Cross-Modal and Cognitive Processes in Sound Localization

Abstract

To perceptually situate a sound source in the context of its surrounding environment, a listener must integrate two spatial estimates, (1), the location, relative to the listener's head, of the auditory event associated with the sound-source and, (2), the location of the listener's head relative to the environment. This chapter introduces the general background of auditory localization as a multi-sensory process and reviews studies of cross-modal interactions with auditory localization for stationary/moving sound sources and listeners. Included are relevant results from recent experiments at Arizona State University's Spatial-Hearing and Auditory Computation and Neurophysiology Laboratories. Finally, a conceptual model of the integrated multisensory/multi-system processes is described.