Psychophysical Reweighting of Auditory Spatial Cues

项目总结/摘要 空间听觉基本上是多维的，因为许多声学特征（“线索”） 与听觉场景的空间方面同时进行。这些包括双耳线索（双耳时间 沿着单耳频谱线索、时间线索，以及 强度线索与来源和环境特征相关。在自然聆听中，各种线索 不是多余的;它们经常相互冲突，并且它们的价值观随着时间的推移而变化。 频率不同，频率不同。每个单独的提示X时间X频率组合提供潜在的 关于听觉空间的有用信息，但只定义了必须 集成以支持在声学复杂环境中的稳健感知和行为。先前的工作已经 通过测量双耳线索在线索中的相对影响--或感知权重--来研究这个过程 类型（例如，ITD/ILD“交易;”Harris 1960，Stecker 2010）、时间（Saberi 1996，Stecker 2014）和频率 （Heller & Trahiotis 1996，Bibee & Stecker 2016）.这项工作揭示的默认权重模式表明， 该线索加权通常遵循自然听觉场景的统计：感知上占优势的线索（例如， 低频ITD和声音起始线索）往往是受回声引起的失真影响最小的那些， 混响和竞争的声音。 以往的工作主要集中在典型听觉和中性语境中的线索加权，即“缺省” 加权模式因此，关键问题仍然存在：这些加权模式是固定的，还是随着时间的推移而变化？ 经验？它们能否迅速适应当前场景的实际统计数据（“重新加权”）？如果是的话， 调整权重是由手头的刺激措施的结构性变化驱动的，或者是由从最近的 曝光？这些问题的答案对信号处理算法具有重要意义， 改变辅助和增强听力中可用线索的平衡，以及听觉空间的阻碍 不同听众的认知。这项拟议中的研究在正常听力和 听觉障碍者对携带多种空间线索的声音的空间判断。多元回归将 当某些线索被扭曲时，可以用来测量听者对这些线索的相对敏感度（对于 例如通过助听器或模拟混响）以及当目标声音之前有其它声音时 具有一致和不一致的特征。比较有经验和没有经验的助听器用户将 量化由于使用助听器和长期暴露于改变的线索而导致的加权模式的差异， 为未来研究空间听觉的潜在障碍铺平了道路。

Project Summary / Abstract Spatial hearing is fundamentally multidimensional, in that numerous acoustical features (“cues”) vary simultaneously with spatial aspects of the auditory scene. These include the binaural cues (interaural time differences [ITD] and interaural level differences [ILD]) along with monaural spectral cues, temporal cues, and intensity cues that correlate with source and environmental features. In natural listening, the various cues are not redundant; they are often in conflict with one another, and they take on values that change from moment to moment and differ across frequency. Each individual cue X time X frequency combination provides potentially useful information about auditory space, but defines only one of multiple sensory dimensions that must be integrated to support robust perception and behavior in acoustically complex environments. Previous work has studied that process by measuring the relative influence–or perceptual weight–of binaural cues across cue type (e.g., ITD/ILD “trading;” Harris 1960, Stecker 2010), time (Saberi 1996, Stecker 2014), and frequency (Heller & Trahiotis 1996, Bibee & Stecker 2016). The default weighting patterns revealed by that work suggest that cue weighting generally follows the statistics of natural auditory scenes: perceptually dominant cues (e.g., low-frequency ITD and sound-onset cues) tend to be those least affected by distortion due to echoes, reverberation, and competing sounds. Previous work has focused on cue-weighting in typical hearing and in neutral contexts, i.e. the “default” weighting patterns. Thus, key questions remain: are these weighting patterns fixed or do they change with experience? Can they adapt rapidly to the actual statistics of the current scene (“reweighting”)? And, if so, is reweighting driven by structural changes to the stimulus at hand, or by information gleaned from recent exposure? The answers to these questions have important implications for signal-processing algorithms that alter the balance of available cues in aided and augmented listening, and for the habilitation of auditory spatial awareness in diverse listeners. The proposed study addresses these questions in both normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners' spatial judgments of sounds that carry multiple spatial cues. Multiple regression will be used to measure listeners' relative sensitivity to those cues when some of the cues have been distorted (for example by hearing aids or simulated reverberation) and when target sounds are preceded by other sounds with consistent versus inconsistent features. Comparing experienced and inexperienced hearing-aid users will quantify differences in weighting patterns due to hearing-aid use and long-term exposure to altered cues, paving the way for future work on the potential habilitation of spatial hearing.