Experiment No.

4
Auditory Perception

I. ABSTRACT

This study aimed to locate the source of sound and discriminate

the presence of obstacles. The experimenter used experimental research
design as a methodology. The independent variable that was used are
the directions and the dependent variable that was used is the sound
localization. The results showed that the participant can able to locate
the source of sound and discriminate the presence of obstacles. For more
accurate and more correct sound localization, conduct the experiment in
in a quiet, unobtrusive place and if possible, use better producer of
sound or bell.
II. INTRODUCTION

Hearing, like any other sense, is important to humans. Because of

this sense, humans can easily communicate with others and can naturally
locate sounds with the help of the sense of vision. However, other people,
especially blind people, can still find sounds around them because they
said that blind people have keen ears compared to people with sight. But
can people with sight still be able to find sound after being blinded for a
few minutes?

According to the research conducted by Lewald et.al (2007) at the

Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, it
takes just 90 minutes of being blindfolded to bring about better hearing.
For the study, subjects were placed in a half-circle of 21 speakers, each
randomly emitting a sound. After each sound, the subjects were instructed
to turn their head and face the direction of the sound's source. They
tended to underestimate how far they needed to turn by 1 to 11 degrees,
depending on how far off to the side the speaker was. But after 90 minutes
with the blindfold on, they consistently performed better, by about 1
degree in each case.

On the other hand, an experiment conducted by Boñon, et. al (2020),

revealed that in part one of the experiments, time goes by the experiments,
and the subject hears the sound again and again the more the subject will
have an idea of which area of the direction of the sounds. With this the
more the more time that the subject hears the sound of the bell the more
chances that the subject familiarizes which directions belong to the sound.
The experiment has two parts of the experiments. The first part is all about
the sound of a bell and the second one is about the place of the object that
the subject should go to. The primary purpose of the study was to
determine the sound of the bell if that sound has an effect on the subject
and can identify and hear properly by the subject. The second part’s
purpose is to determine if the subject can achieve or follow what direction
is given to go to the object's place. The auditory perception task consists
of 12 times from each location at a random order with 8 trials.

Another experiment conducted by Yuhas (2012), wherein the

participant is blindfolded and stands on the central X. The experimenter
record or draw the direction of the participant is facing and ask the
participant to remain in that spot throughout the activity. The
experimenter will stand in different parts of the room and say the
participant's name. Then the participant will then guess where the
experimenter is (left, right, in front, behind) and how far away the
experimenter is standing. Results found out that each ear receives
information that is sent to our brain. Because our ears are not sided by
side, they receive different information. If someone standing to our left
claps his hands, our left ear will receive this sound wave more quickly than
our right one. In addition, the clap will sound louder in our left ear than
in our right. Our brain uses these differences to better understand where
a sound is coming from. This can also explain why—as we may have
noticed—it's hard to tell the difference between a sound directly in front of
or behind you, even if you are using both ears. When the sound source is
exactly equidistant to both ears, they receive very similar information and
our brain has fewer clues as to where the source may be.

The researches above talks about auditory perception and sound

localization wherein auditory perception can be defined as the ability to
receive and interpret information that reached the ears through audible
frequency waves transmitted through the air or other means (CogniFit)
while sound localization is the ability to identify the position and changes
in the position of sound sources based on acoustic information. When
sounds are presented through headphones, the acoustic image usually
appears to originate within the head and lacks the three-dimensional
quality of real sound sources. The image can be lateralized on a left-right
dimension (auditory lateralization)—that is, toward the left or right ear—
but not localized in external space. Also called sound localization (APA).
III. METHODS

A. OBJECTIVES

To be able to locate the source of sound and discriminate the

presence of obstacles.

B. HYPOTHESIS

The participant will not be able to locate the source of the sound.

C. MATERIALS

• Eye mask
• Case role
• Chair
• Ruler
• Pentel pen
• Record notebook

D. DESIGN AND PROCEDURE

The experimenter used an experimental research design to assess

whether the blindfolded participant could locate the source of the
sound.

1. The experimenter asked for the consent of the participant's

parent.
2. When the parent had already given the consent, the
experimenter invited the participant.
3. The experimenter explained the nature and purpose of the
experiment.
4. Then the experimenter let the participant sign the informed
consent.
5. The experimenter let the participant be familiarized with the
12 directions.
 6. The experimenter let the participant sit on a chair at the
center of a room while wearing an eye mask.
7. The experimenter ringed the bell from each sequence
direction and asked the participant to report the source of
the sound by pointing to the direction it came from.
8. The experimenter takes note of the position of the bell and
the subject’s right or wrong responses in the record notebook
by placing a checkmark if the participant gets the direction
correctly and X if the participant gives a wrong response and
taking note of the participant response.
9. After the experiment, the participant asked for the results
and the experimenter let the participant see the record
notebook.
10. After checking the participant checked the record
notebook, the experimenter thanked the participant for
participating in the experiment.

