The dynamic aspects of sound-- the amplitude and frequency changes that occur over time- are crucial information- bearing elements of auditory perception and communication. The ability of the auditory system to follow and to resolve such changes is the topic of this proposal. The proposed project is a comprehensive behavioral study, using normal-hearing adults, of the ability to extract information from changes in the amplitude and the spectrum of sound. The proposal consists of three related projects that investigate increasingly complex aspects of dynamic auditory processing. The first project addresses basic issues in auditory coding. One focus is on how normal human hearing can operate over a huge intensity range. The proposed experiments address hypotheses based on physiological data that suggest a possible role for suppression, cochlear efferents, and nonlinear spread of excitation. The other focus is on the role of fine-structure information in monaural hearing. The proposed experiments on this basic, long-standing issue will delineate the relative importance of fine-structure and envelope information in detection and discrimination. The second project examines the ability of the auditory system to extract information from dynamic changes in amplitude such as produced by amplitude and frequency modulation. The general aim of this project is to develop a comprehensive empirical and theoretical account of such processing, including delineation of those aspects of the amplitude envelope that are important for detection and discrimination. The third project, on supra-threshold dynamic processing, is concerned with the processing of amplitude changes that are highly detectable and, as such, represents a significant extension of previous research. The hypotheses driving the specific research questions are based upon data and theory from threshold phenomenon. The general aim of this project is to extend our understanding of dynamic processing to more realistic auditory stimuli. Overall, these projects will provide information of fundamental importance for understanding the basic properties of normal human hearing and, eventually, for understanding the perceptual consequences of hearing impairment. It will help provide a bridge between auditory physiology and real-world hearing. This is essential for a full understanding of hearing and for the development and evaluation of strategies for alleviating hearing loss.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01DC000683-11A1
Application #
6332382
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-IFCN-6 (01))
Program Officer
Donahue, Amy
Project Start
1990-09-30
Project End
2006-03-31
Budget Start
2001-04-01
Budget End
2002-03-31
Support Year
11
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$329,590
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
168559177
City
Minneapolis
State
MN
Country
United States
Zip Code
55455
Byrne, Andrew J; Viemeister, Neal F; Stellmack, Mark A (2014) Discrimination of frequency variance for tonal sequences. J Acoust Soc Am 136:3172
Byrne, Andrew J; Viemeister, Neal F; Stellmack, Mark A (2013) The effects of unmodulated carrier fringes on the detection of frequency modulation. J Acoust Soc Am 133:998-1003
Byrne, Andrew J; Stellmack, Mark A; Viemeister, Neal F (2013) The salience of enhanced components within inharmonic complexes. J Acoust Soc Am 134:2631-4
Viemeister, Neal F; Byrne, Andrew J; Stellmack, Mark A (2013) Spectral and level effects in auditory signal enhancement. Adv Exp Med Biol 787:167-74
Stellmack, Mark A; Viemeister, Neal F; Byrne, Andrew J et al. (2013) The effects of marker-related temporal cues on auditory gap-duration discrimination. Atten Percept Psychophys 75:121-31
Byrne, Andrew J; Wojtczak, Magdalena; Viemeister, Neal F (2012) Forward masking of frequency modulation. J Acoust Soc Am 132:3375-86
Apoux, Frederic; Millman, Rebecca E; Viemeister, Neal F et al. (2011) On the mechanisms involved in the recovery of envelope information from temporal fine structure. J Acoust Soc Am 130:273-82
Byrne, Andrew J; Viemeister, Neal F; Stellmack, Mark A (2011) Discrimination of temporally asymmetric modulation with triangular envelopes on a broadband-noise carrier (L). J Acoust Soc Am 129:593-6
Wojtczak, Magdalena; Nelson, Paul C; Viemeister, Neal F et al. (2011) Forward masking in the amplitude-modulation domain for tone carriers: psychophysical results and physiological correlates. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol 12:361-73
Byrne, Andrew J; Stellmack, Mark A; Viemeister, Neal F (2011) The enhancement effect: evidence for adaptation of inhibition using a binaural centering task. J Acoust Soc Am 129:2088-94

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