POPPerception On Purpose

Active binaural perception

POP has considered the new possibilities that arise when moving beyond the static perceiver assumptions of previous hearing research. A new class of active listening behaviours are consider in which listeners (whether animal or machine) can use planned movement to aid auditory perception. For example, the performance of localisation and tracking algorithms can be improved by turning the head to ensure that the tracked source remains in the auditory fovea (i.e. the region directly in front of the head where azimuthal location cues are most sensitive). More interestingly, by using planned movement, cues for the judgement of distance become available that are not available in the static case. The POP project has reviewed active listening behaviour in humans and has presented active hearing as a solution to the problem of coping with dynamic acoustic environments. New methodologies have been developed, including the simulations of active listening strategies through the use of statistical Monte Carlo methods, and the study of synchronised binaural recording and head track data sets such as CAVA. The promotion of active listening as a novel research area has attracted significant interest and has potential impact in areas other than robotics such as intelligent hearing aid design.

Contributing partner : University of Sheffield