Audio Engineering Society

Convention Express Paper 79

Presented at the 154th Convention
2023 May 13–15, Espoo, Helsinki, Finland

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Auditory localisation of low-frequency sound sources

Madalina Nastasa1 , Ville Pulkki1 , and Aki Mäkivirta2
1 Aalto University, Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics
2 Genelec Oy, Olvitie 5, Iisalmi, Finland
Correspondence should be addressed to Madalina Nastasa (madalina.nastasa@aalto.fi)

ABSTRACT
It is generally thought that humans cannot detect the direction of sound in the very low-frequency spectrum,
although some studies suggest that the sense of direction also exists at the lowest audible frequencies. In the current
work, a 2AFC localisation experiment is conducted with 18 participants, where the listener must detect a change in
the direction of pure tones and octave band filtered pink noise bursts in the frequency range of 31.5 to 100 Hz. The
angular separations between the low-frequency sound events utilised in the test are 10, 20, 25, 35 and 45 degrees
in the left azimuth plane. The results agree with those studies showing that humans can localise even the lowest
audible frequencies. Changes in direction as small as 10 degrees can be reliably detected for pink noise bursts from
31.5 Hz and for pure tones from 63.5 Hz. The psychoacoustic experiment was conducted in an anechoic room with
minor room resonances which caused a significant change in the directional judgement for the affected frequencies,
demonstrating how strongly room resonances can interact with directional hearing in the low-frequency spectrum.

