Localization of Sound in Micro-Gravity

Samidh Chakrabarti Ra Krikorian

Sharmila Singh Boris Zbarsky
January 29, 1999

This team is applying to y on the second Spring of 1999 slot because it

coincides with MIT's spring break.

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Contents
1 Abstract 3
2 Overview 3
2.1 Sound Localization Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Possible Eects of Micro-gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Existing Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.4 Binaural sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.5 Benets of Localization Research in Micro-gravity . . . . . . . . 8
3 Objectives and Hypothesis 8
4 Test Description 8
4.1 Localization Precision Tests (Tests P-H and P-V) . . . . . . . . . 9
4.2 Localization Accuracy Tests (Tests A-H and A-V) . . . . . . . . 10
4.3 Summary of Possible Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5 Equipment 11
5.1 Laptop Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.2 Stereo Headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6 Load Analysis 11
6.1 Structural . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6.2 Electrical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
7 In- ight Testing Procedures 12
8 Data Acquisition System 13
9 Test Operating Limits 13
10 Data Analysis 13
11 Proposed Manifest 13
12 Photographic Requirements 14
13 Hazard Analysis 14
14 Student Team 14
15 Outreach Program 14
16 Journalist 16
17 Scheduling 16

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18 Project Support 16
19 Budget 16
20 Summary 17
21 References 17
A Appendix I - Bios 18
A.1 Samidh Chakrabarti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
A.2 Ra Krikorian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
A.3 Sharmila Singh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
A.4 Boris Zbarsky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
B Appendix II - Student Advisors 19
B.1 Col. Peter Young . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
B.2 Professor Dava Newman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

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1 Abstract
Human beings have the ability to localize sound { if presented with a tone from
a certain direction, the human head processes the information needed to nd
and identify the sound source. What is not known is whether or not this ability
to localize sound is gravity dependent. What happens when a human is asked to
localize these sounds without the gravity cue of a "denite down"? We propose
to non-invasively test the human ability to localize sound in micro-gravity by
using binaural sound techniques. This type of research is important for the
design of both space habitats that can reduce disorientation through the use of
strategically placed sound cues and the development of accurate micro-gravity
simulations.

2 Overview
Perhaps the most common sensation that astronauts immediately experience
in micro-gravity is severe disorientation. Often this sensory "confusion" leads
to space sickness or space adaptation syndrome. Since sound localization is a
critical skill that astronauts use to regain their bearings, careful study of sound
localization in the micro-gravity environment is required. A better understand-
ing of directional hearing may yield new insights into space sickness and aid in
the design of spacecraft, space communication systems, and earth-bound space
simulators.

2.1 Sound Localization Mechanism

Sound localization is a complex computational task that the brain performs
with apparent ease. The brain uses a combination of interaural, monaural and
dynamic clues to determine the location of a sound.
When a sound wave hits the head, it is picked up by one ear. Then the
head itself distorts the sound wave, and the distorted wave is picked up by the
second ear. The distortion introduced by the head is uniquely determined by
the incident angle of the incoming wave. Early in development, the brain learns
to compute the dierences between the two waves processed by the ears and
uses this information to determine sound location. In eect, the brain creates a
head-related transfer function (HRTF) which describes the relationship between
sound waves received by the two ears as a function of the sound's origin. Since
the topology of every head is unique, each person uses a dierent HRTF. When
a person hears a sound, each ear transduces a sound wave into an electrical
impulse which is sent to the brain for processing. The brain analyzes the two
waves and computes the inverse function of the HRTF to precisely determine
the sound's origin.
Figure 1 elucidates the concepts behind the HRTF. Part (b) shows how a
sound impulse from a distant speaker registers as two dierent sound waves by
each ear. The transformation of one wave to the other is given by the HRTF.

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 Figure 1: Natural Hearing and Simulated Natural Hearing using the HRTF

Part (a) shows that a conventional headphone system doesn't reproduce this
eect, while the playback system in Part (c) demonstrates that signal processing
techniques that alter a sound wave according to the HRTF can be used to
simulate natural spatial hearing.
In addition to the interaural clues derived from the HRTF, each ear has tools
to help determine sound location. The crevices, folds and contours of the outer
ear, shown in Figure 2, re ect sound waves in dierent directions as a function of
frequency and incident direction. If an identical sound is played from two dier-
ent spatial locations, it will generate two dierent spectral histograms because
frequencies are dierentially amplied by the folds of the outer ear depending
on their original location. Another monaural clue that each ear can use is the
echo time delay sounds produce as they re ect o of the physical environment.
Given the echo delay time and visual knowledge of the environment, the brain
can narrow down the possible locations that a sound could have originated from.
Finally, head motion can drastically improve the accuracy of sound localiza-
tion. By gathering multiple sets of sound data corresponding to various head
positions, the brain can both interpolate and triangulate the location of a sound.
Humans use this trick constantly as a means of identifying whether a sound is
coming from the front or back, since most interaural and monaural clues do not
help in answering this question.

