Re: Faces, vegetables, and speech ("(Rebecca Mercuri)" )

Subject: Re:  Faces, vegetables, and speech
From:    "(Rebecca Mercuri)"  <mercuri(at)GRADIENT.CIS.UPENN.EDU>
Date:    Wed, 23 Sep 1992 11:10:49 EDT

There are visual analogues for most auditory "illusions" -- the Necker Cube
effect is described by Diana Deutch in a left-right ear illusion in the
Journal of the Audio Engineering Society's special issue on auditory illusions,
September 1983.

The frequencies whose wavelengths are approximately equal to the width of
the human head can be detected most accurately in space, as we know from
experimentation. Sine waves may produce a more prominant effect than
continuously varying sound waves, as would naturally occur in analog
speech or tone production. This fact may be relevant to understanding the
observation that different virtual "speakers" appear to be producing the tones.
Binaural perception should perhaps be considered in the manner in which your
experiments are being conducted. Disparities in phase and loudness are both
concerns of binaurality. To eliminate this variable, perhaps the experiment
should be conducted monaurally?

Rebecca Mercuri
mercuri(at)gradient.cis.upenn.edu