Spatial memory is a cognitive skill that allows the recall of information about the space, its layout, and items’ locations. We present a novel application built around 3D spatial audio technology to evaluate audio-spatial memory abilities. The sound sources have been spatially distributed employing the 3D Tune-In Toolkit, a virtual acoustic simulator. The participants are presented with sequences of sounds of increasing length emitted from virtual auditory sources around their heads. To identify stimuli positions and register the test responses, we designed a custom-made interface with buttons arranged according to sound locations. We took inspiration from the Corsi-Block test for the experimental procedure, a validated clinical approach for assessing visuo-spatial memory abilities. In two different experimental sessions, the participants were tested with the classical Corsi-Block and, blindfolded, with the proposed task, named Audio-Corsi for brevity. Our results show comparable performance across the two tests in terms of the estimated memory parameter precision. Furthermore, in the Audio-Corsi we observe a lower span compared to the Corsi-Block test. We discuss these results in the context of the theoretical relationship between the auditory and visual sensory modalities and potential applications of this system in multiple scientific and clinical contexts.

空间记忆是一种认知技能，它允许回忆有关空间、其布局和物品位置的信息。我们提出了一个围绕 3D 空间音频技术构建的新颖应用程序，用于评估音频空间记忆能力。声源已使用虚拟声学模拟器 3D Tune-In Toolkit 进行空间分布。向参与者呈现从他们头部周围的虚拟听觉源发出的长度增加的声音序列。为了识别刺激位置并记录测试响应，我们设计了一个定制的界面，其中的按钮根据声音位置排列。我们从Corsi-Block中汲取灵感测试实验程序，一种经过验证的评估视觉空间记忆能力的临床方法。在两个不同的实验环节中，参与者使用经典的Corsi-Block进行测试，并蒙住眼睛，使用提议的任务，为了简洁起见，将其命名为Audio-Corsi。我们的结果在估计的内存参数精度方面显示了两个测试的可比性能。此外，在Audio-Corsi中，与Corsi-Block测试相比，我们观察到了更低的跨度。我们在听觉和视觉感官模式之间的理论关系以及该系统在多种科学和临床环境中的潜在应用的背景下讨论了这些结果。