SpecWeight: Spectral versus Binaural Reweighting

Subproject of QWeight

Duration: June 2021 - Feb 2022

Funding:

• OeAD, project SpaCI (#MULT_DR 11/2017)

Co-operation partners:

Norbert Kopčo, Perception and Cognition Lab, Institute of Computer Science, Safarik University, Košice, Slovakia & Hearing Research Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University

Objective:

Which cues the auditory system uses to determine the sound source location largely depends on the sound’s frequency content. For low-frequency (LF) narrowband sounds, the interaural time difference (ITD) is the dominant cue, while for high-frequency (HF) narrowband sounds, the interaural level difference (ILD) dominates. For mid-frequency narrowband sounds, ITD and ILD both contribute to varying degrees to determining the perceived location. This study explores the questions (1) whether it is possible to change spectral weighting of either the HF or the LF components of broadband stimuli by visually guided training in separate subject groups and (2) whether this reweighting would generalize to a change in the ITD/ILD weighting for mid-frequency sounds.