Short-term adaptation to novel combinations of acoustic spatial cues

Abstract

Previous work demonstrates that a listener’s interpretation of spatial cues can change due to long- or short-term training. Results suggest that short-term training does not alter how spatial locations are computed, but how spatial percepts are interpreted. This series of experiments examines how subjects adapt to different rearrangements of auditory cues. In Experiment I, subjects were trained to identify the spatial cues normally associated with exocentric location x as coming from 2x (a pure linear remapping of space). In Experiment II, ITDs were remapped in the same way, but were paired with normal IID and spectral cues (i.e., the ITD normally associated with azimuth 2x was paired with IID and spectral cues associated with location x). Results examine how spatial resolution and bias are affected by unusual mappings between spatial cues and exocentric location as well as by combining spatial cues that normally do not correspond to one source location. These experiments test the hypothesis that listeners rapidly and subconsciously recalibrate a ‘‘gain’’ describing how to map an internal representation of auditory space to exocentric space, but cannot rapidly alter how the source positions in this internal representation are computed. [Work supported by a grant from the Whitaker Foundation.]