1 Introduction The perception of low-frequency directionality has

The capacity of humans to detect the location of sound
sources has been actively studied through auditory ex-
periments since the 1900s [1]. However, in unravelling
the mechanisms that enable spatial hearing, one is faced
with a complex task that is strongly dependant upon
the experimental conditions, such as the nature of the
sounds involved and the attributes of the listening en-
vironment. When these attributes vary between the au-
ditory experiments conducted, disagreements arise be-
tween the hypothesis presented by different researchers.
The topic of low-frequency sound source localisation
makes no exception.
been has been scarcely approached in literature. The
localisation ability of low frequencies has been thought
to be somehow weaker than the localisation of high
frequencies, especially if the other frequencies are pre-
sented to the listener at the same time from another
direction. In literature, there exists at the moment two
major contrasting opinions about low-frequency sound
source localisation: some argue that it is beyond hu-
mans’ capacity to localise a source below a certain
frequency [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], while others are firmly con-
vinced that this task is indeed possible down to the
lowest audible frequency [8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13].
Of the papers which conclude that there is little direc-
Nastasa, Pulkki, Mäkivirta
tional information in the low-frequency spectrum, the
experiments have been conducted in small living-room-
like listening environments and included conditions
where the position of the sound sources excite a strong
modal behaviour [3, 4, 5]. A number of these authors
note that the localisation ability might be impeached
by the presence of room modes, that could negatively
impact the binaural cues presented at the ear of the
listener. This claim might hold true as the studies that
support the human ability to localise low-frequencies
[8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13] have either been conducted in less
reverberant environments [9, 13], or the placement of
the sound sources did not excite as strong of a modal
behaviour [8]. Such studies [8, 9, 10] have shown that
discrimination between left and right sources is pos-
sible with high accuracy down to the lowest audible
frequencies of human hearing. Moreover, the effect of
the environment has been also exhibited by Martens
et al. [12] where the discrimination accuracy of sub-
woofer sources in large low-reverberation spaces was
highly correct, while small reverberant spaces produced
inaccurate results. However, no attempt has yet been
made to objectively quantify this localisation ability,
nor the extent to which the listening environment has
an influence upon it.
The current study aims to answer the question whether
the auditory system has the ability to detect changes
in the direction of very low-frequency sound events
(31.5 to 100 Hz) when the variables introduced by the
listening environment are strongly minimised. For this
purpose, the listening room chosen for this experiment
is a large anechoic chamber with a small amount of
modal resonant behaviour. The ability of the auditory
system to make reliable directional choices about the
low-frequency spectrum and the spatial resolution in
this frequency range are investigated through a psy-
choacoustic experiment.
1.1 Spatial hearing in the very low frequency
spectrum
The main mechanisms of sound source localisation are
the interaural time difference (ITD), interaural level dif-
ference (ILD) and the spectral filtering produced by the
pinnae, head and torso (HRTF). In the low-frequency
region, as wavelengths are much longer than the size of
the head and the pinna, it is highly unlikely that the ILD
and HRTF are effective cues in providing directional
information. In the case of ITDs, it is not yet evident
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Auditory localisation of low-frequency sound sources
whether the minute differences in phase between the
ears could offer enough directional information.
The role of time differences in the direction perception
of low frequencies has been studied by Braasch et al.
in [8] and Mohamed and Cabrera in [10]. Braasch et al.
propose the notion that ITD could be accounted as the
main cue used by the auditory system for the left-right
discrimination, and note further that the presence of
reverberation can distort this cue and create conflicting
information. The results of Mohamed and Cabrera
confirm that lateralisation based on ITD can occur in
very low frequencies, with the strength of the effect
increasing with frequency. The authors conclude that
while localisation acuity is poor at very low frequencies,
some lateralisation is at least possible at frequencies
as low as 31.5 Hz (albeit marginal) and 40 Hz, and the
acuity increases with frequency.
1.2 Room Modes
Room modes (standing waves) occur as an interaction
between the radiating source and its reflections within
the room, when the wavelengths of the source are pro-
portional to the dimensions of the listening environ-
ment. These waves result in two types of interference:
constructive interference (maximum pressure nodes)
and destructive interference (minimum pressure nodes).
Constructive interference amplifies sound, while de-
structive interference reduces sound, resulting in a pat-
tern of higher and lower sound pressure levels within
the room.
In the reproduction of the low-frequency spectrum, the
sound field is dominated by the presence of modal reso-
nances which result in uneven energy decay rates across
the frequency range. These energy decay rates modify
