Familarity of Sounds as a Cue of Auditory Distance Perception

The present research examined the contribution of sounds′ familiarity to auditory distance perception, while attempting to control the influences of unavoidable physical characteristics among sounds. Different vocal "styles" ("shouts", "whispers" and "a normal conversation") of man and woman were recorded digitally and presented from a stationary loudspeaker to blindfolded listeners in a semi anechoic chamber. Playback levels were adjusted to remove extraneous sound level cues. The results showed that the shouting voice was judged as appearing farthest, the whispering voice closest, and the conversational voice was intermediate. The findings suggested that the perception of auditory distance may be affected by past experience (or familiarity).