Practical insights
Practical insights
Low spatial resolution
Both ears are required to determine the source of a sound, a process the brain carries out by comparing the signals received at each ear. A sound will be perceived more loudly in, and arrive fractionally earlier at, the ear that is closer to the source. These difference cues allow the brain to identify the broad direction of the sound. However, this process often delivers a range of possible solutions, producing a range of potential locations known as the cone of confusion. Because of this relatively imprecise ability to localise sound, we frequently rely on vision (which generally operates at much higher spatial resolution) to decode a specific source of sound. For example, we may use hearing to turn toward the approximate direction of a sound source but then depend on visual information to pinpoint the exact source10.