LAUSR

Systematic distortions in our perception of acoustic space have been repeatedly documented in the literature. For example, listeners exhibit a characteristic overestimation of azimuth when they are asked to point a laser at a sound source while keeping their head and eyes fixated ahead of them. Motion perception also appears to be non-uniform as a function of azimuth, as demonstrated by the fact that listeners need roughly twice as much motion at the side than at the front to judge the two motions as equivalent. This talk will make the case for a common source of these two perceptual inconsistencies, namely, the change in minimum audible angle (MAA) as a function of azimuth. Classically speaking, the MAA is thought of as a threshold measure that increases at more eccentric angles because of a change in the availability of binaural cues. Regardless of the source, we argue here a la Fechner that azimuth overestimation and motion perception non-uniformity are suprathreshold consequences of the change in acuity. By treating, e.g., 20° of acoustic space at the side as equivalent to 10° at the front, a model of the perceptual topology of acoustic space can capture several previously reported findings in spatial hearing. Systematic distortions in our perception of acoustic space have been repeatedly documented in the literature. For example, listeners exhibit a characteristic overestimation of azimuth when they are asked to point a laser at a sound source while keeping their head and eyes fixated ahead of them. Motion perception also appears to be non-uniform as a function of azimuth, as demonstrated by the fact that listeners need roughly twice as much motion at the side than at the front to judge the two motions as equivalent. This talk will make the case for a common source of these two perceptual inconsistencies, namely, the change in minimum audible angle (MAA) as a function of azimuth. Classically speaking, the MAA is thought of as a threshold measure that increases at more eccentric angles because of a change in the availability of binaural cues. Regardless of the source, we argue here a la Fechner that azimuth overestimation and motion perception non-uniformity are suprathreshold consequences of the change in acu...