Physiology
Physiological and cellular-molecular research in the HRC investigates the structure-function-mechanism relations of the auditory system as well as developmental, regenerative, and learning aspects in specific areas. Experimental studies investigate cochlear biomechanics and hearing function, development and regeneration of sensory hair cells in the cochlea, responses of the cochlear nucleus to complex sounds, and neurobiology of the auditory cortex as related to vocalization development. Our research applies complementary theoretical methods from electro-mechanics, statistical signal processing, systems theory, information theory, and pattern recognition to characterize the encoding of sound, and to construct computational models that formalize our understanding of sound processing at various levels of the auditory system.
