University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 8-2015 Effects of amplitude modulation on sound localization in reverberant environments. Paul W. Anderson University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Part of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons Recommended Citation Anderson, Paul W., "Effects of amplitude modulation on sound localization in reverberant environments." (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2203. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/2203 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The nivU ersity of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The nivU ersity of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EFFECTS OF AMPLITUDE MODULATION ON SOUND LOCALIZATION IN REVERBERANT ENVIRONMENTS By Paul W. Anderson B.S., Georgia College & State University, 2010 M.S., University of Louisville, 2012 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Psychology Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences University of Louisville Louisville, KY August 2015 EFFECTS OF AMPLITUDE MODULATION ON SOUND LOCALIZATION IN REVERBERANT ENVIRONMENTS By Paul W. Anderson B.S., Georgia College & State University, 2010 M.S., University of Louisville, 2012 A Dissertation Approved on May 27, 2015 by the following Dissertation Committee: ________________________________ Dissertation Director Dr. Pavel Zahorik ________________________________ Dr. Jeffrey Weihing ________________________________ Dr. Christian Stilp ________________________________ Dr. Paul DeMarco ________________________________ Dr. Zijiang He ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my mom, my dad, and sister Laura for their constant love and support. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is with great pleasure that I acknowledge and thank the following individuals for their contributions to this dissertation. I would first like to thank my mentor Pavel Zahorik for his patience and unwavering guidance throughout my time in Louisville. I would also like to thank my dissertation committee, Dr. Pavel Zahorik, Dr. Paul DeMarco, Dr. Zijiang He, Dr. Christian Stilp, and Dr. Jeffrey Weihing for their time and feedback. I also wish to thank my fellow lab mates, Dr. Eugene Brandewie, Greg Ellis, and Dr. Amanda O’Bryan, for their support, encouragement, and friendship. A special thanks to the listeners who participated in these experiments for their time and attention. iv ABSTRACT EFFECTS OF AMPLITUDE MODULATION ON SOUND LOCALIZATION IN REVERBERANT ENVIRONMENTS Paul W. Anderson May 27, 2015 Auditory localization involves different cues depending on the spatial domain. Azimuth localization cues include interaural time differences (ITDs), interaural level differences (ILDs) and pinnae cues. Auditory distance perception (ADP) cues include intensity, spectral cues, binaural cues, and the direct-to-reverberant energy ratio (D/R). While D/R has been established as a primary ADP cue, it is unlikely that it is directly encoded in the auditory system because it can be difficult to extract from ongoing signals. It is also noteworthy that no neuronal population has been identified that specifically codes D/R. It has therefore been proposed that D/R is indirectly encoded in the auditory system, through sensitivity to other acoustic parameters that are correlated with D/R, such as temporal cues (Zahorik, 2002b), spectral properties (Jetzt, 1979; Larsen, 2008), and interaural correlation (Bronkhorst and Houtgast, 1999). An additional D/R correlate relies on attenuation of amplitude modulation (AM) as a function of distance. Room modulation transfer functions act as low-pass filters on AM signals, and therefore the direct portion of a signal will have less modulation depth attenuation than the reverberant portion. Although recent neural and behavioral work has demonstrated that this cue can provide distance information monaurally, the extent to which the modulation attenuation v cue contributes to ADP relative to other ADP cues is not fully understood. It is also possible modulation attenuation by the room can provide additional directional localization information, perhaps through the resulting dynamic fluctuation of the ILD cue. The role of AM in directional sound localization has not been extensively studied, particularly in reverberant soundfields which can affect the modulation reaching the two ears in a directionally-dependent fashion. Three human psychophysical experiments assessed the role of AM signals in distance and directional auditory localization in reverberant soundfields. Experiment I focused on validating a graphical response method to be used in subsequent experiments. In Experiment II, an auditory distance estimation task was performed which yielded measures of the relative perceptual contributions of the modulation depth cue during ADP in a reverberant room. Experiment III investigated the effect of AM on binaural localization in the horizontal plane in a reverberant room. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................x I. BACKGROUND .....................................................................................................1 Distance Perception ...............................................................................1 Directional Perception ...........................................................................7 Direction Localization of AM Stimuli ...................................................8 Response Methods in Distance and Directional Localization Studies .12 Goals of Present Research ...................................................................13 II. EXPERIMENT I ....................................................................................................14 Methods.................................................................................................14 Results ...................................................................................................21 Discussion .............................................................................................32 Conclusions ...........................................................................................36 III. EXPERIMENT II...................................................................................................38 Methods.................................................................................................39 Results ...................................................................................................49 Discussion .............................................................................................62 Conclusions ...........................................................................................68 IV. EXPERIMENT III .................................................................................................69 Methods.................................................................................................70 Results ...................................................................................................77 Discussion .............................................................................................99 Conclusions .........................................................................................104 V. GENERAL DISCUSSION ..................................................................................105 vii Effects on Speech ................................................................................105 Role of Familiarity ..............................................................................107 Room Acoustics ..................................................................................108 Hearing Impaired Listeners.................................................................110 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................112 CURRICULUM VITAE ..................................................................................................119 viii LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1.1. Percentage of Front-Back Reversals ..........................................................................26 2.1. Auditory Processing Disorder Screening Measures ...................................................52 2.2. Unstandardized Coefficients from 32 Hz condition ..................................................56 2.3. Unstandardized Coefficients from 4 Hz condition ....................................................57 3.1. Auditory Processing Disorder Screening Measures ..................................................78 3.2. Percentage of Front-Back Reversals ..........................................................................97