Contribution
Investigation of Training Effects in a Developed Distance Estimation Task Paradigm
* Presenting author
Abstract:
Auditory distance perception is crucial for orientation and safety, particularly in scenarios without visual cues. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a measurement paradigm for investigating auditory distance estimation under controlled conditions, focusing on warning signals. A further goal was to determine whether distance estimation can be improved through targeted training. Ten participants with normal hearing performed distance estimation tasks in a virtual acoustic environment created with the TASCAR toolbox. Two auditory stimuli (white noise and tone bursts) were presented at varying distances. Following an initial demonstration of all stimuli, participants underwent three different test runs including a training phase for each stimulus. The results showed no significant improvement in distance estimation accuracy as a result of the training phase. Misclassifications primarily occurred between adjacent distance categories, highlighting challenges in using auditorycues for precise judgments. The lack of improvement through the training could be due to a strong impact of the demonstration stimuli, which may have provided a considerable training effect already. The study hence provides insights for the development of future test methods for applications with, e.g., hearing protection devices to reliably study auditory distance perception in safety-critical contexts.