Localization of two noise sources overlapping in time.

Abstract

The accuracy of localization of two independent, wide-band noise sources, overlapping in time, was measured. Subjects given preliminary practice had little difficulty in localizing when sources separated by 55 degrees were located in front of them or in back of them, with one source 10 degrees from the midline. But when sources were at the side of the subject, perception that there were two sources present tended to improve significantly as time between onset of the sounds was increased to 100 msec. Once a sound was perceived to be present, it was localized with fairly high accuracy.