Auditory efferents facilitate sound localization in noise in humans.

The mammalian auditory system contains descending neural pathways, some of which project onto the cochlea via the medial olivocochlear (MOC) system. The function of this efferent auditory system is not entirely clear. Behavioral studies in animals with olivocochlear (OC) lesions suggest that the MOC serves to facilitate sound localization in noise. In the current work, noise-induced OC activity (the OC reflex) and sound-localization performance in noise were measured in normal-hearing humans. Consistent with earlier studies, both measures were found to vary substantially across individuals. Importantly, significant correlations were observed between OC-reflex strength and the effect of noise on sound-localization performance; the stronger the OC reflex, the less marked the effect of noise. These results suggest that MOC activation by noise helps to counteract the detrimental effects of background noise on neural representations of direction-dependent spectral features, which are especially important for accurate localization in the up/down and front/back dimensions.

Localization of virtual sound at 4 Gz.

INTRODUCTION: Acceleration directed along the body's z-axis (Gz) leads to misperception of the elevation of visual objects (the "elevator illusion"), most probably as a result of errors in the transformation from eye-centered to head-centered coordinates. We have investigated whether the location of sound sources is misperceived under increased Gz. METHOD: Visually guided localization responses were made, using a remotely controlled laser pointer, to virtual auditory targets under conditions of 1 and 4 Gz induced in a human centrifuge. As these responses would be expected to be affected by the elevator illusion, we also measured the effect of Gz on the accuracy with which subjects could point to the horizon. RESULTS: Horizon judgments were lower at 4 Gz than at 1 Gz, so sound localization responses at 4 Gz were corrected for this error in the transformation from eye-centered to head-centered coordinates. We found that the accuracy and bias of sound localization are not significantly affected by increased Gz. CONCLUSION: The auditory modality is likely to provide a reliable means of conveying spatial information to operators in dynamic environments in which Gz can vary.

Hearing thresholds during Gz acceleration with masking noise.

BACKGROUND: Future fighter aircraft will include three-dimensional sound signals as part of the human-machine interface. The reduction in cerebral vascular flow associated with maneuvering acceleration (+Gz) may affect a pilot's ability to perceive and interpret such aural cues. We hypothesized that vascular deprivation along the cochlea produced by +Gz would raise hearing thresholds either globally or specifically at 1000 Hz. METHODS: We compared hearing thresholds for pure tones at 250, 1000, 6000 and 10,000 Hz during exposure to +1 Gz vs. +4 Gz. Experiments were conducted with steady noise input to the earphones to mask centrifuge noise. RESULTS: Paradoxically the hearing threshold was slightly yet significantly reduced for 1000 Hz (53 dB at 1 G vs. 47 dB at 4 G) while remaining unchanged at other frequencies. DISCUSSION: Audition did not change at +4 Gz, contradicting our hypothesis. We infer that the change at 1000 Hz is not a central effect, but instead represents a disturbance of middle ear transmission mechanisms. The absence of any general hearing loss at +4 Gz favors the possibility of using complex sounds such as three-dimensional sound in aeronautical human-machine interfaces during acceleration.

Judging the urgency of nonvocal auditory warning signals: perceptual and cognitive processes.

Previous research has identified acoustic properties modulating the perceived urgency of alarms. The authors conducted 3 experiments using a multidimensional approach in which participants made acoustic dissimilarity judgments and urgency dissimilarity judgments for pairs of sequences. Experiment 1 confirmed the validity of acoustic parameters in urgency perception of experimental alarms. Experiment 2 confirmed the role of these acoustic parameters with real alarms but suggested the importance of additional factors. Experiment 3 compared the relative degrees of urgency of alarms from Experiments 1 and 2, highlighting the role of both sequence structure and associated mental representation. The authors conclude that the design of alarms should not be based exclusively on acoustic factors but should also take into consideration the acquisition of an appropriate mental representation.