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The Minimum Audible Movement Distance for Localization of Approaching and Receding Broadband Noise with a Reduced Fraction of High-Frequency Spectral Components Typical of Prebyscusis

  • Comparative and Ontogenic Physiology
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Abstract

The minimum audible movement distance was estimated for approaching and receding sound images with a reduced fraction of high-frequency spectral components which reflects an age-related deterioration of auditory perception (presbycusis). Such a reduction can lead to a partial shutdown of the high-frequency binaural auditory mechanism and changes in distance estimation for sound sources positioned at egocentric distances up to 5 m, i.e. in case of making a contact (collision) decision. This study was carried out in free-field conditions using a sound source movement model. The movement was modelled by noise bursts with linearly changing amplitudes, which were emitted by two loudspeakers spaced 3 m apart. The minimum audible movement distance in estimating moving sound images with a reduced fraction of high-frequency signal components was found to be twice as low as for sound images without such a reduction. The data obtained indicate that, provided that the suprathreshold signal encoding mechanisms remain intact, high-frequency level lowering does not increase the minimum audible movement distance.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 18-015-00296). Computerized realization of the method for approximating psychometric functions was implemented within the FASO Russia’s state assignment (theme no. AAAA-A18-118013090245-6).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia

    A. P. Gvozdeva & I. G. Andreeva

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  1. A. P. Gvozdeva
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  2. I. G. Andreeva
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Correspondence to I. G. Andreeva.

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All experimental procedures with the involvement of human subjects as research objects met institutional and international ethical standards, as well as requirements of the Declaration of Helsinki of 1964 and its subsequent revisions. Each human participant gave his/her written informed consent to be involved in the experiments.

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Russian Text © The Author(s), 2019, published in Zhurnal Evolyutsionnoi Biokhimii i Fiziologii, 2019, Vol. 55, No. 6, pp. 414–424.

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Gvozdeva, A.P., Andreeva, I.G. The Minimum Audible Movement Distance for Localization of Approaching and Receding Broadband Noise with a Reduced Fraction of High-Frequency Spectral Components Typical of Prebyscusis. J Evol Biochem Phys 55, 463–474 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0022093019060048

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0022093019060048

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