Effectiveness of time-varying echo information for target geometry identification in bat-inspired human echolocation.

Bats use echolocation through flexible active sensing via ultrasounds to identify environments suitable for their habitat and foraging. Mimicking the sensing strategies of bats for echolocation, this study examined how humans acquire new acoustic-sensing abilities, and proposes effective strategies for humans. A target geometry identification experiment-involving 15 sighted people without experience of echolocation-was conducted using two targets with different geometries, based on a new sensing system. Broadband frequency-modulated pulses with short inter-pulse intervals (16 ms) were used as a synthetic echolocation signal. Such pulses mimic buzz signals emitted by bats for echolocation prior to capturing their prey. The study participants emitted the signal from a loudspeaker by tapping on Android devices. Because the signal included high-frequency signals up to 41 kHz, the emitted signal and echoes from a stationary or rotating target were recorded using a 1/7-scaled miniature dummy head. Binaural sounds, whose pitch was down-converted, were presented through headphones. This way, time-varying echo information was made available as an acoustic cue for target geometry identification under a rotating condition, as opposed to a stationary one. In both trials, with (i.e., training trials) and without (i.e., test trials) answer feedback immediately after the participants answered, the participants identified the geometries under the rotating condition. Majority of the participants reported using time-varying patterns in terms of echo intensity, timbre, and/or pitch under the rotating condition. The results suggest that using time-varying patterns in echo intensity, timbre, and/or pitch enables humans to identify target geometries. However, performance significantly differed by condition (i.e., stationary vs. rotating) only in the test trials. This difference suggests that time-varying echo information is effective for identifying target geometry through human echolocation especially when echolocators are unable to obtain answer feedback during sensing.

Two-dimensional shape discrimination by sighted people using simulated virtual echoes.

In this study, a new research method using psychoacoustic experiments and acoustic simulations is proposed for human echolocation research. A shape discrimination experiment was conducted for sighted people using pitch-converted virtual echoes from targets of dissimilar two-dimensional (2D) shapes. These echoes were simulated using a three-dimensional acoustic simulation based on a finite-difference time-domain method from Bossy, Talmat, and Laugier [(2004). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 115, 2314-2324]. The experimental and simulation results suggest that the echo timbre and pitch determined based on the sound interference may be effective acoustic cues for 2D shape discrimination. The newly developed research method may lead to more efficient future studies of human echolocation.

Bat-inspired signal design for target discrimination in human echolocation.

Echolocating bats exhibit sophisticated sonar behaviors using ultrasounds with actively adjusted acoustic characteristics (e.g., frequency and time-frequency structure) depending on the situation. In this study, the utility of ultrasound in human echolocation was examined. By listening to ultrasonic echoes with a shifted pitch to be audible, the participants (i.e., sighted echolocation novices) could discriminate the three-dimensional (3D) roundness of edge contours. This finding suggests that sounds with suitable wavelengths (i.e., ultrasounds) can provide useful information about 3D shapes. In addition, the shape, texture, and material discrimination experiments were conducted using ultrasonic echoes binaurally measured with a 1/7 scaled miniature dummy head. The acoustic and statistical analyses showed that intensity and timbre cues were useful for shape and texture discriminations, respectively. Furthermore, in the discrimination of objects with various features (e.g., acrylic board and artificial grass), the perceptual distances between objects were more dispersed when frequency-modulated sweep signals were used than when a constant-frequency signal was used. These suggest that suitable signal design, i.e., echolocation sounds employed by bats, allowed echolocation novices to discriminate the 3D shape and texture. This top-down approach using human subjects may be able to efficiently help interpret the sensory perception, "seeing by sound," in bat biosonar.

Effects of auditory information on self-motion perception during simultaneous presentation of visual shearing motion.

Recent studies have found that self-motion perception induced by simultaneous presentation of visual and auditory motion is facilitated when the directions of visual and auditory motion stimuli are identical. They did not, however, examine possible contributions of auditory motion information for determining direction of self-motion perception. To examine this, a visual stimulus projected on a hemisphere screen and an auditory stimulus presented through headphones were presented separately or simultaneously, depending on experimental conditions. The participant continuously indicated the direction and strength of self-motion during the 130-s experimental trial. When the visual stimulus with a horizontal shearing rotation and the auditory stimulus with a horizontal one-directional rotation were presented simultaneously, the duration and strength of self-motion perceived in the opposite direction of the auditory rotation stimulus were significantly longer and stronger than those perceived in the same direction of the auditory rotation stimulus. However, the auditory stimulus alone could not sufficiently induce self-motion perception, and if it did, its direction was not consistent within each experimental trial. We concluded that auditory motion information can determine perceived direction of self-motion during simultaneous presentation of visual and auditory motion information, at least when visual stimuli moved in opposing directions (around the yaw-axis). We speculate that the contribution of auditory information depends on the plausibility and information balance of visual and auditory information.

Hearing thresholds for pure tones above 16 kHz.

Hearing thresholds for pure tones between 16 and 30 kHz were measured by an adaptive method. The maximum presentation level at the entrance of the outer ear was about 110 dB SPL. To prevent the listeners from detecting subharmonic distortions in the lower frequencies, pink noise was presented as a masker. Even at 28 kHz, threshold values were obtained from 3 out of 32 ears. No thresholds were obtained for 30 kHz tone. Between 20 and 28 kHz, the threshold tended to increase rather gradually, whereas it increased abruptly between 16 and 20 kHz.