the magnitude response of the primary sound source
and cause audible artifacts in the form of loudness and
timbre changes. In terms of auditory localisation, room
modes could potentially hinder the localisation of low
frequencies as the phase and level of the standing wave
are summed up with those of the direct sound at the ear
of the listener. As a result, the ITD and ILD cues are
likely to yield an auditory image unrelated to that of
the source.
2 Method
This study investigates the spatial resolution of low-
frequency direction perception using a two alterna-
tive forced choice (2AFC) method for pure tones and
Nastasa, Pulkki, Mäkivirta
octave-band-filtered pink noise bursts in the frequency
range of 31.5 to 100 Hz. The spatial resolution was
investigated at the fixed angular separations of 10, 20,
25, 35 and 45 degrees in the left azimuth plane.
2.1 Subjective Listening Test
The ability to perceive the direction of low-frequency
sound sources was measured utilising a relative locali-
sation task methodology. Relative localisation studies
focus on the spatial resolution of the auditory system
by measuring the smallest change in source direction
that the listener can reliably discern. A measure of the
spatial resolution is the minimum audible angle (MAA)
[14], and it can be determined using the psychophysical
method of a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) test
procedure. In the test, the subject is presented with the
first sound, considered the reference position for that
trial, followed by the target sound originating from a
position to one side of the reference. The subject is
then required to state whether the second auditory event
lay to the right or the left of the reference. The MAA is
then determined as the angular separation where 75%
of the responses are correct [15]. As this is an introduc-
tory study in the perception of low-frequency direction,
the goal of this experiment is not necessarily to deter-
mine the MAA, but more so to utilise the methodology
of the MAA procedure in order to find the threshold
where the perception of lateralisation can be considered
reliable.
2.2 Listening test configuration
The listening test was conducted in an anechoic cham-
ber that fulfills free field conditions, in accordance with
ISO 3745 [16] standard, down to 50 Hz, but still shows
a slight modal behaviour at low frequencies. The di-
mensions of the room are from a wedge tip to a wedge
tip 8.2 m x 8.2 m (width x length) and the height is 7.2
m, with a raised net floor structure. The measured back-
ground noise inside the chamber is below the human
threshold of hearing as defined in ISO 226 [17].
Four Genelec 7380A active subwoofers were used in
the test, with the low frequency cutoff point at 16 Hz
and the high-cutoff at 100 Hz. All subwoofers were
placed equidistantly from the centre of the listener’s
head. The positioning of the sound sources and the
listener within the room is displayed in figure 1 and 2.
As the goal of this experiment is to determine the hori-
zontal spatial resolution in the low frequency spectrum,
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Auditory localisation of low-frequency sound sources
small angular separations between the subwoofers is re-
quired. However, as the dimensions of the subwoofers
are rather large (H 685 x W 718 x D 492 mm), a small
separation angle between the sound sources cannot be
achieved if they are placed side by side. Therefore, in
order to achieve a minimum separation angle of 10 de-
grees, one of the subwoofers was stacked on top of the
two subwoofers placed at 0 and 20 degrees. The sub-
woofers that were placed on the raised floor net struc-
ture had their drivers pointing downwards, and the one
on top had its driver pointing upwards. Subwoofers are
omnidirectional sources, thus the way they are pointed
should make no difference. Consequently, the test setup
configuration had the low-frequency sound sources at
0, 10, 20 and 45 degrees in the left azimuth plane.
Impulse responses (IRs) of each low-frequency sound
source were recorded at the listener’s position using a
G.R.A.S. 46AF 1/2 free field microphone. The modal
behaviour of the anechoic chamber can be observed in
the magnitude response displayed in figure 3. The mag-
nitude responses suggest the presence of one modal
resonant peak at 50 Hz, and modal resonant notches
around 31.5 and 80 Hz. Furthermore, the misalign-
ment in the frequency of the modal peaks and notches
between the different subwoofer positions is visibly
present. It is this misalignment that could potentially
introduce phase and level differences that are unrelated
to those of the actual sound sources and impeach the
localisation ability. In the listening test design, the fre-
quencies chosen to be studied were 31.5, 40, 50, 63,
80 and 100. Amongst these frequencies, the largest
variation in magnitude response because of modal res-
onances were present at 31.5 and 80 Hz, where the
highest level difference between two subwoofers was
of 7 dB(SPL), and 5 dB(SPL), respectively.
The listening test setup also included a pair Genelec
8020B loudspeakers that played decorrelated pink noise
alongside the low-frequency stimuli, with the purpose
of masking any high-frequency distortion components
caused by the subwoofers. Such high-frequency com-
ponents are to be avoided as they can offer unwanted
localisation cues.
2.3 Stimuli
Two types of audio signals were used in the test: pure
tones and octave-band filtered bursts of pink noise, both
generated using Max MSP at a sampling frequency of
48 kHz and 24-bit resolution. Each stimulus had a 100
Nastasa, Pulkki, Mäkivirta Auditory localisation of low-frequency sound sources

