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Phase effects on the perceived elevation of complex tones.

William M Hartmann1, Virginia Best, Johahn Leung

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA. hartmann@pa.msu.edu

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|December 2, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Sound localization accuracy, particularly in the sagittal plane, depends on temporal factors, not just spectral properties. Phase relationships in auditory stimuli significantly impact elevation perception and front-back reversals.

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Area of Science:

  • Auditory Neuroscience
  • Psychoacoustics
  • Computational Auditory Scene Analysis

Background:

  • Successful sound source localization in three-dimensional space is crucial for auditory perception.
  • Previous research often focused on spectral cues, but the role of temporal information, specifically phase relationships, remains less understood for sagittal-plane localization.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of different phase relationships within periodic tones on free-field sound source localization.
  • To determine if spectral properties alone are sufficient for accurate elevation and front-back localization, or if temporal factors play a critical role.

Main Methods:

  • Conducted free-field localization experiments with 30 distinct source locations using periodic tones with varying component phase relationships.
  • Analyzed localization performance, focusing on elevation errors and front-back reversals, across different stimuli and sound levels.
  • Developed a computational model to explore the role of simultaneous tonotopic information access and lateral inhibition in localization perception.

Main Results:

  • Localization success varied significantly based on the phase relationships of the tone components, despite identical amplitude spectra.
  • Specific phase relationships led to accurate localization, while others resulted in substantial elevation errors and front-back reversals, exacerbated by stimulus level.
  • Demonstrated that smooth, broadband spectra are insufficient for accurate sagittal-plane localization; temporal dynamics are essential.

Conclusions:

  • Auditory localization, especially in the sagittal plane, is critically dependent on the temporal structure and phase information of sound stimuli.
  • A model incorporating the concept of simultaneous tonotopic detail accessibility, potentially mediated by lateral inhibition, can explain observed phase and level effects in localization.