5
 Figure 2: Structures of the outer ear

2.2 Possible Eects of Micro-gravity

In micro-gravity, a host of physiological changes aict the body. One of the
most fundamental physiological changes is the increase of blood ow to the
brain. How exactly brain function is aected by this increase in blood is far
from understood. Hearing is doubly aected by micro-gravity: in addition to
brain blood ow increases, uids in the inner ear are disturbed. It is entirely
likely that these conditions could cripple the brain's ability to accurately judge
sound direction through a mechanism such as interference with the computation
of the HRTF.

2.3 Existing Research

Early research by Soviet scientists showed that sound localization accuracy could
drop by as much as thirty percent after prolonged muscle inactivity and in-
creased blood ow to the head (such conditions are present in micro-gravity).
The Soviets collected this data by conning test subjects to bed for prolonged
periods of time, and then taking measurements.
Before more detailed research can be described, it is necessary to understand
the conventions governing the auditory spatial coordinate system. Figure 3
illustrates the three orthogonal planes that dene the coordinate system. The
horizontal plane is the one that is parallel to the ground when standing (it
contains the eyes and the ears). The median plane contains our body's vertical

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 Figure 3: Spatial hearing coordinate system

plane of symmetry. The frontal plane is mutually orthogonal to the other two
planes and intersects them at the center of the head.  is the angle from forward
in the horizontal plane, while  is the angle to the horizontal plane.
In 1991, a joint Austrian-Soviet experiment on the Mir space station called
AUDIMIR tested a cosmonaut's ability to accurately localize sounds. The AU-
DIMIR test suite was designed to determine how precisely a cosmonaut could
auditorily determine the forward direction ( = 0,  = 0). AUDIMIR results
demonstrate that although spatial hearing in micro-gravity is largely unaected
in the horizontal plane, sound localization in the medial plane is shifted ten
degrees downwards. In other words, the cosmonaut test subject thought that
sounds came from ten degrees lower ( = 10) than where they actually did.
In addition, the AUDIMIR experimenters tried to determine if directional
hearing becomes a more important sense in micro-gravity than in one-G. They
hypothesized that if sound localization were more important in micro-gravity,
then it would be easier to "trick" a cosmonaut into feeling a sense of motion due
to hearing a moving sound source. AUDIMIR showed that a counterclockwise
rotating sound source (varying ) could in fact mislead the human mind into
thinking it was spinning clockwise. However, whether the illusion of motion was
greater in micro-gravity than under normal gravity conditions is still unclear.
The primary shortcomings of the AUDIMIR research that we aim to address
are the use of only one test subject and the testing of localization ability around
only the forward direction. Our tests will employ multiple test subjects and test
sound localization in directions other than forward, such as  = 45 or 45
while in the horizontal plane.

2.4 Binaural sound

In order to simulate spatial sound for this proposal without going to elaborate
means, binaural sound is played for the test subjects. Binaural sound is a

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 Figure 4: Recording sound in binaural format

technique to create spatial audio (three dimensional instead of the traditional

left and right) using only a simple set of stereo headphones.
Stereo sound is usually recorded with two or more microphones { each mi-
crophone is mounted to listen to a separate part that the recorder wants noted.
These sounds are then mixed together and edited to be emitted from two sep-
arate channels. Because of this, stereo sound requires two loudspeakers and an
innite number of channels to produce a perfect recording.
Binaural sound recordings take the recording situation and make it a little
more realistic by closely mimicking how the human body listens. Binaural
recordings are usually done with two omnidirectional microphones mounted at
the entrance to the ear canals on an articial head (see Figure 4). This articial
head has the microphones mounted 6 to 8 inches apart, and may even have
an equivalent of the eshy ridges of the outer ears to modify the frequency
balance of sounds depending on the direction (relative to the head) in which
they originate. This head is placed wherever the recorded wishes the listener to
be placed while listening.
If these two channels of recording are kept completely separate, then fed
back to a human head directly through headphones, the sound will exhibit the
same spatial properties that the recording head experienced, thereby giving the
human the illusion of spatial sound.

8
2.5 Benets of Localization Research in Micro-gravity
Although little research has been conducted on the eects of micro-gravity on
hearing, this information could be invaluable in a variety of applications. Med-
ically, it could help to unravel how the human body becomes so disoriented in
micro-gravity as to experience space sickness. Also, more realistic simulators
that incorporate the audio localization distortions due to micro-gravity could be
built to better train astronauts. As a nal example, spacecraft and space station
designers could carefully select the locations of sound-producing equipment to
create a "sound landscape" that itself provides orientation clues.
Even if it is found that sound localization is not impaired in micro-gravity,
this research could still be benecial. Since the senses of touch and sight are
readily confused by weightlessness, perhaps sound localization grows to promi-
nence as a tool for assessing orientation in micro-gravity. In this manner, sound
clues could be used to help astronauts regain their orientation in micro-gravity
more quickly.

3 Objectives and Hypothesis

This experiment attempts to nd out exactly what eect a micro-gravity en-
vironment has on the human body's ability to localize sound in the horizontal
and vertical plane as related to the head.
We expect there to be no change in the horizontal plane as that does not
require an up or down cue { but we do expect the vertical tests to show that
the ability to localize sound diminishes since there is no aid for an absolute up
or down given by gravity.

4 Test Description
The subject's ability to localize sound (with respect to both precision and ac-
curacy) will be tested at 5 widely separated locations in the plane of the head.
These will be at  = 0 , 45 , 135, 135, and 45 with  = 0 (see Figure
5 for diagram of test loci). Each experimenter will be able to run his or her
own experiment, thereby allowing two simultaneous experiments to occur on
the KC-135a.
Four dierent kinds of tests can be performed at each test location. Two of
the sets will determine the absolute accuracy of the localization ability (called
Test A-H and Test A-V) and two of the tests will determine the resolution
(precision) of the localization ability (called Test P-H and Test P-V). Within
each set, one type of test will try to determine the localization ability in the
horizontal plane (A-H and P-H) and the other type will focus on the vertical
plane (A-V and P-V).

9
 Figure 5: Proposed testing loci

4.1 Localization Precision Tests (Tests P-H and P-V)

These tests will elucidate how precisely a subject can discern changes in a
sound's location. The subject will continuously be presented with a reference
tone for a location { a tone located precisely at that spot (see Figure 5 for test
loci). For test P-V, the subject will be presented with a series of tones with the
same azimuthal location (stationary ) as the reference tone but dierent polar
locations (varying ). For each of these, the subject will have to judge whether
the tone is above or below the plane of their head. The subject will indicate
her response by pressing a designated key on a laptop keyboard. The responses
the subject makes will be recorded by the computer and used to determine the
next tone in the tone sequence. When the subject answers correctly, she will
be presented with another tone that is closer to the reference location. If she
answers incorrectly, she will be presented with a tone further from the refer-
ence location. In this fashion, the subject's ability to localize tones in the polar
direction can be determined.
Test P-H will be conducted in a nearly identical fashion, except the test tones
will be stationary in altitude (xed ) and vary in azimuth (varying ). In this
manner, we will be able to determine the subject's overall sound localization
resolution ability (in degrees). Note that all tones will be presented to the
subject by using pre-recorded binaural sounds stored in MPEG les and played
by the laptop.
Originally, it was thought that a control on visual distractions the subject
will be asked to close her eyes during all of the tests (the idea to blindfold
the subject was rejected immediately due to safety concerns). Unfortunately
this is extremely unsafe { to modify this, the subject will be asked to focus on
the laptop computer and attempt to ignore all other visual distractions. The
reporter will also be asked to \spot" the subjects and prevent them from making
a dangerous fall.

10
4.2 Localization Accuracy Tests (Tests A-H and A-V)
These tests will attempt to discern how absolute sound localization accuracy is
aected in micro-gravity. In other words, how accurately a subject can deter-
mine where exactly a sound is coming from. Test A-H is identical to test P-H,
except there will be no reference tone presented; instead, the subject will be told
by the computer where the target location is. Test A-V is identical to test P-V,
except there will be no reference tone; the subject will be told by the computer
where the target location is. This strategy will enable us to pinpoint where the
test subject perceives a sound loci to be (not necessarily where it actually is).

