The ear achieves spatial hearing through signal analysis rather than directional receptors

Evidence

A relevant question is how much the binaural hearing aids in decoding the sound spectrum emanated by multiple spatially separated sources, also in reverberant spaces. In vision, the spatial separation of sources definitely helps in the process, because when visual stripes are separated by more than about 0.1◦, they are discriminated. The working principle of the eye and the ear, however, differ greatly. The eye has a lens and a multitude of receptors primarily sensitive to the different directions from which light comes, while in contrast the ear has only one cochlea. Spatial hearing is conducted as an analysis of the ear canal signals, and no primary sensitivity to direction exists in the cochlea. A lesser advantage is expected with hearing, but, as will be shown below, a significant benefit is still obtained. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1510

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes the eye’s directional-receptor architecture from the ear’s single-cochlea analysis architecture for spatial separation.
• XREF: Connects to cognitive-science discussions of the eye-ear asymmetry in scene analysis (e.g. Bregman’s auditory scene analysis).