Hi All, Being as the vestibulocochlear nerve is responsible for transmitting sound and equilibrium (balance) information from the inner ear to the brain, it seems that balance dysfunction (or abnormal situations, such as space travel) could affect localization. Dr. Michael Cevette, Ph.D. (Mayo Clinic), Dr. Jan Stepanek M.D. (Mayo Clinic) and the Aerospace Medicine & Vestibular Research Laboratory (AMVRL) team have investigated vestibular illusions underlying spatial disorientation in the aerospace environment. From what I gathered in a lecture co-presented by Dr. Cevette and Dr. Stepanek, "galvanic vestibular stimulation" (GVS) can be used to induce disorientation (the purpose of being to train astronauts and pilots). This, combined with studies of spatial hearing, might shed some light on some purposeful questions. I'll shoot Dr. Cevette a note and see whether he can provide any insight for those who might be interested. Experiments are in work for studying effects of vestibular-auditory-localization interactions. Bill Yost (ASU) is awaiting installation of a rotating chair and a loudspeaker array. To my knowledge, the loudspeaker array will consist of 40+ speakers in a semi-hemispherical orientation. I'll ask Bill if he has considered using GVS.
I recall seeing one reference (trying to dig it up) where the experimenters used a chair rotating at a constant rotational velocity. This, then, would result in a static but abnormal change in vestibular balance. Not sure if or how the sound (or sounds) followed the chairs rotation. Once Bill gets the rotating chair and loudspeakers in place (the big setback here in the USA is dealing with building codes), I am hoping to use the array for studies involving Ambisonics. Vestibular disorders aren't my interest, but spatial hearing is. Eric -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/private/sursound/attachments/20121106/eaa11332/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ Sursound mailing list Sursound@music.vt.edu https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound
