Neuronal Representation of Auditory Distance Percepts vs. Cues in Human Auditory Cortex.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Small experimental neuroimaging and behavioral laboratory study in healthy volunteers
PubMed 41615638 · doi:10.1007/s10162-025-01026-8
What was done
Researchers evaluated how the human brain processes sound distance by combining behavioral testing and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with computational modeling in 15 participants (5 self-reported females). Participants were presented with broadband noise stimuli in a virtual reverberant environment where two acoustic cues—the direct-to-reverberant energy ratio (DRR) and interaural level difference (ILD)—were manipulated for availability and congruency. Cortical activation was evaluated in the planum temporale (PT) and posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) using univariate fMRI analysis and region-of-interest multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA).
What was found
Behavioral distance percepts were reported to be stronger when DRR and ILD cues were both available and congruent. Univariate fMRI identified PT and pSTG regions as encoding the DRR cue, while whole-region MVPA of PT and pSTG detected a significant difference between congruent and incongruent stimuli. The abstract reports no exact numerical values, effect sizes, test statistics, or p-values.
Why it matters
These findings suggest that human auditory cortex distinguishes between raw sensory inputs and integrated spatial percepts, using localized activation for individual acoustic cues and distributed network patterns for synthesized distance judgments.
Limits
The study is limited by a small sample size of 15 participants and reliance on artificial broadband noise stimuli in a virtual acoustic environment. In addition, the abstract omits quantitative effect sizes, confidence intervals, test statistics, and clarification on whether the behavioral and fMRI cohorts were the same individuals.