RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Short-term effects of sound localization training in virtual reality
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 207753
DO 10.1101/207753
A1 Mark A. Steadman
A1 Chungeun Kim
A1 Jean-Hugues Lestang
A1 Dan F. M. Goodman
A1 Lorenzo Picinali
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/03/19/207753.abstract
AB Head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) capture the direction-dependant way that sound interacts the head and torso. In virtual audio systems, which aim to emulate these effects, non-individualized, generic HRTFs are typically used, leading to inaccurate virtual sound localization. Training has the potential to exploit the brain’s ability to adapt to these unfamiliar cues. In this study, three virtual sound localization training paradigms were evaluated; one provided simple visual positional confirmation of sound source location, a second introduced game design elements (“gamification”) and a final version additionally utilized head-tracking to provide listeners with experience of relative sound source motion (“active listening”). The results demonstrate a significant effect of training after a small number of short (12-minute) training sessions, which is retained across multiple days. Gamification alone had no significant effect on the efficacy of the training, but the inclusion of active listening resulted in a significantly greater improvement in virtual sound localization accuracy. Improvements in polar angle judgement were significantly larger for the trained HRTFs, while improvement in lateral judgements and front-back reversals also generalized to a second set of HRTFs, for which no positional feedback was given. The implications of this on the putative mechanisms of the adaptation process are discussed.