Sound localization: Effects of reverberation time, speaker array, stimulus frequency, and stimulus rise/decay

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Abstract
This research assessed the ability of human listeners to localize one‐third octave noise bands in the horizontal plane. The effects of reverberation time (absorbent versus reverberant room), stimulus center frequency (500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz), stimulus rise/decay time (5 vs 200 ms) and speaker array (frontal versus lateral) were investigated for four subjects using a forced‐choice speaker‐identification paradigm. Sound localization scores were consistently lower in the reverberant room than in the absorbent room. They also revealed strong frequency and azimuthal effects. The benefit of a shorter rise/decay time was small and limited to low frequencies. The identification of a speaker position depended strongly upon the array in which it was embedded, primarily because localization in the lateral array led to frequency‐dependent front/back confusions and response bias. The results also illustrated the importance of choosing a coordinate system based on the auditory cone‐of‐confusion to analyze localization data for speaker arrays spanning the aural axis.

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