Auditory and visual performance in an open sound field

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2005-04, Vol.117 (4_Supplement), p.2561-2561
• Main Authors: Fluitt, Kim F., Letowski, Tomasz, Mermagen, Timothy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.4788523

The ability to estimate a distance to a sound source in an open field is an important element of situational awareness on the battlefield, and is affected by many technical and environmental conditions. A limited body of knowledge regarding auditory perception of sources located over long distances makes it difficult to develop models predicting auditory behavior on the battlefield. Results of previous studies have shown that people greatly underestimate distances. However, it is not known if there is a connection between a visual estimation, verbally reporting an estimate, and auditory estimation. The purpose of the present study was to compare listeners’ visual, verbal reporting, and auditory estimates to sound sources 25 to 200 m from the listening position. Data were collected for auditory as well as visual estimations of distance expressed verbally. Twenty-two subjects (men and women, ages 18–25) participated in the study. Six types of sounds were presented from five loud speakers in random order. Test results indicate that auditory and visual estimation errors increased with distance and that at some distances the visual estimation errors exceeded auditory estimations errors, but the differences were not statistically significant. Specific results will be presented.