Subject: Re: localization/hearing From: Eckard Blumschein <Eckard.Blumschein(at)E-TECHNIK.UNI-MAGDEBURG.DE> Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 18:26:14 +0100At 13:25 28.02.2003 -0000, Peter Lennox wrote: >I would be interested in this as well; it sounds very like the equivalent to >"blindsight", a well-documented phenomenon. Given that there is increasing >evidence for independent "what" and "where" processing pathways in hearing >now, rather as in the case of vision, I would be surprised if this kind of >"deafhearing" were not in evidence. I would be most pleased to come across >any references, as I've looked for this before. >regards >ppl Bob's current address is: fendrich(at)neuro2.med.uni-magdeburg.de You might also try:Robert.Fendrich(at)dartmouth.edu He sent me this reply: Hi Eckard, I don't recall the specific conversation, but there is a report of "blind-hearing" by Garde & Cowey (Cortex, 2000, 36, 71-80). However, based a very quick look at the paper, it would seem that this may just be be a case of degraded auditory awareness. You can access it on Google. The only hearing related related research I have conducted in this area involved checking whether the perceived locus of auditory stimuli would be influenced (due to a ventriloquism effect) by simultaneous visual stimuli which were presented to the blind field of hemianopic subjects. In 3 subjects, I found nary a hint of this. Results for 2 of the subjects are in a chapter in Progress in Brain Research (134, chapt. 22). Good luck, Bob Fendrich ___________ I apologize for getting Bob rather imprecise. I already corrected myself in that, even if localisation was very important in evolution, the main mechanism of human hearing is presumably not specifically related to localization but it is based on temporal correlation patterns by means of a second spectral analysis, a neural one, of the tonotopically coded primary spectrum, largely via the T-multipolars. Rapid auditory localization is usually attributed to contralateral comparison via spherical bushy cells already within the superior olivar complex. So I don't see such a broad basis for an independent perception of the "where" as in vision. Eckard