Fig. 2: Listening test subwoofer setup seen from the

perspective of the listener

95

90
Magnitude (dBSPL) 85

Fig. 1: Layout of the listening test subwoofer setup
in the anechoic room. Distances to the sound
sources refer to the centre of the listener’s head.
The angle of each subwoofer in relation to the
listener is indicated in different colours
ms level ramp-up and ramp-down in order to prevent
any high-frequency clicks.
The stimuli were 1 s long and level-matched for all
subwoofers playing at a sound level of 80 dB(C), mea-
sured at the listener position. This playback level was
chosen as the sound components were clearly audible
and comfortable at all frequencies. The pink noise
bursts were band-passed to be one octave wide, with
the centre frequencies of 31.5, 40, 50, 63, 80 and 100
Hz. The 31.5 Hz sinusoid was removed from the test
conditions because of the interfering strong room mode
resonant notch present at this frequency. As it can be
seen in figure 3, the subwoofers located at 0, 20 and
45 degrees are strongly attenuated. Due to this strong
level attenuation, the sinusoids presented by these sub-
woofers could not be reproduced at the required level
of 80 dB(C) without excessive distortion artifacts that
would introduce unwanted localisation cues.
Moreover, to avoid the remaining minimal high-
frequency distortion components introduced by the
subwoofers, especially audible when playing pure
tones, decorrelated full-spectrum pink noise was played
through the two separate loudspeakers at a sound level
of 58 dB(C). This level was found to be sufficient to
80
75
70
65
Sub 0° Sub 10° Sub 20° Sub 45°
60
30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 3: Magnitude response of the four subwoofer po-
sitions displayed in dB(SPL)
completely mask all the harmonic distortion compo-
nents introduced by the subwoofers. An RME Fireface
UCX audio interface handled all the audio playing.
2.4 Test procedure
The listening test utilised a 2AFC method with the sub-
ject being forced to choose between either the left or
right change in direction of the perceived sound image.
The test interface was programmed in Max MSP and
the presentation of the conditions were randomised. At
the start of the test, one of the four subwoofers was
arbitrarily chosen as the reference and the 1 s stimulus
was played from this source. After a 100 ms interval,
the same stimulus was presented from another position,
either to the left or to the right of the reference. The
subject was then asked: In which direction is the sound
moving? Press either the left or right arrow to mark
your answer. By only having to press the arrows on the
keyboard, the interface was intended to be as unobtru-
sive as possible so that the subject could concentrate on

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Nastasa, Pulkki, Mäkivirta Auditory localisation of low-frequency sound sources

Separation Subwoofer 1 Subwoofer 2 2.5 Subjects

Angle Direction Direction
(deg) (deg) (deg) In total, 18 subjects took part in the test, with an av-
10 0 10 erage age of around 30. All subjects reported normal
10* 10 20 hearing. The participants were either researchers at
20 0 20 the Acoustics Lab of Aalto University, students of the
25 20 45 Acoustics and Audio Technology major or people with
35 10 45 a musical background.
45 0 45
The subjects were instructed to face the centre of the
Table 1: All the separation angles used in the test and subwoofer located at 0 degrees and no head movements
the subwoofer positions to form the separa- were allowed during the stimuli presentation. The chair
tion angles of the participant was placed on a wooden structure in
order to minimise the vibration of the wire net floor
structure.
the task with either eyes open or closed. Before indi- The participants were also advised to take breaks dur-
cating their response, the subject was forced to wait for ing the experiment if listening fatigue started to occur.
the whole duration of the stimuli presentation. This en- Most subjects had previous experience with localisa-
sured that all participants listened equally to the whole tion listening tests. In order to insure that everybody
length of the stimuli. After indicating their response, is familiar with the task, the testing method and the
the test would progress to the next trial, where a new interface, a training session was provided for all partic-
reference position would be chosen. ipants.

