The effects of late reflections on an individual's auditory distance perception

Author/Creator

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2014-07-15

Department

Towson University. Department of Audiology, Speech-Language Pathology and Deaf Studies

Program

Citation of Original Publication

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Copyright protected, all rights reserved.
There are no restrictions on access to this document. An internet release form signed by the author to display this document online is on file with Towson University Special Collections and Archives.

Subjects

Abstract

The effect of reflections on an individual's auditory distance perception has been widely studied in an enclosed space but has received less attention when conducted in an open air outdoor space. Auditory distance judgments were assessed for 14 normal hearing and normal visual depth perception participants aged 18 to 50 years. Participants were asked to judge the auditory distance of various sounds presented via a lap top computer and insert earphones. The task was completed using three different noise stimuli (pink noise, pulse train, speech), seven different microphone to loudspeaker distances (1 ft, 2 ft, 4 ft, 8 ft, 16 ft, 32 ft, and 64 ft) and seven different reflection delays (0 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, 160 ms, and 320 ms). Results revealed that reflection delay did not significantly impact auditory distance perception in a simulated open air outdoor space, but that the combined effects of sound source distance, type of stimuli, and reflection delay interacting together did impact auditory distance judgments in a simulated open air outdoor space. This study further supports the findings of previous literature looking at the combination of various acoustic and non-acoustic effects on an individual's auditory distance perception.