On the Minimum Audible Angle

TLDR

The study measured the minimum audible angle for pure tones from 250 Hz to 10 kHz by presenting tone pulses around a seated subject in an anechoic chamber and analyzing the resulting phase, time, and intensity changes at the ears for three participants. Results show that below ~1.4 kHz direction resolution is limited by interaural phase or time differences, while above that frequency it is limited by intensity differences, with optimal temporal discrimination at ~10 µs and intensity discrimination at ~0.5 dB.

Abstract

The difference limen for the azimuth of a source of pure tones was measured as a function of the frequency of the tone and the direction of the source. Tone pulses between 250 and 10 000 cps were sounded in the horizontal plane around the head of a subject seated in an anechoic chamber. The smallest angular separation that can be detected between the sources of two successive tone pulses (the minimum audible angle) was determined for each of three subjects. These threshold angles are analyzed in terms of the corresponding threshold changes in the phase, time, and intensity of the tone at the ears of the subject. A comparison of these thresholds with those reported for dichotic stimulation indicates that the resolution of the direction of a source is determined, at frequencies below about 1400 cps, by interaural differences in phase or time, and at higher frequencies by differences in intensity. When the conditions are optimal for temporal discrimination, the threshold for an interaural difference in time is about 10μsec, and when the conditions are optimal for intensity discrimination, the threshold for an interaural difference in intensity is about 0.5 db.