4.3 Summary of Possible Tests

Test Number Test Location Test Type
1  = 0 , = 0 A-H
2  = 0 , = 0 A-V
3  = 0 , = 0 P-H
4  = 0 , = 0 P-V
5  = 0 , = 45 A-H
6  = 0 , = 45 A-V
7  = 0 , = 45 P-H
8  = 0 , = 45 P-V
9  = 0 , = 135 P-H
10  = 0 , = 135 P-V
11  = 0 , = 135 P-H
12  = 0 , = 135 P-V
13  = 0 , = 45 A-H
14  = 0 , = 45 A-V
15  = 0 , = 45 P-H
16  = 0 , = 45 P-V
Each test will be performed multiple times by dierent subjects in zero-G,
and 1-G (all in the airplane, as a control). We chose this testing suite because it
gives us a broad picture of the human ability to localize sound (both accuracy
and precision) across a large portion of the auditory eld. The type A tests will
not be conducted for sounds coming from "behind" the head, because spatial
hearing tests have shown that the human sound localization ability for these
regions is extremely poor, hence accuracy data would not be reliable.
We believe our testing procedure will produce better statistical results than
those from MIR since we are testing more than just the horizontal plane and
the vertical plane at 0 from the front of the human head. We believe that
by asking the subject to localize sound in the vertical plane at  = 45, 135,
135, and 45 we will get better data than AUDIMIR.

11
5 Equipment
5.1 Laptop Computer
Two laptop computers are going to need to be brought on the airplane for testing
purposes { one for each experimenter. Each will already have pre-recorded
binaural sounds for each possible position that we may be testing. Outputting
the sound from the laptop will be a custom piece of software written exclusively
for this test { the testing software will perform the test on the human operator
as described in the above section.

5.2 Stereo Headphones

To hear the sounds being presented by the testing program, two pairs of high
quality stereo headphones will be brought aboard. These headphones will be the
ear covering type so as to provide some immunity from ambient noise (another
control) and some safety to the human using them (headphones that require
one to have the ear piece inserted and held by the ear seems too dangerous to
use in the chaotic environment inside the KC-135a).

6 Load Analysis
6.1 Structural
The laptops and headphones together weigh approximately 10 pounds.
During the ight the laptops will remain velcroed and duct taped to the oor
of the KC-135a with its screen closed. The reason the screen is not kept open
for the duration of the ight is because there is a concern that the screen of the
laptop will start to hinge violently during the micro-gravity to hyper-gravity
uxations. The \sleep" mode will be disabled during the ight so we can run
the laptops with their covers closed. However, we will have to secure them in a
fashion so in the worst case that we need to see the computer's screen, we will
be able to raise it easily.
Both the laptop and the headphones will have no problem surviving the take
o and landing. The Apple G3 Powerbooks that we are using have been used
on airplanes in many dierent situations and will be able to survive the 2G
pullup. The headphones we are using (it has not been conrmed exactly which
headphones we will be using) will also survive the stresses of the cabin as they
were actually designed to be used on an airplane.

6.2 Electrical
Both laptop computers, and both sets of headphones will be powered by their
own internal battery supplies, requiring no external electrical supply.

12
7 In- ight Testing Procedures
1. Unpack equipment
2. Place headphones on
3. Plug headphones into the headphone jack on the laptop
4. Turn on the laptop
5. Start the testing program (either by double clicking on the icon, or typing
the command at the command prompt)
6. Lift oneself o the surface so there is no tactile contact with the oor
7. If a type P test, listen to the reference tone presented by the computer.
If a type A test, listen to a verbal description (a voice sound recorded on
the computer) of the target location.
8. Listen to the testing tone
9. Indicate by pressing a specied button whether or not the testing tone is
above or below the reference position (if a type X-V test) or right or left
of the reference position (if a type X-H) test.
10. Repeat 6-10 until the computer has determined the tester's ability to lo-
calize in that plane. The computer will randomly pick another test to
work on. A single test should take no longer than 20 seconds.
11. Terminate program
12. Shutdown computer
13. Unplug headphones
14. Store equipment
The rst step is obviously to set up the experiment. This involves unpack-
ing the equipment, turning on the laptop, donning the headphones, and then
starting the testing program.
When micro-gravity starts, the tester rst needs to lift him or herself o the
oor so there is no tactile contact with it, and second start the testing loop
going; pausing it for the hyper-gravity pull ups (we are not testing during the
pull up, so putting the laptop's testing loop on pause will allow us to resume
the micro-gravity testing). The tester can then perform the test as outlined in
test description section, and in the outline above.

