摘要
In everyday life, localizing a sound source entails more than the sole extraction of auditory cues to define its three-dimensions: spatial hearing also takes into account the available visual information (e.g. cues to sound position) and resolves perceptual ambiguities through active listening behavior (e.g. exploring the auditory environment with head movements). We introduce a novel approach to sound localization in 3D named SPHERE which exploits a commercially available Virtual Reality Head-mounted display system with real- time kinematic tracking to combine all of these elements (controlled positioning of a real sound source, recording of participants’ responses in 3D, controlled visual stimulations and active listening behavior). SPHERE allows accurate sampling of 3D spatial hearing abilities, and allows detection and quantification of the contribution of active listening.