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Sound lateralization during passive whole‐body rotation
Author(s) -
Lewald Jörg,
Karnath HansOtto
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1046/j.0953-816x.2001.01608.x
Subject(s) - rotation (mathematics) , lateralization of brain function , headphones , acoustics , percept , vestibular system , physics , dichotic listening , horizontal plane , audiology , psychology , mathematics , perception , neuroscience , geometry , medicine
The effect of passive whole‐body rotation about the earth‐vertical axis on the lateralization of dichotic sound was investigated in human subjects. Pure‐tone pulses (1 kHz; 0.1 s duration) with various interaural time differences were presented via headphones during brief, low‐amplitude rotation (angular acceleration 400°/s 2 ; maximum velocity 90°/s; maximum displacement 194°). Subjects made two‐alternative forced‐choice (left/right) judgements on the acoustic stimuli. The auditory median plane of the head was shifted opposite to the direction of rotation, indicating a shift of the intracranial auditory percept in the direction of rotation. The mean magnitude of the shift was 10.7 µs. This result demonstrates a slight, but significant, influence of rotation on sound lateralization, suggesting that vestibular information is taken into account by the brain for accurate localization of stationary sound sources during natural head and body motion.