Cones-of-Confusions: Are listeners confused? (L)

Abstract

Is there evidence that listeners are “confused” about sound-source location when sound sources lie on cones-of-confusion? Two experiments determined whether response times and confidence ratings, as possible indices of “confusion,” varied as a function of the frequency of occurrence of cones-of-confusion errors in azimuthal sound-source localization tasks. The results suggest that for sound-source localization judgments on an azimuth plane, there is little evidence that response times or confidence ratings vary with the frequency of occurrence of cones-of-confusion errors, consistent with the assumption that listeners are not “confused” in making sound-source location judgments when sound sources are on an azimuthal cone-of-confusion.