The Roles of Vestibular and Proprioceptive Signals in Updating Spatial Selective Auditory Attention during Head Motion
Abstract
Spatial Selective Auditory Attention (SSAA) allows individuals to attend to a desired sound’s location in an acoustically rich environment. This research project explored the compensatory updating of SSAA focus during head movements and the roles of vestibular, proprioceptive, and visual self-motion signals in this process. A behavioural auditory selective attention task was conducted with and without visual cues and in three different motion conditions that manipulated the availability of vestibular and proprioceptive signals: Static (no updating required), Active head rotation (vestibular and proprioceptive signals available), and Passive whole-body rotation (only vestibular signals available). The findings suggest that listeners do appropriately update their SSAA while moving their heads, although with a slight frontal bias. Performance in the Passive condition was almost equal to the Active condition, indicating that vestibular signals were sufficient for SSAA updating, while proprioceptive signals were not necessary. Visual cues improved SSAA updating somewhat, but were not essential.