TY - JOUR
T1 - Spatial consistency as a cue for segregation and localization
AU - Simpson, Brian D.
AU - Gilkey, Robert
AU - Thompson, Eric R.
AU - Brungart, Douglas
AU - Iyer, Nandini
AU - Romigh, Griffin
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Many real-world auditory scenes are dynamic and complex, with multiple sounds that may change location over time. In this experiment, we examined the ability of listeners to localize a spatially-consistent target sound in a dynamic, spatially-varying auditory scene. The target and masker stimuli were composed of sequences of 60-ms bursts of uncorrelated noise (2 to 16 bursts in duration) and differed only in their degree of spatial consistency. Specifically, each target burst within a sequence came from the same spatial location (which varied from trial to trial), whereas each masker burst within a sequence came from a different, randomly chosen spatial location. The listener's task was to localize the spatially-consistent sequence. Localization errors decreased by approximately 11° with each doubling of the sequence duration, and approached quiet performance with 16-burst sequences. Adding a second masker increased localization errors by approximately 14° overall. These results suggest that spatial information can be combined across multiple observations over time to identify and localize a spatially-consistent target in a dynamic auditory scene. These data will be discussed in terms of the information obtained from each burst and the manner in which the information is combined across bursts.
AB - Many real-world auditory scenes are dynamic and complex, with multiple sounds that may change location over time. In this experiment, we examined the ability of listeners to localize a spatially-consistent target sound in a dynamic, spatially-varying auditory scene. The target and masker stimuli were composed of sequences of 60-ms bursts of uncorrelated noise (2 to 16 bursts in duration) and differed only in their degree of spatial consistency. Specifically, each target burst within a sequence came from the same spatial location (which varied from trial to trial), whereas each masker burst within a sequence came from a different, randomly chosen spatial location. The listener's task was to localize the spatially-consistent sequence. Localization errors decreased by approximately 11° with each doubling of the sequence duration, and approached quiet performance with 16-burst sequences. Adding a second masker increased localization errors by approximately 14° overall. These results suggest that spatial information can be combined across multiple observations over time to identify and localize a spatially-consistent target in a dynamic auditory scene. These data will be discussed in terms of the information obtained from each burst and the manner in which the information is combined across bursts.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84878970305&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1121/1.4800469
DO - 10.1121/1.4800469
M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:84878970305
SN - 1939-800X
VL - 19
JO - Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics
JF - Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics
M1 - 050140
T2 - 21st International Congress on Acoustics, ICA 2013 - 165th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America
Y2 - 2 June 2013 through 7 June 2013
ER -