Auditory spatial facilitation of visual search performance: Effect of cue precision and distracter density

Two experiments examined auditory spatial facilitation of visual search per formance under conditions varying in auditory cue precision and visual dist racter density. The auditory cue was spatially coincided with the target, w as displaced from the target by 69 or was uninformative. Distracters were m anipulated globally (throughout the field) and locally (within 6.5 degrees of the target) separately at densities of 0%, 20%, and 80%. In Experiment I , auditory cue precision was constant and distracter densities varied withi n a trial block; in Experiment 2, auditory precision varied and distractor densities were constant within a trial block. Coincident auditory cues mini mized local and global distractor effects in both experiments, suggesting t hat auditory spatial cues facilitate both target localization and identific ation. The effectiveness of displaced auditory cues depended on cue reliabi lity: In some conditions, displaced cues caused higher mean search latencie s than did centered cues, indicating that participants were unable to ignor e inaccurate auditory stimuli. Actual or potential applications of this res earch include virtual audio environments and auditory displays in cockpits.