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Related Concept Videos

Echo01:06

Echo

The human ear cannot distinguish between two sources of sound if they happen to reach within a specific time interval, typically 0.1 seconds apart. More than this, and they are perceived as separate sources.
Imagine the sound is reflected back to the ears. Assuming that the source is very close to the human, the difference between hearing the two sounds—the emitted sound and the reflected sound—may be more than the minimum time for perceiving distinct sounds. If this is the case, then the...
Perception of Sound Waves01:01

Perception of Sound Waves

The human ear is not equally sensitive to all frequencies in the audible range. It may perceive sound waves with the same pressure but different frequencies as having different loudness. Moreover, the perception of sound waves depends on the health of an individual's ears, which decays with age. The health of one's ears may also be affected by regular exposure to loud noises.
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same frequency...
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location01:21

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

The human brain perceives pitch through two primary mechanisms reflected in place theory and frequency theory. Each mechanism describes how sound waves are interpreted as specific pitches by the brain, offering insights into the intricate processes of auditory perception.
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by identifying...
Sound Intensity Level00:53

Sound Intensity Level

Humans perceive sound by hearing. The human ear helps sound waves reach the brain, which then interprets the waves and creates the perception of hearing. The loudness of the environment in which a person is located determines whether they can distinguish between different sound sources.
The human ear can perceive an extensive range of sound intensity, necessitating the use of the logarithmic scale to define a physical quantity—the intensity level. It is a ratio of two intensities and hence a...
Sound Intensity00:58

Sound Intensity

The loudness of a sound source is related to how energetically the source is vibrating, consequently making the molecules of the propagation medium vibrate. To measure the loudness of a source, the physical quantity of interest is the intensity. This is defined as the energy emitted per unit of time per unit of area perpendicular to the sound wave's propagation direction. Since the total energy is greater if the source vibrates for a longer duration and over a larger area, dividing the emitted...
Interference: Path Lengths01:10

Interference: Path Lengths

Consider two sources of sound, that may or may not be in phase, emitting waves at a single frequency, and consider the frequencies to be the same.
Two special sources may be considered when they are in phase. This can be easily achieved by feeding the two sources from the same source. An example would be synchronizing the two speakers by feeding them with the same source, such as the sound waves produced by a tuning fork. This setup ensures that the two sources have the same frequency and are...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 14, 2026

An Automated System for Sound Localization Testing in Hearing-Impaired Listeners
07:52

An Automated System for Sound Localization Testing in Hearing-Impaired Listeners

Published on: March 13, 2026

Influence of sound source width on human sound localization.

Nathaniel T Greene1, Gary D Paige

  • 1Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14642, USA. Nate_Greene@urmc.rochester.edu

Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference
|February 1, 2013
PubMed
Summary

Sound localization accuracy is not affected by the size of the sound source. Our study found that larger loudspeakers did not decrease human sound localization precision, contrary to theoretical predictions.

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Last Updated: May 14, 2026

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Area of Science:

  • Auditory perception
  • Human psychophysics
  • Acoustic signal processing

Background:

  • Free-field sound localization experiments typically model loudspeakers as point sources.
  • Larger sound sources may challenge the point-source assumption, potentially impacting localization accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether human sound localization performance differs for small versus large sound sources.
  • To determine if sound source size affects localization accuracy and precision.

Main Methods:

  • Auditory targets were presented using a 25.4 cm elliptical loudspeaker (horizontal and vertical orientations) and a 7.6 cm circular speaker.
  • Participants localized sound targets using a laser pointer joystick in a darkened, echo-attenuating room.
  • Localization accuracy and precision were measured for targets presented across a range of azimuth and elevation angles.

Main Results:

  • Localization accuracy and precision were not significantly different between the large elliptical and small circular speakers.
  • Speaker orientation (horizontal vs. vertical) did not impact localization performance.
  • Results were comparable to baseline measurements.

Conclusions:

  • Human sound localization performance for low-frequency sounds is not dependent on the physical size of the sound source.
  • The point-source approximation for loudspeakers remains valid in free-field sound localization experiments.
  • Theoretical predictions regarding the effect of source size on localization precision were not supported.