Modeling sound-source localization of two sinusoidally amplitude-modulated noises in a sound field

Abstract

Yost and Brown [JASA 133 (2013)] investigated the ability of listeners to localize two simultaneously presented, independent noises presented over loudspeakers from different locations. These experiments demonstrated that SAM noises that were out of phase at two spatially separated loudspeakers led to better localization performance than when the SAM noises were in phase at each loudspeaker. Performance was improved at SAM rates as high as almost 500 Hz as compared to non-SAM noise. Yost and Brown hypothesized that listeners’ behavior might be explained as a temporal-spectral (T-S) analysis, and showed that such an approach could, qualitatively, account for some of their behavioral data. This presentation will explore the degree to which a quantitative, biologically inspired peripheral/brainstem auditory model can predict some of the listener performance presented in Yost and Brown 2013. Specifically, the model structure includes simulated auditory nerve response using the Zilany et al. model (JASA, 2014) with rate-count-based estimation of interaural differences of time and intensity as they occur in the presented stimuli recorded with a KEMAR manikin.