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The effect of eye position on auditory lateralization
1Institut für Arbeitsphysiologie, Abt. Sinnes- und Neurophysiologie, Dortmund, Germany.
Experimental Brain Research
|March 1, 1996
Summary
Gaze direction influences sound localization. When looking to the side, sounds are perceived as originating slightly from the opposite direction, impacting auditory perception.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Psychophysics
- Human Perception
Background:
- Sound lateralization relies on interaural differences.
- Visual cues can influence auditory perception, but the extent is debated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if gaze direction affects sound lateralization.
- To quantify the impact of visual fixation on auditory spatial perception.
Main Methods:
- Dichotic stimuli with varying interaural level differences (ILD) were used.
- Two experiments employed auditory adjustment and forced-choice methods under controlled visual fixation.
Main Results:
- Auditory median plane perception shifted towards the direction of gaze.
- The effect was frequency-dependent, most pronounced at 2 kHz.
- The shift was observed even in darkness, suggesting a robust eye-position effect.
Conclusions:
- Gaze direction significantly modulates sound lateralization.
- This suggests a link between visual and auditory spatial processing, possibly via neural mechanisms.
- Auditory stimuli are perceived slightly towards the contralateral side of gaze direction.