Website: http://www.bu.edu/hrc/
Director: H. Steven Colburn
Research Professors: Allyn Hubbard, S. Hamid Nawab, Kamal Sen,
Malvin Teich, Herbert Voigt, David Mountain, Barbara Shinn-Cunningham, Oded Ghitza, Cara Stepp

Established in 1995, the Boston University Hearing Research Center (HRC) includes 20 faculty members from six departments in four Boston University schools and colleges. The HRC was formed in 1995 for the development and dissemination of knowledge that will improve the nation’s auditory health and allow the fullest utilization of the sense of hearing. The specific goals of the HRC are:

• the encouragement and support of the highest qualityresearch in hearing science and its applications
• the development and support of educational activities, particularly graduate education, in these areas
• the encouragement of collaborative research and teaching activities among faculty and staff from all appropriate units at the University

Research in the Hearing Research Center combines theoretical and experimental studies of auditory processing to understand hearing in both normal and impaired auditory systems. Empirical studies include anatomical studies of the cochlea and brainstem, measurements of mechanical properties of cochlear structures, single-unit and multi-unit recording up to the level of the inferior colliculus, and measurements of auditory evoked potentials and otoacoustic emissions, as well as measurements of hearing abilities of human listeners with and without hearing impairments. Theoretical studies, which are closely coupled to the empirical studies, include mathematical modeling of cochlear mechanics, single neurons, networks of neurons, and human performance.