Binaural Cues for Multiple Sound Sources

2007 ◽  
pp. 139-154
Keyword(s):  
Sound Sources ◽  
Binaural Cues

scholarly journals Psychophysical evidence for auditory motion parallax

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (16) ◽  
pp. 4264-4269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daria Genzel ◽  
Michael Schutte ◽  
W. Owen Brimijoin ◽  
Paul R. MacNeilage ◽  
Lutz Wiegrebe
Keyword(s):  
Motion Parallax ◽  
Relative Depth ◽  
Auditory Motion ◽  
Motion Platform ◽  
Sound Sources ◽  
Binaural Cues ◽  
Binaural Processing ◽  
Perceptual Strategy ◽  
Observer Motion ◽  
Self Motion

Distance is important: From an ecological perspective, knowledge about the distance to either prey or predator is vital. However, the distance of an unknown sound source is particularly difficult to assess, especially in anechoic environments. In vision, changes in perspective resulting from observer motion produce a reliable, consistent, and unambiguous impression of depth known as motion parallax. Here we demonstrate with formal psychophysics that humans can exploit auditory motion parallax, i.e., the change in the dynamic binaural cues elicited by self-motion, to assess the relative depths of two sound sources. Our data show that sensitivity to relative depth is best when subjects move actively; performance deteriorates when subjects are moved by a motion platform or when the sound sources themselves move. This is true even though the dynamic binaural cues elicited by these three types of motion are identical. Our data demonstrate a perceptual strategy to segregate intermittent sound sources in depth and highlight the tight interaction between self-motion and binaural processing that allows assessment of the spatial layout of complex acoustic scenes.

scholarly journals On the influence of non-individual binaural cues and the impact of level normalization on auditory distance estimation of nearby sound sources

Acta Acustica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Johannes M. Arend ◽  
Heinrich R. Liesefeld ◽  
Christoph Pörschmann
Keyword(s):  
Distance Estimation ◽  
Relative Distance ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Sound Sources ◽  
Binaural Cues ◽  
Auditory Distance ◽  
Normalization Methods ◽  
Forced Choice Task ◽  
Interaural Level Differences ◽  
The Impact

Nearby sound sources provide distinct binaural cues, mainly in the form of interaural level differences, which vary with respect to distance and azimuth. However, there is a long-standing controversy regarding whether humans can actually utilize binaural cues for distance estimation of nearby sources. Therefore, we conducted three experiments using non-individual binaural synthesis. In Experiment 1, subjects had to estimate the relative distance of loudness-normalized and non-normalized nearby sources in static and dynamic binaural rendering in a multi-stimulus comparison task under anechoic conditions. Loudness normalization was used as a plausible method to compensate for noticeable intensity differences between stimuli. With the employed loudness normalization, nominal distance did not significantly affect distance ratings for most conditions despite the presence of non-individual binaural distance cues. In Experiment 2, subjects had to judge the relative distance between loudness-normalized sources in dynamic binaural rendering in a forced-choice task. Below chance performance in this more sensitive task revealed that the employed loudness normalization strongly affected distance estimation. As this finding indicated a general issue with loudness normalization for studies on relative distance estimation, Experiment 3 directly tested the validity of loudness normalization and a frequently used amplitude normalization. Results showed that both normalization methods lead to remaining (incorrect) intensity cues, which subjects most likely used for relative distance estimation. The experiments revealed that both examined normalization methods have consequential drawbacks. These drawbacks might in parts explain conflicting findings regarding the effectiveness of binaural cues for relative distance estimation in the literature.

scholarly journals Cortical Processing of Binaural Cues as Shown by EEG Responses to Random-Chord Stereograms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henri Pöntynen ◽  
Nelli Salminen
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Power ◽  
Modulation Frequency ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Auditory Scene Analysis ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Sound Sources ◽  
Binaural Cues ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Stimulation Paradigm ◽  
Envelope Correlation

AbstractSpatial hearing facilitates the perceptual organization of complex soundscapes into accurate mental representations of sound sources in the environment. Yet, the role of binaural cues in auditory scene analysis (ASA) has received relatively little attention in recent neuroscientific studies employing novel, spectro-temporally complex stimuli. This may be because a stimulation paradigm that provides binaurally derived grouping cues of sufficient spectro-temporal complexity has not yet been established for neuroscientific ASA experiments. Random-chord stereograms (RCS) are a class of auditory stimuli that exploit spectro-temporal variations in the interaural envelope correlation of noise-like sounds with interaurally coherent fine structure; they evoke salient auditory percepts that emerge only under binaural listening. Here, our aim was to assess the usability of the RCS paradigm for indexing binaural processing in the human brain. To this end, we recorded EEG responses to RCS stimuli from 12 normal-hearing subjects. The stimuli consisted of an initial 3-s noise segment with interaurally uncorrelated envelopes, followed by another 3-s segment, where envelope correlation was modulated periodically according to the RCS paradigm. Modulations were applied either across the entire stimulus bandwidth (wideband stimuli) or in temporally shifting frequency bands (ripple stimulus). Event-related potentials and inter-trial phase coherence analyses of the EEG responses showed that the introduction of the 3- or 5-Hz wideband modulations produced a prominent change-onset complex and ongoing synchronized responses to the RCS modulations. In contrast, the ripple stimulus elicited a change-onset response but no response to ongoing RCS modulation. Frequency-domain analyses revealed increased spectral power at the fundamental frequency and the first harmonic of wideband RCS modulations. RCS stimulation yields robust EEG measures of binaurally driven auditory reorganization and has potential to provide a flexible stimulation paradigm suitable for isolating binaural effects in ASA experiments.

scholarly journals Early Auditory Experience Induces Frequency-Specific, Adaptive Plasticity in the Forebrain Gaze Fields of the Barn Owl

