282 



Mr. C. S. Myers. The Influence of 



to account for their experimental results. In my own experiments, were I 

 to trust the introspective data of several of my subjects, additional evidence 

 could be supplied in favour of this view. 



Thus for sounds given in the median sagittal plane, one subject in her early 

 stages of practice described those at 0° as follows : " It hit my head just above 

 the forehead," " it hit me just above the forehead," " it hit me just in front of 

 the top of my head," while the 90° v. sounds seemed to have "a more vertical 

 feeling," " a straight-downward feeling." Now to this subject all sounds 

 (in the median sagittal plane) at first appeared to come from the ceiling 

 cornice in front of and above her. Most descended and hit her forehead and 

 vertex, while a few others remained there. Sounds at 180° were accordingly 

 described thus : " It remained on the ceiling, but pointed to the forehead " ; 

 " it was located in front of and above me at the ceiling cornice, but it struck 

 me at once on the vertex " ; " it seemed a little lower than the rest, but it 

 hit me in the middle of the forehead." Another subject, who at first 

 ascribed a backward position for all sounds in the median sagittal plane, 

 described the 0° and 90° v. sounds as hitting him at the occiput, and the 180° 

 sounds as hitting him at the nape of the neck. Yet another subject reported 

 on 90° v. — " that reached my eye instead of my ear." 



In the case of sounds in the horizontal plane similar examples may be 

 quoted. One subject, who at the start ascribed a position of 45° h. to sounds 

 given at 45° h. and at 135° h. and a position of 22° h. or 45° h. to sounds 

 given at 90° h., at a later stage of practice mentioned that sounds at 90° h. 

 " seemed several times to end up opposite my ear, possibly giving a touch 

 sensation." Yet when the perimeter arm was moved from 135° h. to 90° h., 

 while the variators were sounding, this subject replied that the sound 

 " seemed to move from 30° h. to 45° h.," and that " I felt something blowing 

 on my skin at 45° h. in front of my ear." 



In the face of such evidence it seems incredible that tactual sensibility 

 plays any important part in sound localisation. Only a few of my subjects 

 reported its presence, and these agreed that ultimately they discovered the 

 only reliable basis of localisation to consist in differences of timbre and 

 loudness. We seem forced to conclude that the localisation of such tactual 

 sensations is to be regarded as resulting from, instead of giving rise to,, 

 determinations of sound localisation.* 



* It would be rash to assume that auditory stimuli do not give rise to tactual sensa~ 

 tions : the longest sound waves unquestionably do. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that 

 the shortest waves excite tactual sensations, and it seems certain that whatever tactual 

 sensations an auditory stimulus may evoke, they play no part in determining sound 

 localisation. . 



