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Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience pp 1–3Cite as

Auditory Precedence Effect

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Synonyms

Law of the first wavefront

Definition

The precedence effect is a well-studied phenomenon in spatial hearing that is related to how we localize sounds accurately in everyday settings. Specifically, when two sound sources reach a listener close together in time, listeners often hear a single “fused” image whose perceived direction is near the location of the first-arriving sound.

Detailed Description

The Effects of Room Acoustics on Auditory Spatial Cues

The signals reaching the listener’s ears directly from a sound source convey information about the source’s location (Blauert 1997; Schnupp et al. 2010). However, in ordinary settings, soon after the direct sound reaches the listener, reflected sound arrives from random directions, coming off of walls, floors, and other reflective surfaces. This reflected sound energy adds acoustically to the direct sound before entering each ear, changing the total signal reaching the ear (e.g., see Allen and Berkley 1979). The content of this...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology, Boston University, 677 Beacon St, 02215, Boston, MA, USA

    Prof. Barbara Shinn-Cunningham

Authors
  1. Prof. Barbara Shinn-Cunningham
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barbara Shinn-Cunningham .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Dieter Jaeger

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

    Ranu Jung

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Shinn-Cunningham, B. (2013). Auditory Precedence Effect. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_101-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_101-5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7320-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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