Effects of rise/decay time on the lateralization of interaurally delayed 1-kHz tones

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Vol. 69; no. 3; pp. 769 - 773
• Main Authors: Kunov, H, Abel, S M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-03-1981
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation - methods; Auditory Perception; Cues; Humans; Sound Localization; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.385577

Experiments in lateralization were performed to evaluate the relative contribution of onset and phase cues in binaural hearing. A 1-kHz signal was presented with interaural stimulus delays ranging from 0 to 1000 microseconds, corresponding to phase shifts of 0 degree to 360 degrees. For a given value of delay, the leading signal was presented randomly to the right or left ear over a block of 100 trials, and the laterality of the resultant image was judged. The percentage of correct judgments was plotted as a function of delay with rise/decay time as a parameter. Values of rise/decay time ranged from 0 to 500 ms. The results indicated that rise/decay times of at least 200 ms are necessary to avoid contributions from the onset cue to the formation of lateralization judgments. For rise/decay times shorter than 200 ms, a conflict occurs between phase and onset cues in the region of phase shifts from 180 degrees to 360 degrees. At the limit with very short rise/decay times, the onset cue completely overrides the phase cue.