Spatial hearing refers to the capacity of listeners to infer information about direction and distance from auditory signals. Its study involves the overlap of acoustics, psychology, psychophysics, physiology, medicine, engineering, architectural design, and musical analysis, and its applications include the design of speaker systems, concert halls and other interiors, and the development of noise-reduction systems. This book updates and expands an interdisciplinary survey and text first published in Germany in 1974. The Journal of the Institute for Radio Engineeringwrote of the first edition that "the literature in this field is so fragmented and scattered that it is virtually inaccessible to most audio engineers, telecommunications technicians, and others for whom it is of vital interest. Thus it is all the more a pleasure to acclaim the author of this first comprehensive monograph, and to recognize how successful he has been in his lucid organization and presentation of so much information." The first three chapters offer a general outline of the problem and approaches to its study (apparatus, experimental techniques, psychometric methods); a survey of experiments with a single sound source emitting signals over a range of frequencies and intensities; and a similar survey involving multiple sound sources and enclosed spaces. A new fourth chapter has been added to this edition, reviewing work done since 1972. It includes material on the physics of the external ear, monoaural and interaural attributes of ear input signals, and applications to architectural acoustics and "dummy-head" stereophony.

The book also includes an extensive and up to date bibliography.