Head symmetry creates a cone of directions where sound localization is ambiguous

Evidence

Head movements have long been assumed to be important to satisfactory externalization in binaural headphone reproduction (Toole, 1970). The brain protests when the musicians and the performance venue move with the head. But mismatched HRTFs are a logical contributing factor to the perceptual error. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 290 (#expands, via linked claim)

Stevens and Newman also calculated the errors in degrees as a function of the location of the speaker. Figure 7–7 shows that they found the lowest error rates when the speaker was located in the front of the body (0°). Performance was considerably poorer and was fairly equal when the speaker was located at all other positions tested (between 15° and 90°). Their work indicates that good sound localization abilities are only achievable when our face is pointed toward the sound. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1493 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Phase-based sound localization becomes ambiguous beyond 180 degrees phase shift; Head shading creates interaural level differences used for sound localization — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 726; Head movement resolves directional ambiguity and explains headphone sounds seeming internal — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 290 (+6 more)

Related

• Head movement and pinna shape resolve cone-of-confusion ambiguities (similarity 0.91)
• Head orientation is necessary because interaural level differences plateau off-midline (similarity 0.90)
• Head movement resolves directional ambiguity and explains headphone sounds seeming internal (similarity 0.89)
• In-head localization stems from mismatched HRTFs and missing head tracking (similarity 0.87)
• Head-motion-dependent sound changes are required for external sound localization (similarity 0.87)
• Head movements resolve front-back ambiguity by creating direction-specific binaural cue changes (similarity 0.85)
• Headphone sounds are usually lateralized inside the head. (similarity 0.85)
• The cone of confusion makes identical ITDs map to many indistinguishable locations (similarity 0.85)
• Sound localization is most accurate when facing the sound source (similarity 0.85)
• Phase delays beyond 180 degrees make direction judgments ambiguous (similarity 0.85)
• Head movements and pinna shape resolve ambiguous sound localization (similarity 0.84)
• Lack of head-tracking dynamic cues causes headphone audio to sound internalized (similarity 0.83)
• Interaural time delays alone cannot fully determine sound source direction (similarity 0.83)
• Head shading creates interaural level differences used for sound localization (similarity 0.83)
• Dynamic binaural head-movement cues override conflicting visual evidence of source location (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Head movement and pinna shape resolve cone-of-confusion ambiguities #responds-to (0.90)
• Head movement resolves directional ambiguity and explains headphone sounds seeming internal #expands (0.82) — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 290
• Sound localization is most accurate when facing the sound source #exemplifies (0.78) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1493
• Phase-based sound localization becomes ambiguous beyond 180 degrees phase shift #expands (0.75)
• Head-motion-dependent sound changes are required for external sound localization #expands (0.75)
• Head shading creates interaural level differences used for sound localization #complicates (0.72) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 726