TY - JOUR
T1 - A method for degrading sound localization while preserving binaural advantages for speech reception in noise
AU - Sheffield, Sterling W.
AU - Romigh, Griffin D.
AU - Zurek, Patrick M.
AU - Bernstein, Joshua G.W.
AU - Brungart, Douglas S.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by a grant from the Defense Medical Research and Development Program (Grant No. DM130007, J.B.). Work at the Air Force Research Laboratory was partially supported through funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant No. 16RHCOR366). The identification of specific products or scientific instrumentation does not constitute endorsement or implied endorsement on the part of the author, DoD, or any component agency. The views expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy of the Department of Army/Navy/Air Force, Department of Defense, or U.S. Government. We also thank Jay Desloge for programming the real-time device and DLL.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 U.S. Government.
PY - 2019/2/1
Y1 - 2019/2/1
N2 - This study developed and tested a real-time processing algorithm designed to degrade sound localization (LocDeg algorithm) without affecting binaural benefits for speech reception in noise. Input signals were divided into eight frequency channels. The odd-numbered channels were mixed between the ears to confuse the direction of interaural cues while preserving interaural cues in the even-numbered channels. The LocDeg algorithm was evaluated for normal-hearing listeners performing sound localization and speech-reception tasks. Results showed that the LocDeg algorithm successfully degraded sound-localization performance without affecting speech-reception performance or spatial release from masking for speech in noise. The LocDeg algorithm did, however, degrade speech-reception performance in a task involving spatially separated talkers in a multi-talker environment, which is thought to depend on differences in perceived spatial location of concurrent talkers. This LocDeg algorithm could be a valuable tool for isolating the importance of sound-localization ability from other binaural benefits in real-world environments.
AB - This study developed and tested a real-time processing algorithm designed to degrade sound localization (LocDeg algorithm) without affecting binaural benefits for speech reception in noise. Input signals were divided into eight frequency channels. The odd-numbered channels were mixed between the ears to confuse the direction of interaural cues while preserving interaural cues in the even-numbered channels. The LocDeg algorithm was evaluated for normal-hearing listeners performing sound localization and speech-reception tasks. Results showed that the LocDeg algorithm successfully degraded sound-localization performance without affecting speech-reception performance or spatial release from masking for speech in noise. The LocDeg algorithm did, however, degrade speech-reception performance in a task involving spatially separated talkers in a multi-talker environment, which is thought to depend on differences in perceived spatial location of concurrent talkers. This LocDeg algorithm could be a valuable tool for isolating the importance of sound-localization ability from other binaural benefits in real-world environments.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062344731&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1121/1.5090494
DO - 10.1121/1.5090494
M3 - Article
C2 - 30823825
AN - SCOPUS:85062344731
SN - 0001-4966
VL - 145
SP - 1129
EP - 1142
JO - Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
JF - Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
IS - 2
ER -