2001 ◽  
Vol 85 (5) ◽  
pp. 2184-2194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg L. Miller ◽  
Eric I. Knudsen
Keyword(s):  
Barn Owl ◽  
Adaptive Plasticity ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Sound Sources ◽  
Frequency Dependent ◽  
Auditory Space ◽  
Binaural Cues ◽  
Normal Representation ◽  
Output Structure ◽  
Auditory Experience

Binaural acoustic cues such as interaural time and level differences (ITDs and ILDs) are used by many species to determine the locations of sound sources. The relationship between cue values and locations in space is frequency dependent and varies from individual to individual. In the current study, we tested the capacity of neurons in the forebrain localization pathway of the barn owl to adjust their tuning for binaural cues in a frequency-dependent manner in response to auditory experience. Auditory experience was altered by raising young owls with a passive acoustic filtering device that caused frequency-dependent changes in ITD and ILD. Extracellular recordings were made in normal and device-reared owls to characterize frequency-specific ITD and ILD tuning in the auditory archistriatum (AAr), an output structure of the forebrain localization pathway. In device-reared owls, individual sites in the AAr exhibited highly abnormal, frequency-dependent variations in ITD tuning, and across the population of sampled sites, there were frequency-dependent shifts in the representation of ITD. These changes were in a direction that compensated for the acoustic effects of the device on ITD and therefore tended to restore a normal representation of auditory space. Although ILD tuning was degraded relative to normal at many sites in the AAr of device-reared owls, the representation of frequency-specific ILDs across the population of sampled sites was shifted in the adaptive direction. These results demonstrate that early auditory experience shapes the representation of binaural cues in the forebrain localization pathway in an adaptive, frequency-dependent manner.

scholarly journals Transmission of Binaural Cues by Bilateral Cochlear Implants: Examining the Impacts of Bilaterally Independent Spectral Peak-Picking, Pulse Timing, and Compression

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 233121652110304
Author(s):  
William O. Gray ◽  
Paul G. Mayo ◽  
Matthew J. Goupell ◽  
Andrew D. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Pulse Amplitude ◽  
Spectral Peak ◽  
Peak Picking ◽  
Sound Sources ◽  
Binaural Cues ◽  
Bilateral Cochlear Implants ◽  
Pulse Timing ◽  
Interaural Level Differences ◽  
Hearing Outcomes

Acoustic hearing listeners use binaural cues—interaural time differences (ITDs) and interaural level differences (ILDs)—for localization and segregation of sound sources in the horizontal plane. Cochlear implant users now often receive two implants (bilateral cochlear implants [BiCIs]) rather than one, with the goal to provide access to these cues. However, BiCI listeners often experience difficulty with binaural tasks. Most BiCIs use independent sound processors at each ear; it has often been suggested that such independence may degrade the transmission of binaural cues, particularly ITDs. Here, we report empirical measurements of binaural cue transmission via BiCIs implementing a common “ n-of- m” spectral peak-picking stimulation strategy. Measurements were completed for speech and nonspeech stimuli presented to an acoustic manikin “fitted” with BiCI sound processors. Electric outputs from the BiCIs and acoustic outputs from the manikin’s in-ear microphones were recorded simultaneously, enabling comparison of electric and acoustic binaural cues. For source locations away from the midline, BiCI binaural cues, particularly envelope ITD cues, were found to be degraded by asymmetric spectral peak-picking. In addition, pulse amplitude saturation due to nonlinear level mapping yielded smaller ILDs at higher presentation levels. Finally, while individual pulses conveyed a spurious “drifting” ITD, consistent with independent left and right processor clocks, such variation was not evident in transmitted envelope ITDs. Results point to avenues for improvement of BiCI technology and may prove useful in the interpretation of BiCI spatial hearing outcomes reported in prior and future studies.

Head Position Identification

1967 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 438-448
Author(s):  
H. N. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Roc Curve ◽  
Head Position ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Type Ii ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Partial Explanation ◽  
Complex Sounds ◽  
Binaural Cues ◽  
Criterion Behavior ◽  
Stimulus Degradation

A binaural recording of traffic sounds that reached an artificial head oriented in five different positions was presented to five subjects, each of whom responded under four different criteria. The results showed that it is possible to examine the ability of listeners to localize sound while listening through earphones and that the criterion adopted by an individual listener is independent of his performance. For the experimental conditions used, the Type II ROC curve generated by manipulating criterion behavior was linear and consistent with a guessing model. Further experiments involving different degrees of stimulus degradation suggested a partial explanation for this finding and illustrated the various types of monaural and binaural cues used by normal and hearing-impaired listeners to localize complex sounds.

Role of pinnae and head movements in localizing pure tones 1The authors would like to thank Mr. Remi Humbert for implementing the experiment in Turbo Pascal and for his further assistance.

1999 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 170-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara S. Muller ◽  
Pierre Bovet
Keyword(s):  
Sound Source ◽  
Head Movement ◽  
Movement Analysis ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Sound Sources ◽  
Localization Accuracy ◽  
Sound Effects ◽  
Posterior Quadrant ◽  
Localization Performance ◽  
Pure Tones

Twelve blindfolded subjects localized two different pure tones, randomly played by eight sound sources in the horizontal plane. Either subjects could get information supplied by their pinnae (external ear) and their head movements or not. We found that pinnae, as well as head movements, had a marked influence on auditory localization performance with this type of sound. Effects of pinnae and head movements seemed to be additive; the absence of one or the other factor provoked the same loss of localization accuracy and even much the same error pattern. Head movement analysis showed that subjects turn their face towards the emitting sound source, except for sources exactly in the front or exactly in the rear, which are identified by turning the head to both sides. The head movement amplitude increased smoothly as the sound source moved from the anterior to the posterior quadrant.

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