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 of a vowel. Whereas, the auditory processing involved in image formation is, broadly speaking, like data-driven signal processing, the processing involved in auditory image analysis has more the character of pattern recognition where contextual information and feedback from higher centres play a larger role.
The auditory image concept leads the suggestion that image construction
- takes place in or near the Inferior Colliculus of the mid-brain
- involves the main temporal integration process in hearing, and
- begin 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 the level of auditory cortex.
The purpose of the CNBH is to pursue this approach to hearing through 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. The remainder of this web page presents an overview of our
scientific position organised in terms of the physiological modules of the
auditory pathway. In each case, we briefly note the function of the module
as we understand it, our previous research, and our current research .