Sound-induced flash illusion (SiFI) refers to an auditory dominance effect in which observers misperceive the number of visual flashes due to the simultaneous presentation of a different number of auditory beeps. Although the SiFI remains robust despite many factors, little is known about how the dominance of audition over vision changes as a function of spatial location in 3D space and how this corresponds with aging. In the present study, we recruited younger (18–26 years old) and older adults (60–76 years old) and presented visual stimuli in near space and auditory stimuli in far space (Vnear_Afar) or visual stimuli in far space and auditory stimuli in near space (Vfar_Anear), with the aim of exploring the effect of aging on spatial dominance in SiFI. The results showed that both participant groups exhibited a SiFI auditory dominance effect; however, older adults were more susceptible to illusions than younger adults. More importantly, for younger adults, when auditory stimuli were presented in far space, the accuracy and d’ indicated that SiFI was significantly enhanced in the fission illusion, and the reaction time (RT) results showed that RT became longer in the fusion illusion. However, for older adults, the SiFI was not affected by the spatial location. Therefore, the present results reveal for the first time that the SiFI effect is modulated by the depth of auditory stimuli. Moreover, older adults were not susceptible to the depth dimension, thus showing age-related sensory decline and specifically showing a decreased ability to localize visual and auditory stimuli.

声音诱发的闪光错觉 (SiFI) 是指一种听觉优势效应，在这种效应中，由于同时呈现不同数量的听觉蜂鸣声，观察者会误解视觉闪光的数量。尽管尽管存在许多因素，SiFI 仍保持稳健，但对于听觉对视觉的主导地位如何随着 3D 空间中的空间位置而变化以及这与老化如何对应，我们知之甚少。在本研究中，我们招募了年轻人（18-26 岁）和老年人（60-76 岁），并在近空间呈现视觉刺激，在远空间呈现听觉刺激（Vnear_Afar）或在远空间呈现视觉刺激和听觉刺激在近空间（Vfar_Anear）中，旨在探索老化对 SiFI 空间优势的影响。结果表明，两个参与者组都表现出SiFI听觉优势效应；然而，老年人比年轻人更容易产生幻觉。更重要的是，对于年轻人来说，当听觉刺激呈现在远空间时，准确度和d'表示SiFI在裂变错觉中显着增强，反应时间（RT）结果表明RT在聚变错觉中变长。然而，对于老年人来说，SiFI 不受空间位置的影响。因此，目前的结果首次揭示了 SiFI 效应受听觉刺激深度的调节。此外，老年人对深度维度不敏感，因此表现出与年龄相关的感觉衰退，特别是表现出定位视觉和听觉刺激的能力下降。