Frederic L. Wightman

A New Approach to the Study of Human Sound Localization

Our interactions with the world around us depend heavily on information supplied by the auditory system. Information about the presence and identity of a sound source is obviously important. However, the location of the sound is often equally important. In everyday life localization seems so automatic and generally so precise that we much more often find ourselves concentrating on “what” rather than “where.” Nevertheless, localization is an important auditory function, and the details of how it is accomplished in the auditory system are not well understood.