13
8 Data Acquisition System
All data is going to be recorded by the laptops. The testing program will be
dumping a data le outlining each dierent test and all the pertinent data while
it is testing the tester.
The data le will contain everything of interest { the reference position, the
testing position presented, the human response to the testing position, and the
delay in time of the presentation of the tone and the human response to it.
All this data can then be printed into hardcopy form for safe keeping once the
subject is on the ground.

9 Test Operating Limits

This test will only be tested in the micro-gravity environment that the KC-135
provides, and not during the hyper-gravity pull up.
As for the minimum or maximum amount of parabolas, there are no hard set
numbers. The amount of parabolas is tied directly to how statistically accurate
our results are { so the more parabolas, the better for us.

10 Data Analysis
The data from this experiment will be compared to both control data (taken
at Earth gravity) and the data from the MIR experiment. Only data from the
 = 0 position will be compared to MIR. In all cases, the Mann-Whitney U-test
will be used to determine whether there is a statistically signicant dierence
between the data sets, with the most accurate localization achieved in each trial
being the comparison variable. In addition, data from dierent test subjects will
be similarly compared to identify statistically signicant individual variations,
if any. Data from dierent angles will also be compared to identify anisotropies
in localization ability.
It should also be taken into account that subjects may become too motion
sick to perform a complete set of experiements. However, much of the ex-
periement is redundant so if the 4 testers can complete portions the run, then
there should be enough data for statistical analysis.

11 Proposed Manifest
 2 Laptops
 2 sets of stereo headphones

14
12 Photographic Requirements
There are no inherent photographic requirements for this experiment. Presum-
ably the journalist will be bringing photographic equipment aboard { but that
is not directly related to this experiment.

13 Hazard Analysis
Due to the small amount of equipment necessary for this experiment, there are
not many hazards to consider. The one that is of concern is the scenario of
an unexpected high acceleration. Since laptops are inherently fragile, the only
precaution we could take is to require the tester to not drift too far from the
oor. The laptops will be velcro fastened to the oor, however, to prevent
them from damage (the experimenter will be oating above the laptop while
the laptop remains fastened to the oor).
The only other hazard of concern is the production of an extremely high vol-
ume sound from the headphones { but to alleviate this problem, the maximum
gain on the volume will be hand adjusted and locked into position so the sound
will be dampened.
Electrical shock is not of concern as the laptops are insulated and are de-
signed to be brought through many dierent types of stress conditions without
bringing the user any harm.
This project has no structure, per se, and no sharp edges to be concerned
about.

14 Student Team
The team is comprised of 4 MIT undergraduates (a more detailed biography
on them is provided in the appendices): Samidh Chakrabarti (computer sci-
ence and brain and cognitive sciences major, class of 2001), Ra Krikorian
(computer science major, architecture minor, class of 2000), Sharmila Singh
(aeronautics and astronautics major, class of 2001), and Boris Zbarksy (physics
and mathematics major, class of 2001).

15 Outreach Program
Through our outreach program, it is our hope to encourage elementary school
students to take up an interest in the human factors involved in space endeavors.
We hope to share our ndings with the students through visits to schools, inter-
active web pages, and printed material. The following topics will be addressed:
 the ear and its structures
 hearing

