A 5-dB hearing asymmetry doubles the perceived interaural level difference

Evidence

In natural auditory scenes, the head shadow can contribute to the abnormal representation of the ILD. Consider an example in which head shadow renders a sound inaudible in one ear but audible in the other. In this scenario, the representation of the ILD in the auditory system will be larger than that present in the environment, causing distortions to the perception of space. Consider also a listener with small, 5-dB asymmetry in hearing. For example, if his hearing is 5 dB better in the right ear than in the left ear, a sound presented to his left ear will be associated with an ILD that is 10 dB larger than when a sound is presented to his right ear. The auditory system may be unable to compensate for these distortions, leading to disruptions in the perception of space. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1582

Categorization

• SHARE: The doubling mechanism (5-dB asymmetry yields 10-dB ILD distortion) is a crisp mechanism worth sending to anyone working on hearing aids or spatial audio.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1582
• XREF: connects to: Interaural level differences of 1-2 dB produce just-audible lateral displacement — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1714; Even small asymmetries between ears reduce binaural summation; Loudspeaker level differences become inter-ear phase differences via cross talk (+2 more)