Passively induced contextual plasticity in sound localization in real and virtual environments

Area of Science:

• Auditory perception
• Psychoacoustics
• Spatial hearing

Background:

• Contextual plasticity (CP) is an auditory localization aftereffect.
• CP is induced by repeated exposure to stimuli from a fixed location.
• Previous research has not fully explored passive exposure or virtual environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if passive exposure to auditory context induces CP.
• To compare CP effects in real reverberant and virtual anechoic/reverberant environments.
• To assess the impact of CP on sound localization accuracy and information transfer.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted using transient noise bursts as targets and adaptor stimuli.
• Participants passively listened to adaptors while localizing targets in real and virtual environments.
• Localization accuracy, response variability, and information transfer rates were measured.

Main Results:

• Passive adaptor exposure induced significant localization aftereffects (up to 16°).
• CP effects were strongest and fastest in a virtual anechoic environment.
• Real reverberation showed smaller effects (5°), while virtual environments led to performance deterioration.

Conclusions:

• Passive auditory context is sufficient to induce contextual plasticity.
• Virtual environments may exaggerate CP, potentially due to altered listener strategies.
• CP negatively impacts spatial resolvability, particularly near the adaptor location.