In article , Phil
Allison wrote:
Chris J Dixon wrote:


Locating the direction of a typical sound source involves time of
arrival differences at each ear - plus moving the head to bring them
towards zero.

I did a final year project during which subjects with an ear defender
over one ear were repeatedly asked to select which speaker in a
semicircular array around them was the source of a low level click.

Despite the literature showing claims of some ability to do this, my
tests indicated otherwise. This may well have been due to a learning
process and/or the actual sound levels.


** Sounds like a neat test of I don't know what. Maybe refraction
effects of the head and face provide a degree of localisation, but as
you found SFA.

For real sources (as distinct from 2-speaker stereo) I think I recall
reading somewhere that we can detect direction using one ear for the
reasons you give - including the shape of the external ear 'lobes'. But I
assume this depends a lot on the person and the type of sound. And I've
never tested this myself.

Jim

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