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If the orientation of your ears were changed so that your right ear still faced forward but your left ear faced backward, how would your ability to locate the direction of an auditory stimulus change?

User Osa
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Final answer:

If your ear orientation was changed so that your right ear faced forward and your left ear faced backward, your ability to locate the direction of an auditory stimulus would be significantly affected.

Step-by-step explanation:

The ability to locate the direction of an auditory stimulus is influenced by both monaural and binaural cues. Monaural cues, which are based on the interaction of sound waves with the pinna, help us locate sounds that occur above or below and in front or behind us. Binaural cues, on the other hand, provide information about the location of a sound along a horizontal axis by relying on differences in vibration patterns between our two ears.

If the orientation of your ears were changed so that your right ear still faced forward but your left ear faced backward, your ability to locate the direction of an auditory stimulus would be significantly affected. With the changed ear orientation, the binaural cues, specifically the interaural timing differences and interaural level differences, would be altered. This means that you would have more difficulty accurately determining the direction of a sound source along the horizontal axis.

User Darwing
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