2022 Seminars
October 2022
| HRC Seminar with Sarah Villard | October 14th |
Sarah Villard, Boston University
Title: Listening effort during informational masking tasks
Abstract: N/A
| HRC Seminar with Bill Hartmann | October 21st |
Title: Localization of tones in rooms by moving listeners
Abstract: N/A
| HRC Seminar with Matthew Ning | November 18th |
Matthew Ning, PhD Candidate, Boston University
Title: Decoding spatial location of attended audio-visual stimulus with EEG and fNIRS
Abstract: N/A
December 2022
| HRC Seminar with Yoojin Chung | December 2nd |
Yoojin Chung, Decibel Therapeutics
Title: Development of AAV-based gene therapy for congenital hearing loss
Abstract: N/A
| HRC Seminar with Monty Escabi | December 16th |
Monty Escabi, University of Connecticut
Title: Encoding and perceiving the texture of sounds: neural codes for recognizing and categorizing auditory texture and for listening in noise
Abstract: Natural soundscapes such as from a forest, a busy restaurant, or a busy intersection are often composed of a cacophony of sounds that the brain needs to interpret either independently or collectively. In certain instances sounds, such as from moving cars, sirens, and people talking, are perceived in unison and are recognized collectively as single sound (e.g., city noise). Yet, in other instances, such as for the cocktail party problem, multiple sounds compete for attention so that competing background noise (e.g., speech babble) interferes with the perception of a single sound source (e.g., a single talker). I will describe results from my lab on the perception and neural representation of auditory textures. Textures, such as a from a babbling brook, restaurant noise, or speech babble are stationary sounds consisting of multiple independent sound sources that can be quantitatively defined by summary statistics of an auditory model (McDermott & Simoncelli 2011). How and where in the auditory system are summary statistics represented and the neural codes that underlies their perception, however, are largely unknown. Using multi-channel neural recordings from the auditory midbrain of unanesthetized rabbits and complementary perceptual studies on human listeners, I will first describe neural and perceptual strategies for encoding and perceiving auditory textures. I will demonstrate how distinct statistics of sounds, including the sound spectrum and high-order statistics related to spectral and temporal modulation cues, contribute to texture perception and are reflected in neural activity. I will then show results from our recent perceptual and complementary neural coding studies on how high-order sound statistics and accompanying neural activity underlie difficulties for recognizing speech in background noise.
