Auditory Perception and Cognition Lab
We study how the auditory system processes speech in noisy environments. We are especially interested in cochlear implant users, who have particular trouble with this task. Our approaches integrate signal processing, neuroimaging, bioengineering, acoustics, and psychoacoustics.
Our aim is to explore and understand spatial hearing, speech processing in noise, hearing impairment, and selective attention. To this end, we try to understand how the healthy normal auditory system makes sense of the acoustic world, and use this information to help those with hearing impairment, and cochlear implant users in particular, perform better on auditory perceptual tasks (see recent papers).
We are in Forbes Tower, but we should be moving into a brand new building in 2025 or 2026; construction is still ongoing. The anechoic chamber and equipment will be moved, but all of the booths that are part of BASRI (Brain and Auditory Science Research Initiative) will be new in the new building.
We are grateful for funding from the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders, the University of Pittsburgh, and the PA Lions Hearing Research Foundation.
News
2024-10-22
Big news. Ben received a percentile score of 6 for his NIDCD F31 application, and Chris, in collaboration with Barb Shinn-Cunningham, were also scored at the 6th %ile (impact score of 22) on their NIDCD R01 application. Looks like both proposals will be funded! Congratulations!
2024-10-20
Another great time at the Mid-Atlantic Symposium on Hearing (MASH). Talks by both Ben and Chris were among many that were well-received, and the discussion over dinner was great as usual. 
2024-04-04
Congratulations to lab member Cece for winning one of only two spots in the highly-competitive Pitt/UPMC joint program to provide full-time combined clinical and research experience over the summer.
2024-03-21
Congratulations to lab member Grace for being awarded an NIDCD R25 Research Education fellowship, which will fund her effort in the lab this upcoming year, and offers significant tuition reduction as well.
2024-03-19
Ben’s talk on the neural mechanisms of solving the cocktail-party problem is well received in the Neuroscience of Communication Seminar 
2024-02-14
Thanks to Bilateral CI patient Austin for participating in our study on cognitive control of attention during an auditory streaming task
