Do we hear differently? Comparing spatial hearing between East-Asian and North-American listeners

Abstract

This paper reviews previous experimental studies on the relationship between a listener's cultural framework and auditory perception of an enclosed space. Cultural influence on auditory perception of noise and music has been assessed through a range of studies. Is it same for spatial hearing? When we enter to a space, would a particular cultural framework influence on understanding of the corresponding auditory environment? As physical buildings and enclosures reflect architectural and visual heritage, the auditory environment of an enclosed space also represents a unique and distinct heritage where people have interacted with and shaped their culture. When two listener groups (East-Asian and North-American) compared a reproduced field, previous findings show that (1) the semantic value of a same descriptor was distinctly different for two groups, and (2) there was an inverse relationship between the area of a personal space and size of a desired (preferred) auditory environment. With the advance of virtual reality (VR) technology, listeners can enter any auditory environment ubiquitously. Therefore, researchers and developers in the field should consider multiple user groups and the role of cultural framework in virtual environments.