With the four subwoofer positions, five angular separa- 3 Results

tions can be formed for the test, namely: 10, 20, 25, 35
and 45 degrees. The subwoofer positions which form
each angle separation utilised in the test are displayed
in Table 1.
Although the angular separation between the sub-
woofers located at 0 and 10 degrees is the same as
the one formed by the subwoofers located at 10 and 20
degrees, it is expected that the localisation performance
will be different for these two cases. The latter sep-
aration represents the case of localisation away from
the median plane, and research [14, 15, 18] shows that
the localisation abilities decrease when the reference
azimuth moves away from the median plane. For this
reason, these two angular separations were treated as
different cases.
With 6 angular separations, 2 changes in direction (left
or right), 6 frequencies for the pink noise, 5 frequencies
of the pure tones and 5 repetitions of each condition, the
test resulted in a total number of 660 trials. In average,
the subjects took about 27 minutes to complete the test.
The average results across all participants, categorised
on stimulus type as a function of the angular separation
are displayed in figure 4 and 5, where the dotted black
line denotes the threshold of MAA and the solid line
represents the 50% threshold of chance. In order to
display the inter-subject variability, the results of the
psychoacoustic experiment are also displayed in the
form of box-plots in figure 6 for both the pink noise
stimuli and the pure tones, for each frequency as a
function of the angular separation. The central red
mark indicates the median, the top and bottom edges
are the 25th and 75th percentiles, and the outliers are
plotted using the ’+’ symbol. The angle separation of
10 degrees marked with an asterisk indicates the case
of localisation away from the median plane, whereas
the 10 degrees case represents the angular separation
formed by the subwoofers located at 0 and 10 degrees.
Overall, the results show that the subjects have the abil-
ity to detect the direction of the low-frequency sound
events, and this ability is a function of the stimulus type,
frequency and angle of separation. In the case of the
pink noise stimulus, the localisation ability is clearly
demonstrated in all frequency bands. The results dis-
play an increase in the percentage of correct responses

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Nastasa, Pulkki, Mäkivirta Auditory localisation of low-frequency sound sources

Pink Noise 31.5 Hz Pink Noise 40 Hz Sinusoid 40 Hz Sinusoid 50 Hz

100 100 100 100
Correct Responses (%)

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Pink Noise 50 Hz Pink Noise 63 Hz Sinusoid 63 Hz Sinusoid 80 Hz
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Angular Separation Angular Separation Angular Separation

Fig. 4: Mean percentage of correct responses across Fig. 5: Mean percentage of correct responses across
all participants for pink noise as a function of all participants for pure tones as a function of
angular separation, categorised on 6 different angular separation, categorised on 6 different
frequencies. The angle separation of 10 degrees frequencies. The angle separation of 10 degrees
marked with an asterisk indicates the case of marked with an asterisk indicates the case of
localisation away from the median plane. localisation away from the median plane.

In fact, the only percentage of correct responses under

with increasing the angular separation, whereas the the threshold of MAA for the pink noise stimulus has
localisation ability also increases with increasing the been recorded at the angular separation of 10 degrees
frequency. For all frequency bands of the pink noise away from the median plane for the frequencies under
stimuli, a separation angle between 20 and 45 degrees 63 Hz. For the frequencies of 63 Hz and higher, the
resulted in over 80% of correct responses. The poorest percentage of correct responses was above 80 for all
localisation performance for this stimulus type is of angular separations.
60% at the angular separation of 10 degrees away from
the median plane. The case of 10 degrees away from Overall, the pink noise had a better localisation per-
the median plane had consistently a worse performance formance than the pure sinusoids, which is expected.
than the angular separation located in the median plane. The reason for this is that the pink noise bursts have a
This result is in accordance to the findings of Mills larger bandwidth and provide more transient informa-
[14], in that the localisation abilities decrease when the tion [18], while also being less susceptible to modal
reference azimuth moves away from the median plane. effects because of the broader frequency content. In

