Upper limits of auditory motion perception

在日常听觉中，听觉系统面临的主要挑战之一是跟踪移动的声源以预测它们的未来路径（例如，接近的汽车，嗡嗡作响的蚊子）。然而，我们对听觉运动的感知（和生理）基础的理解仍然落后于我们对静态声音定位的理解。如果我们对听觉运动感知知之甚少，那么我们对辨别运动声音速度的能力就更不了解了。只有少数研究调查了听觉速度感知，以及那些使用相对较慢速度的研究。但是，我们最近证明，听众能够以更高的速度感知旋转声音的运动。此外，大多数关于声音定位的研究都是在消声（或“干燥”）环境中进行的。然而，在几乎所有的自然环境中，空间听觉都受到混响的挑战。混响对静态声定位的有害影响已经报道，但其对听觉运动的影响将在本计划中首次通过在大型音乐厅中重复实验进行系统研究。最后，该计划将表征各种空间化技术的定位虚拟声源的能力，以重现周围的听众的声学运动。 该程序通过操纵声音的特性（频谱内容），其运动（速度，轨迹）和环境（混响，呈现模式）来研究用于定位移动声音的不同感知机制的相对贡献。短期目标是确定必要的和足够的线索，听觉运动检测的圆形和线性轨迹，使用实验条件和行为任务，旨在推动听觉系统的极限。该计划的长期目标是了解听觉运动的感知基础，以扩展或调和当前关于运动感知的理论。未来的发展方向包括研究视觉，听觉和触觉信息如何可以一起使用，以提供互补的运动信息。

One of the major challenges to the auditory system in everyday listening is to track moving sound sources to predict their future path (e.g. an approaching car, a buzzing mosquito). However, our understanding of the perceptual (and physiological) underpinnings of auditory motion is still lagging compared to our understanding of static sound localization. If we know relatively little about auditory motion perception, we know even less about our ability to discriminate the velocity of moving sounds. Only a handful of studies have investigated auditory velocity perception and those that did used relatively slow velocities. But, we recently demonstrated that listeners are able to perceive the motion of rotating sounds at much higher velocities. Furthermore, most research on sound localization has been conducted in anechoic (or 'dry') environments. However, in almost all natural environments spatial hearing is challenged by the presence of reverberation. Detrimental effects of reverberation on static sound localization have been reported, but its effect on auditory motion will be investigated systematically for the first time in this program by repeating experiments in a large concert hall. Finally, this program will characterize various spatialization techniques for the positioning of virtual sound sources in terms of their ability to reproduce acoustic motion around the listener. This program investigates the relative contribution of different perceptual mechanisms used to localize moving sounds by manipulating the characteristics of the sound (spectral content), its movement (velocity, trajectories) and the environment (reverberation, presentation mode). The short-term goal is to identify the necessary and sufficient cues for auditory motion detection for circular and linear trajectories using experimental conditions and behavioural tasks designed to push the limits of the auditory system. The long-term goal of this program is to understand the perceptual underpinnings of auditory motion in order to extend or reconcile current theory regarding motion perception. Future directions include investigating how visual, auditory and haptic information can be used together to provide complementary motion information.