# Multisensory integration of auditory cues for navigation

> **NIH NIH F30** · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · 2024 · $47,324

## Abstract

Project Summary
Spatial navigation is a complex task that requires sensory processing, integration, and the creation of a spatial
map. Our project seeks to understand the role of auditory cues in spatial navigation. Traditionally, auditory
landmarks have been ignored with scientists looking instead at visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive cues. New
behavioral studies point to a human ability to use auditory landmarks in self-motion perception, balance, and
gait. Here, we seek to understand the role of auditory spatial landmarks in spatial navigation, assessed by careful
experimental manipulation of available sensory cues (auditory, visual, and self-motion cues) during a homing
task. We propose two aims to examine the role of audition in spatial navigation. In our first aim, we seek to
quantify how audition is integrated with other senses for human spatial encoding and navigation. We propose to
examine this in the framework of the maximum likelihood computational model (termed optimal cue-combination
model). We hypothesize that humans will use auditory information in an optimal manner, though auditory
information will contribute less to the spatial map than visual cues or self-motion cues. In the second aim, we
propose to examine the relative weight that individuals with sensory loss place on auditory information. We plan
to do this with virtual reality simulations of visual and self-motion sensory impairment in the acute setting. We
also plan to examine how individuals having a chronic sensory loss (longstanding low vision or vestibular
asymmetry) weight auditory landmarks for navigation. The proposed work will have a significant impact on the
field of multisensory integration and help generate potential new rehabilitation strategies for individuals suffering
from sensory impairment.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10936524
- **Project number:** 5F30DC021360-02
- **Recipient organization:** UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
- **Principal Investigator:** Corey Scott Shayman
- **Activity code:** F30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $47,324
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-15 → 2025-06-21

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10936524

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10936524, Multisensory integration of auditory cues for navigation (5F30DC021360-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10936524. Licensed CC0.

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