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Updated: Jun 3, 2026
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An Automated System for Sound Localization Testing in Hearing-Impaired Listeners
Published on: March 13, 2026
Directional perception of distributed sound sources.
1Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics, Aalto University School of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 13000, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland. olli.santala@aalto.fi
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|March 25, 2011
Summary
Listeners struggled to accurately perceive the precise layout and width of multiple sound sources, often underestimating the distribution. Increasing sound sources from four to seven yielded similar perceptions to thirteen, especially with wider noise bandwidths.
Area of Science:
- Acoustics
- Psychoacoustics
- Auditory Perception
Background:
- Understanding spatial sound perception is crucial for immersive audio technologies.
- Previous research has explored sound localization but less on the perception of distributed sources.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the perception of spatially distributed sound sources.
- To determine how factors like source distribution, number, and noise bandwidth affect spatial perception.
Main Methods:
- Two listening experiments were conducted in anechoic conditions.
- Participants listened to incoherent noise signals from 13 loudspeakers in the frontal horizontal plane.
- Noise bandwidths (centered at 500 Hz and 4000 Hz) and loudspeaker configurations were varied.
Main Results:
- Listeners inaccurately perceived loudspeaker distribution, perceiving the width as narrower than reality.
- Up to three simultaneous sound sources could be individually perceived.
- Perceived auditory events were similar when increasing sources from four to seven compared to thirteen, particularly with wideband noise.
- Perceived differences were greater in wideband noise than narrow-band noise.
Conclusions:
- Human auditory perception of spatial sound source distribution is limited and can underestimate actual width.
- The number of simultaneously perceivable sound sources is limited.
- Noise bandwidth significantly influences the perception of spatial differences between sound source configurations.
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