The process of the hills and valleys of the external ear to reinforce and diminish selective frequencies. 

Grinnell College

The ridges help to modify the character of sound that reaches the ear canal. Some frequencies are enhanced or suppressed. The brain is trained to pay attention to the frequencies that are enhanced through plasticity.

Ridges of the Pinnae

Spectral cues give information about elevation (vertical location) of the soun. Varying binaural cues and spectral filtering of natural sound allow a person or animal to believe/identify a sound coming from a particular point in space.

This is important for acoustics or identifying sounds and who is tonally off in an orchestra.

Spectral cues in localization of auditory information

Breedlove, S. & Watson, N. (2017). Behavioral neuroscience, eighth edition. Oxford University Press.

Learn Before

Related