Abstract
Localising sounds means having the ability to process auditory cues deriving from the interplay among sound waves, the head and the ears. When auditory cues change because of temporary or permanent hearing loss, sound localization becomes difficult and uncertain. The brain can adapt to altered auditory cues throughout life and multisensory training can promote the relearning of spatial hearing skills. Here, we study the training potentials of sound-oriented motor behaviour to test if a training based on manual actions toward sounds can learning effects that generalize to different auditory spatial tasks. We assessed spatial hearing relearning in normal hearing adults with a plugged ear by using visual virtual reality and body motion tracking. Participants performed two auditory tasks that entail explicit and implicit processing of sound position (head-pointing sound localization and audio-visual attention cueing, respectively), before and after having received a spatial training session in which they identified sound position by reaching to auditory sources nearby. Using a crossover design, the effects of the above-mentioned spatial training were compared to a control condition involving the same physical stimuli, but different task demands (i.e., a non-spatial discrimination of amplitude modulations in the sound). According to our findings, spatial hearing in one-ear plugged participants improved more after reaching to sound trainings rather than in the control condition. Training by reaching also modified head-movement behaviour during listening. Crucially, the improvements observed during training generalize also to a different sound localization task, possibly as a consequence of acquired and novel head-movement strategies.
Funder
Università Italo-Francese/Université Franco-Italienne
Zegna Founder's Scholarship
Associazione Amici di Claudio Demattè
Agence Nationale de la Recherche
Foundation Medisite
Neurodis Foundation
Italian Ministry for Research and University
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Reference54 articles.
1. Sound localization;JC Middlebrooks;Handb Clin Neurol,2015
2. Sound localization by human listeners;JC Middlebrooks;Annu Rev Psychol,1991
3. Sound source localization;M Risoud;Eur Ann Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Dis,2018
4. A review of the effects of unilateral hearing loss on spatial hearing;DP Kumpik;Hear Res,2019
5. Influence of aging on human sound localization;MS O Dobreva;J Neurophysiol,2011
Cited by
13 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献