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Page 6 of 9
Nastasa, Pulkki, Mäkivirta
the case of the pure tones of frequencies under 63 Hz,
the changes in angular separation had little effect on
the percentage of the correct responses. For this fre-
quency range, the percentage of correct responses did
not go above the threshold of MAA, signifying that a
reliable change in direction could not be perceived. For
frequencies of 63 Hz and over, the localisation ability
increased significantly and the lowest percentages were
recorded for the separation angle of 10 degrees away
from the median plane, with the exception of 80 Hz fre-
quency. The case of the 80 Hz sine tone band displayed
results that do not follow the expected trend set by the
frequency of 63 and 100 Hz. The angular separation
of 10, 20 and 25 degrees were under the threshold of
the MAA, whilst the angular separation of 10 degrees
away from the median plane recorded a percentage of
correct responses just above this threshold. For the
sinusoid of 100 Hz, a reliable change in direction could
be perceived regardless of the angular separation.
4 Discussion
The results of the psychoacoustic experiment demon-
strate the ability of the auditory system to detect
changes in the direction of low-frequency sound
sources in an anechoic environment. This ability is
highly dependent on the stimulus type, frequency and
the angular separation between the sound sources. In
the case of the pink noise stimulus, the listeners could
reliably detect changes in direction for all frequencies
in the range of 31.5 to 100 Hz for angular separations
ranging from 10 to 45 degrees.
The angular separation had a stronger impact on the
localisation ability of pure tones, which were more dif-
ficult to localise. For frequencies under 63 Hz, an angu-
lar separation higher than 45 degrees would be needed
for a reliable discern of changes in direction. The case
of the 80 Hz pure tone exhibited unusual responses,
where the localisation performance was strongly im-
peached for the angular separations of 10, 20 and 25
degrees. As it has been already noted in section 2.2,
figure 3, this frequency region exhibits the presence
of strong room modal resonances. The subwoofers lo-
cated at 0 and 20 degrees are in a modal resonant notch,
whilst the two other subwoofers are unaffected. All
the angular separations that had percentages under the
MAA threshold at this frequency were formed with ei-
ther one of the subwoofers located in this modal notch.
This indicates that the perception of direction for these
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Auditory localisation of low-frequency sound sources
angular separations have been strongly affected, as the
phase and level of the standing wave modify the charac-
teristics of the direct sound at the ear of the listener. As
a result, for these angular separations, the ITD and ILD
cues likely yielded an auditory image unrelated to that
of the source, thus negatively impacting the localisation
ability in this frequency band. This effect could also be
affirmed by the fact that the sinusoids of 63 and 100 Hz
had a strong overall localisation performance and an
even magnitude across all subwoofer positions, which
indicates the absence of room modal resonances.
The phenomena observed at the 80 Hz pure tone of this
psychoacoustic experiment have motivated the authors
to study the effect of room modal resonances on the
perception of low-frequency sound sources in [19]. The
study has demonstrated that room modal resonances,
especially the minimum pressure nodes, have a strong
effect on the localisation of very low-frequency sound
sources and are the cause for the little directional infor-
mation exhibited in this frequency range.
5 Conclusion
In this study, the extent of the human ability to per-
ceive changes in the direction of low-frequency sound
sources was studied through a psychoacoustic experi-
ment in an anechoic chamber. The results of the 2AFC
localisation experiment, conducted with 18 participants,
agree with the studies showing that humans can localise
even the lowest audible frequencies, and indicate that
the spatial resolution of the auditory system in the low-
frequency spectrum goes beyond a left-right discrimi-
nation. Changes in direction as small as 10 degrees can
be reliably detected for pink noise bursts from 31.5 Hz
and for sinusoids from 63.5 Hz. In addition, the locali-
sation ability has been greatly impeded at frequencies
which present strong modal resonances, demonstrat-
ing that the directional hearing of low-frequency sound
sources highly depends on the acoustical properties of
the listening environment.
Nevertheless, the results of this research suggest that
the ability to localise low-frequency sound sources is
an innate quality of the human auditory system.
6 Acknowledgements
The authors would like to extend their gratitude to all of
the researchers and professors of the Aalto Acoustics
Lab for their vast knowledge and warm company. We
Nastasa, Pulkki, Mäkivirta Auditory localisation of low-frequency sound sources

Pink Noise 31.5 Hz Pink Noise 40 Hz Sinusoid 40 Hz Sinusoid 50 Hz

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45
10

10
10

Angular Separation Angular Separation Angular Separation

Fig. 6: Boxplots of the percentages of correct responses for all listeners grouped on 2 stimuli type, 6 frequencies
and 6 angular separations. The angle separation of 10 degrees marked with an asterisk indicates the case of
localisation away from the median plane

AES 154thConvention, Espoo, Helsinki, Finland, 2023 May 13–15

Page 8 of 9
Nastasa, Pulkki, Mäkivirta
are also profoundly grateful to the participants of the
listening test, who so willingly donated their time to
listen to bass.
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