Rotating sound sources and listeners: Sound source localization is a multisensory/cognitive process

Abstract

When sound sources or listeners rotate, the acoustic cues used for sound source localization change, but in the everyday world listeners perceive sound rotation only when the sound source rotates not when the listener rotates. That is, in the everyday world, sound source locations are referenced to positions in the environment (a world-centric reference system). The acoustic cues for sound source location indicate a sound source’s location relative to the head (a head-centric reference system), not locations relative to the world. To compute world-centric locations of sound sources, the auditory spatial system must have information about the acoustic cues used for sound source location and cues about the position of the head. The use of visual and vestibular information in determining head position in sound rotation perception was investigated in four experiments. The experiments clearly show, for the first time, that sound source localization when sound sources and listeners rotate is based on acoustic and visual, and sometimes vestibular information. Sound source localization is not based just on acoustics. It is a multisensory process. [Research supported by an AFOSR grant.]