SOUND LOCALIZATION IN EGOCENTRIC SPACE FOLLOWING HEMISPHERIC LESIONS

In this paper the performance of patients with unilateral hemispheric lesions (n = 10 with right brain damage; n = 10 with left brain damage ) on a free-field sound localization task was contrasted with that of healthy controls (n = 10). Sound stimuli were presented binaurally in the horizontal plane from eight loudspeakers set at azimuths between - 105 degrees and +105 degrees. Whereas performance of both patient gro ups was generally less accurate than controls, no evidence suggested t hat this was specific to the contralateral hemispace. The results indi cate that both hemispheres play a role in sound localization, with sys tematic directional errors made towards the ipsilateral hemifield foll owing unilateral lesions. Furthermore, particular location difficultie s at pericentral positions (+15 degrees and -15 degrees) following rig ht hemisphere damage, may indicate a specific function for the right h emisphere in determining personal frames of spatial reference within p ericentral space. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.