Neck-proprioceptive influence on auditory lateralization

• Published in: Experimental brain research Vol. 125; no. 4; pp. 389 - 396
• Main Authors: Lewald, J., Karnath, Hans-Otto, Ehrenstein, Walter H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin Springer 01.04.1999
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Adult; Auditory Perception - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neck Muscles - physiology; Photic Stimulation; Proprioception; Somesthesis and somesthetic pathways (proprioception, exteroception, nociception); interoception; electrolocation. Sensory receptors; Space Perception - physiology; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Vibration; Human; Hearing; Sensorimotor coordination; Acoustic stimulus; Vibration; Stimulus localization; Proprioception; Space perception; Neck; Laterality; Striated muscle
• ISSN: 0014-4819; 1432-1106
• DOI: 10.1007/s002210050695

The effect of transcutaneous vibration of the posterior neck muscles on the lateralization of dichotic sound was investigated in human subjects. Two-alternative forced-choice (left/right) judgements were made on acoustic stimuli presented with different interaural level differences via headphones during neck-muscle vibration. A shift of the subjective auditory median plane toward the side contralateral of vibration was found, indicating that the sound was perceived as shifted toward the side of vibration. The mean magnitude of the vibration-induced intracranial shift was 1.5 dB. The results demonstrate a neck-proprioceptive influence on sound lateralization and suggest that this proprioceptive input is used for a central-nervous transformation of auditory spatial coordinates onto a body-centered frame of reference.