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Slattery III, W. H., & Middlebrooks, J. C. (1994). Monaural sound localization: Acute versus chronic unilateral impairment. Hearing Research, 75(1-2), 38–46. 
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard (2/2/14, 12:10 PM)   
Resource type: Journal Article
Peer reviewed
DOI: 10.1016/0378-5955(94)90053-1
BibTeX citation key: SlatteryIII1994
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 Categories: General
Keywords: Localization, Location of sound, Psychoacoustics, Psychology
Creators: Middlebrooks, Slattery III
Collection: Hearing Research		 Views: 3/771
Abstract
We tested the ability of human listeners to localize broadband noise bursts in the absence of binaural localization cues. The
subject population consisted of five patients, who had normal hearing in one ear and congenital deafness in the other, and seven
normal controls, who were tested with both ears open and with one ear plugged. Consistent with previous reports, the
introduction of an earplug unilaterally into control subjects resulted in a prominent lateral displacement in their localization
judgements by an average of 30.9° toward the side of the open ear. Vertical localization was less strongly impaired. The five
monaural patients showed a considerable range of ability to localize sounds. Two of the patients were essentially indistinguishable
from the plugged control subjects in that they showed a prominent displacement of responses toward the side of the hearing
ear. The other three subjects localized significantly better than the plugged controls, in that they demonstrated little or no lateral
displacement toward the hearing side and that they localized targets on the hearing and on the impaired sides about equally well.
The performance of these latter patients demonstrates that monaural cues can provide useful localization information in the
horizontal as well as in the vertical dimension.
  
Notes
Testing human subjects with one ear plugged and human subjects congenitally deaf in one ear for lateral and vertical sound localization.
  1. Ear plug disrupted lateral localization towards the side of the open ear by an average of 30.9° (i.e., sound sources more than normally judged to be on the open ear side)
  2. Vertical localization less impaired
  3. Deaf subjects showed little if any difficulty in lateral localization

Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard  Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard