Vision and Eye Research Unit (VERU), Postgraduate Medical Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, Eastings 204, East Road, Cambridge, CB1 1PT, UK.
Exp Brain Res. 2013 Feb;224(4):623-33. doi: 10.1007/s00221-012-3340-0. Epub 2012 Nov 22.
Totally blind listeners often demonstrate better than normal capabilities when performing spatial hearing tasks. Accurate representation of three-dimensional auditory space requires the processing of available distance information between the listener and the sound source; however, auditory distance cues vary greatly depending upon the acoustic properties of the environment, and it is not known which distance cues are important to totally blind listeners. Our data show that totally blind listeners display better performance compared to sighted age-matched controls for distance discrimination tasks in anechoic and reverberant virtual rooms simulated using a room-image procedure. Totally blind listeners use two major auditory distance cues to stationary sound sources, level and direct-to-reverberant ratio, more effectively than sighted controls for many of the virtual distances tested. These results show that significant compensation among totally blind listeners for virtual auditory spatial distance leads to benefits across a range of simulated acoustic environments. No significant differences in performance were observed between listeners with partial non-correctable visual losses and sighted controls, suggesting that sensory compensation for virtual distance does not occur for listeners with partial vision loss.
全盲者在执行空间听觉任务时，其表现往往优于正常人。准确表示三维听觉空间需要处理听众和声源之间可用的距离信息；然而，听觉距离线索随环境的声学特性而有很大差异，目前尚不清楚哪些距离线索对全盲者很重要。我们的数据表明，在使用房间映像程序模拟的无回声和混响虚拟房间中，全盲者在距离辨别任务上的表现明显优于年龄匹配的明眼对照组。全盲者使用两种主要的听觉距离线索（水平和直达混响比）来判断静止声源，对于许多测试的虚拟距离，他们比明眼对照组更有效地利用这些线索。这些结果表明，全盲者在虚拟听觉空间距离方面进行了显著的补偿，从而在一系列模拟的声学环境中获益。部分非矫正性视力损失的听众与明眼对照组之间的表现没有明显差异，这表明部分视力损失的听众不会对虚拟距离进行感官补偿。
