The Effects of Hearing Protectors on Auditory Localization: Evidence From Audio-Visual Target Acquisition

Abstract

Response times (RT) in an audio-visual target acquisition task were collected from 3 participants while wearing either circumaural earmuffs, foam earplugs, or no hearing protection. Analyses revealed that participants took significantly longer to locate and identify an audio-visual target in both hearing protector conditions than they did in the unoccluded condition, suggesting a disturbance of the cues used by listeners to localize sounds in space. RTs were significantly faster in both hearing protector conditions than in a non-audio control condition, indicating that auditory localization was not completely disrupted. Results are discussed in terms of safety issues involved with wearing hearing protectors in an occupational environment.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA430232

Entities

People

  • Richard L. McKinley
  • Robert S. Bolia

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Air Force Facilities
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Broadband
  • Data Science
  • Frequency
  • Hearing Loss
  • Hearing Protection
  • Information Science
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Research
  • Physical Properties
  • Regression Analysis
  • Target Acquisition
  • Targets
  • Visual Targets

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Psychology

Readers

  • Acoustics.
  • Auditory Neuroscience/Auditory Physiology.

Technology Areas

  • Space