Examining experienced lateralization of sounds over headphones with electroencephalography

In the search for the neural correlates of auditory consciousness, a candidate has been found using electroencephalography: the auditory awareness negativity (AAN). Earlier studies have investigated the AAN in response to lateralized sound. With headphones, there is a clear lateralization of AAN when two auditory lateralization cues are combined: the interaural level difference (ILD) and interaural time difference (ITD). To separate the contribution of these cues to a lateralized AAN, we tested three stimulus conditions with headphones: A combination of ILD and ITD, solely ITD, and monaural stimulation. Results suggest that ILD and ITD are required in conjunction for a lateralized AAN, and neither ITD nor monaural stimulation can yield a lateralized AAN. These results suggest that event-related potentials may be limited in measuring the lateralization of the neural correlates of auditory consciousness to lateralized sounds, depending on auditory cues and acoustic environment.