15
  how the brain processes sound
 binaural recording
 sound localization
 reduced gravity
 summary of our experiment
 results of the experiment
Visits to schools will be of primary importance. We will speak with the
students about our experiment and ight experience. The classroom setting
will allow us to answer questions directly and also oer us the opportunity to
do sound localization demonstrations. We feel that this is the best way to give
students a better feel for what it means to locate a sound in three dimensions.
We have been in contact with Sue Zobel-Whitcher, a science teacher at
the Lincoln School, in Brookline, MA and she is very interested to have our
team come out and brief the students before and after the ight. In our brief
discussions with Ms. Zobel-Whitcher, it sounds as if she is running a very
progressive science program and our experiments should t in perfectly.
The Cambridge Public Library and the Boston Museum of Science separately
run summer programs for local elementary kids, and we also plan to speak with
them and educate this group of children. The Museum of Science (MOS) in
particular represents a unique opportunity. We can design and construct an
exhibit for the MOS based on our micro-gravity sound localization experiment.
Since the MOS hosts a large volume of visitors annually, our project will be
exposed to a wide audience of all ages.
Our web page will allow students to learn about sound localization over the
Internet. The page will include sample sound clips, pictures of our ight, and
a multitude of information on the subjects listed above. We plan to create
an interactive learning environment through this eort, so that we can reach
out to students whose classroom we do not have the opportunity to visit. In
addition to the information online, students will be able to e-mail their ques-
tions directly to any member of the team and get a personal response to their
inquiry. We will be attaching this web page o the 16.00 course web page
(http://web.mit.edu/16.00) at MIT { Introduction to Aerospace and Design.
We will have printed material available for distribution in schools. This
material will cover the main topics listed above and have pictures from the
ight. This material will supplement our visits and provide those without web
access the same resources found on the web page.
Finally, to address the more scientic community, we plan to compose a
paper with our ndings for publication in a journal. We will also be covered in
the MIT Tech, and will prepare a short presentation for the AIAA Northeast
Regional Conference which will be held during April.
The study of sound localization is of great interest to us, and we hope to
convey our enthusiasm to the students. Through our visits, web page, and

16
written material, we feel we will provide young people with useful information
and a desire to learn more about space related experiments and about sound
localization.

16 Journalist
Steve Chazin, of Apple Computer, will be covering this team. He will be joining
us on the ground to document the team along with the Apple press liasons from
Houston. Mr. Chazin himself will be ying with this team.

17 Scheduling
This is our proposed schedule starting in January of 1999 for preparations if we
are chosen to y in March.
February 1 Obtain the binaural software from Wave Arts, Inc. Begin creating binaural records
February 7 Author the testing software
Feburary 15 Receive the KU 100 Dummy Head from Neuman to record the binaural sounds
Feburary 25 Debug software and rene experimental procedures

18 Project Support
We have contacted Helen Halaris of the Massachusetts Space Grant to see if
they can provide any supplemental help. Also, we have asked corporations to
sponsor our team by providing us with equipment to be used in preparation of
the ight and during the ight. The current sponsors of this team are AKG
Acoustics, Neumann Sound, Houston Internet Connect, Wave Arts Inc, Apple
Computer, and Lenscrafters.

19 Budget
2 Laptops $2000/each on loan from experimenters
2 Stereo Headphones $35/each
20 DAT tapes $5/each
1 DAT Recorder $600 on loan from experimenter
1 Newman Head $400/each hopefully can get on loan
4 Flight Physicals $150/each
Round Trip Airfare $750/each
Hotel stay $30/night/each
Total $10450 -$5000 (on loan or donated)

17
20 Summary
This experiment will attempt to deduce what changes happen to the human
body's ability to localize sound when in a micro-gravity environment. By using
our custom software, and binaural sound recordings, we will attempt to test the
limits of the human body's sound localization abilities. We expect there to be
no change in the horizontal plane as that does not require an up or down queue
{ but we do expect the vertical tests to show that the ability to localize sound
diminishes since there is no aid for an absolute up or down.
This research can be used to gain better insight into space sickness as well as
aid in the design of space craft, space communication systems, and earth-bound
space simulators.

21 References
1. Blauert, Jens. Spatial Hearing: The Psychophysics of Human Sound Lo-
calization. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1997.
2. Carlile, Simon. Virtual Auditory Space: Generation and Applications.
Austin, Texas: Chapman & Hall, 1996.
3. Persterer A, Opitz M, Koppensteiner C. \AUDIMIR: Directional Hearing
at Microgravity." Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, Vol. 41(4),
pp. 239-247.
4. Yost W, Gourevitch G. Directional Hearing. New York: Springer-Verlag,
1987.