E. SUBJECT

The participant is a female 17 years old ABM student in Tagudin

National Highschool and it was the participant's second time to
participate in an experiment.
IV. RESULTS

Table 1
Correct and Wrong Sound Localization of Individual Participant

Directions ✓ X
LEFT ✓
FRONT X UPPER FRONT
DOWN RIGHT ✓
BACK X DOWN BACK
UPPER RIGHT ✓
UPPER FRONT X UPPER BACK
DOWN LEFT ✓
RIGHT ✓
DOWN BACK ✓
DOWN FRONT X BACK
UPPER LEFT X LEFT
UPPER BACK ✓
OVERALL MEAN 7 4

Table 2
Scores and Percentages of Group Data

Experimenter Scores Percentages

1 10 83.33%
2 8 66.67%
3 5 41.67%
4 6 50
5 8 66.67%
6 11 91.67%
7 7 58.33%
8 8 66.67%
9 7 58.33%
10 10 83.33%
11 7 58.33%
12 10 83.33%
13 8 66.67%
14 6 50%
15 10 83.33%
16 5 41.67%
17 8 66.67%
18 5 41.67%
 19 6 50%
20 6 50%
21 9 75%
22 7 58.33%
23 7 58.33%
24 7 58.33%
25 7 58.33%
26 7 58.33%
27 3 25%
28 6 50%

Table 3
Frequency of Correct and Wrong Sound Localization

Direction ✓ X
FRONT 15 13
DOWN FRONT 10 18
UPPER FRONT 14 14
BACK 16 12
DOWN BACK 20 8
UPPER BACK 17 11
RIGHT 21 7
DOWN RIGHT 17 11
UPPER RIGHT 14 14
LEFT 24 4
DOWN LEFT 15 13
UPPER LEFT 19 9
V. DISCUSSION

Table 1 presents the correct and wrong direction of sound

localization of the individual participants. The participant correctly locates
seven directions: left, downright, upper right, down left, right, down back,
and upper back. While the participant fails to locate four directions: front,
back, upper front, down the front, and upper left. Additionally, the
individual participant fails to locate the sound in all of the directions of
the front.

Table 2 presents the scores and percentages of group data in sound

location. 11 or 91. 67% is the highest score inaccurately localizing sound
in the group data under the participant of experimenter 6. Although the
participant was already 51 years old, according to experimenter 6, the
participant still performed better than the individual participant and other
participants. 3 or 25% is the lowest score incorrect score in accurately
localizing sound in the group data below the participant of experimenter
27, according to experimenter 27, the possible reason why the participant
got a low score is because the participant had a cold when performing the
experiment that affects the participant auditory perception. Most
participants scored higher than half of the total number of directions, and
only a few scores less than half of the total number of directions.

Table 3 presents the frequency of correct and incorrect directions of

the group data in sound localization. The direction with the highest
frequency of finding the exact location of a sound is left with 24
participants, and the direction with the lowest frequency of finding the
exact location of the sound is down front with 10 participants. Equal to
and more than half of the participants correctly find all of the directions.
Left, right, and down back directions are found correctly by most
participants, and only a few participants correctly find the down front
direction. The front is the direction with the highest frequency of incorrect
sound localization with 18 participants, and the lowest frequency has 4
participants incorrectly locating the sound in the left direction. More than
half of the participants incorrectly direct down front direction. And equal
to and less than half of the participants incorrectly direct the other eleven
directions.

Even when it rains while the experiment was in progress the

individual participant scored more than half of the total number of
directions indicating that the participant performs well in sound
localization. This means that the participant can find the source of the
sound and the participant does not need more than one trial and longer
minutes being blindfolded to find the location of the source of the sound
that contradicts the findings that say it takes just 90 minutes of being
blindfolded to bring about better hearing (Lewald et.al., 2007) and time
goes by the experiments, and the subject hears the sound, again and
again, the more the subject will have an idea of which area of the direction
of the sounds. With this the more the more time that the subject hears the
sound of the bell the more chances that the subject familiarizes which
directions belong to the sound (Boñon, et. al., 2020).

The directions that the individual participant finds hard for sound
localization are all directions of the front as well as one direction of back
and left. If the source of sound is in front or behind, the participant cannot
point where it the accurate location of the sound because the sound
reaches both to the participant's right and left ears, as opposed to when
the source of sound is to the left or right, the sound only reach in either
right or left of individual participant ears. And this finding is supported by
the experiment conducted by Yuhas (2012), wherein the experimenter
found out that each ear receives information that is sent to our brain.
Because our ears are not sided by side, they receive different information.
If someone standing to our left claps his hands, our left ear will receive
this sound wave more quickly than our right one. In addition, the clap will
sound louder in our left ear than in our right. Our brain uses these
differences to better understand where a sound is coming from. This can
also explain why—as we may have noticed—it's hard to tell the difference
between a sound directly in front of or behind you, even if you are using
both ears. When the sound source is exactly equidistant to both ears, they
receive very similar information and our brain has fewer clues as to where
the source may be.

When the experimenter asks the participant, what is the

participant's basis for determining the localization of the sound, the
participant answers it depends on the loudness of the sound. If the sound
was loud, the location of the sound is in the upper part of the direction
and if the sound is louder the location of the sound is in the middle and if
the sound is weak the location of the sound is in the lower part of the
direction. However, the experimenter believes that the participant's basis
is not accurate because the experimenter can adjust the volume of the
used thing for making the sound. This makes the experimenter suggest
that the experiment should use a bell or better things that can produce a
uniform sound. The experiment should also be conducted in a quiet,
unobtrusive place for a better location of the source of the sound.
VI. CONCLUSION

The experimenter concludes that;

1. The participant can locate the source of sound and discriminate the
presence of obstacles.
2.The participant accurately locates sound localization even though
there is distraction.
VII. APPENDICES
VIII. REFERENCES

Boñon, et. al (2020). Auditory Perception

Lewald, et.al. (2007). BLINDFOLD IMPROVES HEARING

Yuhas, D. (2012). Sound Science: Where Did That Noise Come From?

https://dictionary.apa.org/auditory-localization

https://www.cognifit.com/science/cognitive-skills/auditory-perception