “Interrupt” condition, trials in the target room were interspersed with dummy trials from different spaces. In the “L...