18
A Appendix I - Bios
A.1 Samidh Chakrabarti
Samidh Chakrabarti was born in Corvallis, Oregon in September of 1979. At the
age of six, he saw the rings of Saturn through a telescope for the rst time. That
single image ignited his passion for space exploration and science. Samidh even
submitted an experiment proposal to NASA when he was eight years old in the
hopes of studying "A Child's Perspective of Zero-G." Although that proposal
proved futile (can you guess why?), Samidh hopes that this proposal will give
him the opportunity to conduct serious scientic research while simultaneously
paying homage to his rejected proposal of a decade ago.
Samidh chose to attend MIT for college, where he is currently a sophomore
majoring in both Computer Science (course 6) and Brain and Cognitive Science
(course 9). He is especially excited about this experiment because it combines
his passion for computers, brain research, and space research. As the commu-
nity outreach chair for the MIT chapter of the Students for the Exploration
and Development of Space (SEDS), Samidh is looking forward to sharing his
experiences in this project with as many kids as possible. In those brief peri-
ods of time not spent doing homework or sleeping, Samidh enjoys photography,
astronomy, and playing soccer.

A.2 Ra Krikorian

Ra Krikorian was born in Queens, New York in July of 1978. His life was
lled with building stu out of LEGOs. Soon after that he moved to Freehold,
NJ and nally to New City, NY. High school was pretty boring. so it was spent
competing in lots of competitions to keep him from having to attend class.
He then decided to attend MIT, and his life just became way too busy. Now
he doesn't have time for anything fun. He is majoring in Computer Science, with
a focus in Articial Intelligence and realistic simulated environments, and also
minoring in Architecture (because he was tired not getting to build stu with
his hands). But when he does nd free time, he loves to read, draw, rollerblade,
and play classical piano.

A.3 Sharmila Singh

Sharmila Singh was born in Jamaica in 1978. In the spring of 1979, she moved to
Midland, Texas where her family currently resides. During her school years, she
developed a love for science and the humanities and became involved in many of
her school's academic teams. She also enjoyed playing basketball and debating.
While in high school, Sharmi became interested in aerospace medicine. It was
her desire to enter this eld that lead her to MIT for undergraduate study.
Sharmi is currently a sophomore at MIT doing pre-medical studies and ma-
joring in Aeronautical Engineering. When not in the classroom or slaving over
problem sets, she enjoys reading science ction, playing board games, taking

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part in religious activities, and sleeping. On longer breaks, she enjoys interna-
tional travel and spending time with her family.

A.4 Boris Zbarsky

Boris Zbarsky was born in Odessa, Ukraine in November 1979 (missing the 80's
by less than 2 months), and moved to Rockville, MD in 1988 (which means he
did not miss Chernobyl. Though that may not be as harmful as the 80's). After
making his way through what remained of elementary and middle school, he
got to high school, which was just the same except for the fact that he joined
the math team and took a physics class he really liked. Which brings us to
today. He is currently a sophomore majoring in physics and theoretical mathe-
matics. When not doing homework, he can usually be found watching movies,
swing dancing (especially lindy hop), rollerblading, coding in Perl, reading sci-
/fantasy, or, in recurring ts of delusion, discussing abstract algebra or physics
with others who are similarly deluded. Prolonged exposure may result in inter-
est in math.

B Appendix II - Student Advisors

B.1 Col. Peter Young
Col Peter Young, an MIT RGSFO advisor, is a Visiting Lecturer in the Depart-
ment of Aeronautics and Astronautics on loan from the USAF. In his 29 year
career in the Air Force, he has spent the majority of his assignments in the space
and missile sectors. He has served in several military satellite program oces
for the AF's Oce of Special Projects and was the USAF lead integrator for
two STS DoD missions own in the late 1980s. In his most recent assignments
he was the Program Manager for the DoD Space Test Program (1995-1996) and
the Space Based InfraRed - Low Program. He holds a Bachelor of Science in
Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from MIT and a Master of Science
in Systems Management from the University of Southern California.

B.2 Professor Dava Newman

Dr. Newman specializes in investigating human movement and motor control
performance across the spectrum of gravity. She was Principal Investigator for
the Dynamic Load Sensors (DLS) experiment that measured astronaut-induced
disturbances of the microgravity environment - a space ight experiment that
ew on Shuttle Mission STS-62. A current manifestation, the Enhanced Dy-
namic Load Sensors, ew on board the Russian Mir space station from 1996
through 1998. Data are helping NASA verify and update design requirements
for the International Space Station. Dr. Newman was a Co-Investigator on the
Mental Workload and Performance Experiment (MWPE) that ew to space on
STS-42 to measure mental workload and ne motor control in microgravity. She

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also has active research eorts in human biomechanics and energetics, robotics,
and designing future space suits to be used on Mars.

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