The Sound of Scotoma: Audio Space Representation Reorganization in Individuals With Macular Degeneration
The Sound of Scotoma: Audio Space Representation Reorganization in Individuals With Macular Degeneration
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DOI：
10.3389/fnint.2019.00044
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发表时间：
2019-08-20
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
Gori, Monica
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ahmad, Hafsah;Setti, Walter;Gori, Monica
失明是研究视觉输入对空间表征发展的作用的理想条件，因为研究表明音频空间表征在失明时如何重组。然而，空间重组如何发挥作用仍不清楚。失明研究的局限性在于它是一个“稳定”系统，不允许研究阻碍这种重组进展的机制。为了克服这个问题，我们首次研究了 18 名患有黄斑变性 (MD) 的成年人的音频空间重组，其中由于暗点导致的视力丧失是一个持续进行的过程。我们的结果表明，视力丧失会立即改变空间音频信号的处理。在患有 MD 的个体中，横向声音被“吸引”到中央暗点位置，导致空间听觉感知出现强烈偏差。这一结果表明，音频空间表征的重组是一个快速且可塑的过程，也发生在晚年视力丧失之后。
Blindness is an ideal condition to study the role of visual input on the development of spatial representation, as studies have shown how audio space representation reorganizes in blindness. However, how spatial reorganization works is still unclear. A limitation of the study on blindness is that it is a "stable" system and it does not allow for studying the mechanisms that subtend the progress of this reorganization. To overcome this problem here we study, for the first time, audio spatial reorganization in 18 adults with macular degeneration (MD) for which the loss of vision due to scotoma is an ongoing progressive process. Our results show that the loss of vision produces immediate changes in the processing of spatial audio signals. In individuals with MD, the lateral sounds are "attracted" toward the central scotoma position resulting in a strong bias in the spatial auditory percept. This result suggests that the reorganization of audio space representation is a fast and plastic process occurring also later in life, after vision loss.