Research

Research Laboratories

Biomimetic Systems

principle investigators: David C. Mountain and Allyn E. Hubbard

The long range goal of the Auditory Systems Laboratory is to develop large-scale biophysically-based models of the auditory pathways. The purpose of these models is to aid the interpretation of and the design of physiological and psychophysical experiments as well as to study auditory models for their usefulness as preprocessors for automated recognition of acoustic signals. Experimental approaches range from single-unit recordings to auditory evoked potentials obtained from the scalp and modeling approaches range from computational approaches to electronic hardware implementations. This laboratory is also engaged in the study of natural acoustic signal sources and acoustic environments. The purpose of this effort is to develop a better understanding of the evolutionary pressures which have shaped the auditory pathway as well as to develop computer simulations of natural environments for use as input to the auditory models. Other current projects include the use of auditory models for the acoustic transients and development of models for processing temporal sequences.