Spatial Hearing with Incongruent Visual or Auditory Room Cues.

Area of Science:

• Auditory perception
• Virtual acoustics
• Psychoacoustics

Background:

• Humans naturally perceive sound sources externally.
• Headphone audio can replicate externalized sound by recreating ear-canal sound pressure.
• Differences between recording and playback environments can degrade auditory image externalization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how mismatches between recording and playback environments affect auditory spatial perception.
• To determine if reduced externalization is due to incongruent auditory cues or visual room expectations.
• To analyze the impact on perceived distance, azimuthal direction, and auditory image compactness.

Main Methods:

• Participants listened to headphone audio recorded in one room and played back in another.
• Acoustic and visual room characteristics were manipulated between recording and playback.
• Listeners rated perceived distance, azimuthal direction, and compactness of auditory images.

Main Results:

• Perceived distance significantly decreased when playback environment was more reverberant than the recording environment.
• Azimuthal direction and compactness of auditory images were not affected by room differences.
• Visual room cues did not influence spatial perception attributes; auditory incongruence did impact distance perception.

Conclusions:

• Externalized perception of virtual sounds is contingent upon the congruence of acoustic features between recording and playback environments.
• Auditory cues are the primary drivers of spatial perception, with acoustic mismatches primarily affecting perceived distance.
• Visual information does not compensate for acoustic incongruence in maintaining robust externalized auditory experiences.