Sound Perception (80 KB) Download this document in Acrobat
format for printing and offline viewing. The paired nature of
human hearing makes it possible to determine the direction from
which sound originates. One of the most important properties of
spatial hearing in connection to this is its ability, to isolate
a piece of sound information from a host of sounds coming from
various directions and to more or less suppress all the others.
For example this happens by concentrating on a certain speaker
while the sounds of several other voices arrive at the ear with
equal loudness. This analytic ability of the ear is called
"intelligent listening". In general it is supported by
simultaneous optical information. Such selective hearing also
exists for perception of sound pitch and sound color.
Directional perception in the horizontal plane is based on the
subconscious comparison of nerve signals coming from both ears.
In the case of sound coming from frontal direction these signals
are identical; in the case of a la