Reconstructing spectral cues for sound localization from responses to rippled noise stimuli.

Human sound localization in the mid-saggital plane (elevation) relies on an analysis of the idiosyncratic spectral shape cues provided by the head and pinnae. However, because the actual free-field stimulus spectrum is a-priori unknown to the auditory system, the problem of extracting the elevation angle from the sensory spectrum is ill-posed. Here we test different spectral localization models by eliciting head movements toward broad-band noise stimuli with randomly shaped, rippled amplitude spectra emanating from a speaker at a fixed location, while varying the ripple bandwidth between 1.

Gaze orienting in dynamic visual double steps.

Visual stimuli are initially represented in a retinotopic reference frame. To maintain spatial accuracy of gaze (i.e.

Dynamic sound localization during rapid eye-head gaze shifts.

Human sound localization relies on implicit head-centered acoustic cues. However, to create a stable and accurate representation of sounds despite intervening head movements, the acoustic input should be continuously combined with feedback signals about changes in head orientation. Alternatively, the auditory target coordinates could be updated in advance by using either the preprogrammed gaze-motor command or the sensory target coordinates to which the intervening gaze shift is made ("predictive remapping").

The influence of duration and level on human sound localization.

The localization of sounds in the vertical plane (elevation) deteriorates for short-duration wideband sounds at moderate to high intensities. The effect is described by a systematic decrease of the elevation gain (slope of stimulus-response relation) at short sound durations. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain this finding.