Research

Research in our lab investigates how sound is processed in the human auditory cortex. More specifically, we study the acoustic building blocks that must be assembled in complex listening situations, such as when we engage in a conversation or listen to a symphony. One branch of our research program centers on the neural representation of fundamental acoustic parameters, e.g. pitch and timbre, and the neural mechanisms for detecting meaningful acoustic changes of such parameters within an auditory scene. A second branch of our research investigates auditory perception at a linguistic level and addresses the transformation from speech-specific acoustic analysis to speech-specific linguistic analysis, with an emphasis on temporal integration constants. We employ a combination of behavioral and neuroimaging methods (fMRI, M/EEG, ECoG) to elucidate the underlying neural processes in human auditory cortex with high spatial and temporal precision.

Research Keywords

Auditory neuroscience
Human auditory cortex
Auditory perception and cognition
Speech
Information theoretic and probabilistic properties of sounds
Pitch, Timbre, AM, FM
Pitch pattern processing
Temporal windows of integration
Functional imaging of music
fMRI, MEG, EEG, ECoG

Funding