Extreme values (‘ecological range’) of interaural time delays (ITDs)

Range in humans ±700µsec: in cats ±400µsec µsec
Organism Mammals
Reference Joris P, Yin TC. A matter of time: internal delays in binaural processing. Trends Neurosci. 2007 Feb30(2):70-8. p.70 left column bottom paragraphPubMed ID17188761
Primary Source R. Klumpp, H. Eady Some measurements of interaural time differences thresholds J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 28 (1956), pp. 859–864 link
Comments P.70 left column bottom paragraph:"Sound sources off the midsagittal plane travel different distances to the two ears and thereby generate interaural time delays (ITDs), both in the arrival time of the stimulus wavefront (‘onset ITD’) and throughout the stimulus (‘ongoing ITD’) (Figure 1d). In humans, ongoing ITDs of low frequencies are the main source of information used to determine horizontal localization of sound [refs 1, 2 and 3]. Even the largest ITDs, which occur for sound sources that face one ear, are tiny. Their extreme values (henceforth referred to as the ‘ecological range’) are ±700 μs in humans and ±400 μs in cats, but ITDs can be discriminated at values of 10–20 μs [primary source]. Considering that the duration of an action potential is ∼50 times longer, this acuity is an intriguing biological feat."
Entered by Uri M
ID 112212