The research uses the techniques of psychophysice with human observers to examine two classes of sensory behavior, sound localization and the pitch. Localizaation in the world outside of the laboratory is generally of complex sounds that present useful information across many frequency bands and throughout their durations.
An aim of this research is to understand the nature of neural integration by asking how such information is put together. Many of the experiments will use a method in which the information is packed into trains of successive acoustic transients and the amount transmitted is measured relative to the amount processed with only a single transient. This technique allows one to examine more general aspects of the underlying mechanisms. The nature of the loss in transmitted information is to be incorporated into a general model of adaptation in the auditory nervous system and tested in more lifelike situations established in an acoustic free field. Neural integration and the role of temporal factors in detection are especially important topics to be considered in consideration of the value of binaural hearing aides and in the design new generation of auditory prostheses.