Research on Biomedical Engineering
https://rbejournal.org/article/doi/10.4322/rbeb.2013.035
Research on Biomedical Engineering
Original Article

An experiment set-up for analysis of lateralization judgments of binaural stimuli

Nogueira, Jurandyr Santos; Cunha, Ana Isabela A.; Braghiroli, Maria Clara Barreto de F. M.; Freire, Raimundo Carlos S.

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Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this work is to present a physical implementation of a noninvasive methodology to analyze the directional sensitivity of human auditory system. A computer controlled experiment set-up has been designed and developed to study the behavior of human subjects under the presentation of interaural time delays and interaural amplitude differences for several sensation levels. Methods: The proposed methodology comprises: the application of trains of low-pass fi ltered narrow pulses as acoustic binaural stimuli; the automatic, simultaneous and random variation of interaural time delays and interaural amplitude differences; the absence of human interference along the experimental sessions, except for the decision of the listener under test; the minimization of adaptation effects. Results: Numerous lateralization judgments have been accomplished in order to investigate the transduction mechanism which allows deciding which side of subjects medial plane the source of binaural acoustic stimuli is located in. The behavior of decision time with the order of judgment, the sensation levels and the interaural differences in time and amplitudes has been analyzed. Conclusion: The noninvasive, reliable and automatic approach here presented allows obtaining psychophysical responses associated to the neuro-physiological phenomena underneath lateralization capability.

Keywords

Lateralization judgments, Psychoacoustics, Interaural time delay, Interaural amplitude difference, Binaural hearing
5889fbdf5d01231a018b4827 rbeb Articles
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Res. Biomed. Eng.

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