Our research focuses on the hypothesis that the initial stages of auditory processing are largely concerned with converting incoming sound into an auditory image which subsequently serves as the basis for more central processes like stream segregation and source identification. The auditory image is assumed to be the first representation of a sound of which we can be aware. Whereas, the auditory processing involved in auditory image formation is essentially data-driven signal processing, the processing of the auditory image be more central systems has more the character of pattern recognition where contextual information and feedback from higher centres play a larger role.

The auditory image hypothesis suggests that image construction

• takes place in the sub-cortical auditory pathway (brainstem and thalamus),
• is the product of the main temporal integration process in hearing, which stabilizes our perception of communication sounds, and
• initiates the process of figure/ground separation in hearing.

The division of auditory function into image construction and image processing, and the specification of a location for image construction, together provide a framework for understanding the function of the modules in the auditory pathway up to and including auditory cortex (Heschl's gyrus and planum temporale). Research at the CNBH is a combination of physiological experiments and single-cell modelling at the micro level, and perceptual experiments with functional modelling and brain imaging at the macro level.