AUTHOR=Leung Johahn , Wei Vincent , Burgess Martin , Carlile Simon TITLE=Head Tracking of Auditory, Visual, and Audio-Visual Targets JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience VOLUME=9 YEAR=2016 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2015.00493 DOI=10.3389/fnins.2015.00493 ISSN=1662-453X ABSTRACT=

The ability to actively follow a moving auditory target with our heads remains unexplored even though it is a common behavioral response. Previous studies of auditory motion perception have focused on the condition where the subjects are passive. The current study examined head tracking behavior to a moving auditory target along a horizontal 100° arc in the frontal hemisphere, with velocities ranging from 20 to 110°/s. By integrating high fidelity virtual auditory space with a high-speed visual presentation we compared tracking responses of auditory targets against visual-only and audio-visual “bisensory” stimuli. Three metrics were measured—onset, RMS, and gain error. The results showed that tracking accuracy (RMS error) varied linearly with target velocity, with a significantly higher rate in audition. Also, when the target moved faster than 80°/s, onset and RMS error were significantly worst in audition the other modalities while responses in the visual and bisensory conditions were statistically identical for all metrics measured. Lastly, audio-visual facilitation was not observed when tracking bisensory targets.