Head shadow attenuates sound arriving at the far ear unless the source is centered

Evidence

When a sound is to the right of a listener, the reflection reduces the sound energy that arrives at the left ear. Consequently, the intensity of the sound reaching the right ear will be much higher than the intensity of the sound reaching the left ear. The reduction in intensity at the ear distant from the source is called head shadow. Note also that the head shadow is greatest when the sound is to one side of the head. As a sound moves around the head from the left ear to the center of the head, the degree of head shadow will decrease. A sound directly in front of a listener will not yield a head shadow, and sound intensity at both ears will be the same. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1454

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines head shadow, the intensity reduction at the ear distant from a source, and its geometry.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1454
• XREF: connects to: Front sound sources can be misperceived as coming from behind; Head shadowing gives roughly 6 dB interaural amplitude difference near 1.85 kHz; High-frequency sounds reflect off the head while low-frequency sounds diffract around it — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1450 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Sound reaching the far ear must travel around the head #expands (0.95)
• Head separation between ears produces arrival-time and intensity cues for direction #expands (0.95)
• Head shading creates interaural level differences used for sound localization #expands (0.92) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 726
• Acoustic head shadow creates a better ear with higher SNR in everyday listening #expands (0.90)