Effect of Audiovisual Training on Monaural Spatial Hearing in Horizontal Plane

The article aims to test the hypothesis that audiovisual integration can improve spatial hearing in monaural conditions when interaural difference cues are not available. We trained one group of subjects with an audiovisual task, where a flash was presented in parallel with the sound and another group in an auditory task, where only sound from different spatial locations was presented. To check whether the observed audiovisual effect was similar to feedback, the third group was trained using the visual feedback paradigm. Training sessions were administered once per day, for 5 days. The performance level in each group was compared for auditory only stimulation on the first and the last day of practice. Improvement after audiovisual training was several times higher than after auditory practice. The group trained with visual feedback demonstrated a different effect of training with the improvement smaller than the group with audiovisual training. We conclude that cross-modal facilitation is highly important to improve spatial hearing in monaural conditions and may be applied to the rehabilitation of patients with unilateral deafness and after unilateral cochlear implantation

The detrimental influence of attention on time-to-contact perception

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Key periods of cognitive decline in a nonhuman primate model of cognitive aging, the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)

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Improvement after training per side per loudspeaker.

<p>Improvement is presented as the difference in error (deviation from the sound source) before and after training. Error bars represent bootstrap bias-corrected and accelerated confidence intervals (p<0.05).</p

Improvement after training in total and per side.

<p>Improvement is presented as the difference in error (deviation from the sound source) before and after training. Error bars represent bootstrap bias-corrected and accelerated confidence intervals (p<0.05).</p

Schematic illustration of the experimental setup.

<p>Fifteen loudspeakers presented sound stimuli from different azimuthal directions. Loudspeakers are located in front of the subject on a semicircle device of a radius of 0.5 m. With a special knob, the subject turned a laser beam originating from the centre of a semicircle of loudspeakers and confirmed the position of the laser beam pressing the button. In response to the pressed button, the laser beam position was registered by laser detectors in the semicircle of loudspeakers.</p

Changes of d′ and ß due to training.

<p>Differential values after and before training are presented. Error bars represent bootstrap bias-corrected and accelerated confidence intervals (p<0.05).</p

Performances of the subjects in the binaural and monaural conditions.

<p>On the left, the horizontal axis represents the azimuthal positions of loudspeakers, the vertical axis represents the azimuthal response of the subjects. On the right, the mean pre-training responses collapsed across the positions are shown for each group of subjects. The dashed line is the ideal performance curve in this case (e.g., the sound source at 60° corresponds to the response at 60°).</p

V6 is active during antero-posterior but not in lateral galvanic vestibular stimulation.

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Parkinson’s patients can rely on perspective cues to perceive 3D space

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