Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35699555›Full record

ArticlePsychological science2022

Human Echolocators Have Better Localization Off Axis.

Lore Thaler, L J Norman, H P J C De Vos, D Kish, M Antoniou, C J Baker, M C J Hornikx

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Psychological science, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
0.7field-weighted citation impact, top 34% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. A tale of two ears: development of binaural auditory processing in the big brown bat.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Head movement and its relation to hearing.Frontiers in psychology · 2023
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Lore ThalerDepartment of Psychology, Durham University.ORCID 0000-0001-6267-3129
L J NormanDepartment of Psychology, Durham University.
H P J C De VosDepartment of the Built Environment, Eindhoven University of Technology.
D KishWorld Access for the Blind, Placentia, California.
M AntoniouDepartment of Electronic Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Birmingham.
C J BakerDepartment of Electronic Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Birmingham.
M C J HornikxDepartment of the Built Environment, Eindhoven University of Technology.
Durham University · GBEindhoven University of Technology · NLUniversity of Birmingham · GB

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/M007847/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Here, we report novel empirical results from a psychophysical experiment in which we tested the echolocation abilities of nine blind adult human experts in click-based echolocation. We found that they had better acuity in localizing a target and used lower intensity emissions (i.e., mouth clicks) when a target was placed 45° off to the side compared with when it was placed at 0° (straight ahead). We provide a possible explanation of the behavioral result in terms of binaural-intensity signals, which appear to change more rapidly around 45°. The finding that echolocators have better echo-localization off axis is surprising, because for human source localization (i.e., regular spatial hearing), it is well known that performance is best when targets are straight ahead (0°) and decreases as targets move farther to the side. This may suggest that human echolocation and source hearing rely on different acoustic cues and that human spatial hearing has more facets than previously thought.

Indexed as

EcholocationSound LocalizationAdultAnimalsCuesHearingHumansMouthbatsbehaviorblindnesshearingpsychophysics

Identifiers

PMID35699555
PMCPMC13020946
OpenAlexW4282923367

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.