Facts and Models in Hearing


Book Description

During recent years auditory research has advanced quite rapidly in the area of experimental psychology as well as in that of physiology. Scientists working in both areas have in cornrnon the study of the process in HEARING, yet different scientific areas always tend to diverge. A SYMPOSIUM ON PSY CHOPHYSICAL MODELS AND PHYSIOLOGICAL FACTS IN HEARING was or ganized for the exchange of information and to stimulate dis cussion between research workers in psychoacoustics, neurophy siology, anatomy, morphology and hydromechanics. The basic aim of holding this syrnposium was to halt the divergence and to initiate the kind of multi-disciplinary research that will be need ed to elucidate the hearing process as a whole. The present proceedings comprise the papers, which were circulated to the participants two months before the syrnposium and discussed during the syrnposium, together with some cornrnents and additional re marks. These cornrnents and rernarks do not, however, represent the full discussions but only the parts available in written form. We have arranged the material in five sections: I. Structure and Neurobiology of the Inner Ear II. Cochlear Mechanisms III. Auditory Frequency Analysis IV. Auditory Time Analysis V. Nonlinear Effects Within the limits of a syrnposium, none of these topics could be treated comprehensively; moreover, most of the papers concerned problems having several aspects.




Psychoacoustics


Book Description

Psychoacoustics - Facts and Models represents a comprehensive collection of data describing the processing of sound by the human hearing system. It includes quantitative relations between sound stimuli and auditory perception in terms of hearing sensations. In addition, quantitative psychoacoustic models of hearing sensations are given. The monograph contains a unique collection of data on the human hearing system as a receiver of acoustic information as well as many examples of the practical application of the results of basic research in fields such as audiology, noise evaluation, and sound engineering. Many helpful hints for the solution of practical problems will be of particular benefit to engineers, and the book as a whole should serve as an important benchmark in the field of psychoacoustics. The treatment given in this second edition has been thoroughly updated with recent results.







Hearing Loss


Book Description

Millions of Americans experience some degree of hearing loss. The Social Security Administration (SSA) operates programs that provide cash disability benefits to people with permanent impairments like hearing loss, if they can show that their impairments meet stringent SSA criteria and their earnings are below an SSA threshold. The National Research Council convened an expert committee at the request of the SSA to study the issues related to disability determination for people with hearing loss. This volume is the product of that study. Hearing Loss: Determining Eligibility for Social Security Benefits reviews current knowledge about hearing loss and its measurement and treatment, and provides an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the current processes and criteria. It recommends changes to strengthen the disability determination process and ensure its reliability and fairness. The book addresses criteria for selection of pure tone and speech tests, guidelines for test administration, testing of hearing in noise, special issues related to testing children, and the difficulty of predicting work capacity from clinical hearing test results. It should be useful to audiologists, otolaryngologists, disability advocates, and others who are concerned with people who have hearing loss.




Hearing Health Care for Adults


Book Description

The loss of hearing - be it gradual or acute, mild or severe, present since birth or acquired in older age - can have significant effects on one's communication abilities, quality of life, social participation, and health. Despite this, many people with hearing loss do not seek or receive hearing health care. The reasons are numerous, complex, and often interconnected. For some, hearing health care is not affordable. For others, the appropriate services are difficult to access, or individuals do not know how or where to access them. Others may not want to deal with the stigma that they and society may associate with needing hearing health care and obtaining that care. Still others do not recognize they need hearing health care, as hearing loss is an invisible health condition that often worsens gradually over time. In the United States, an estimated 30 million individuals (12.7 percent of Americans ages 12 years or older) have hearing loss. Globally, hearing loss has been identified as the fifth leading cause of years lived with disability. Successful hearing health care enables individuals with hearing loss to have the freedom to communicate in their environments in ways that are culturally appropriate and that preserve their dignity and function. Hearing Health Care for Adults focuses on improving the accessibility and affordability of hearing health care for adults of all ages. This study examines the hearing health care system, with a focus on non-surgical technologies and services, and offers recommendations for improving access to, the affordability of, and the quality of hearing health care for adults of all ages.




The Auditory System and Human Sound-Localization Behavior


Book Description

The Auditory System and Human Sound-Localization Behavior provides a comprehensive account of the full action-perception cycle underlying spatial hearing. It highlights the interesting properties of the auditory system, such as its organization in azimuth and elevation coordinates. Readers will appreciate that sound localization is inherently a neuro-computational process (it needs to process on implicit and independent acoustic cues). The localization problem of which sound location gave rise to a particular sensory acoustic input cannot be uniquely solved, and therefore requires some clever strategies to cope with everyday situations. The reader is guided through the full interdisciplinary repertoire of the natural sciences: not only neurobiology, but also physics and mathematics, and current theories on sensorimotor integration (e.g. Bayesian approaches to deal with uncertain information) and neural encoding. - Quantitative, model-driven approaches to the full action-perception cycle of sound-localization behavior and eye-head gaze control - Comprehensive introduction to acoustics, systems analysis, computational models, and neurophysiology of the auditory system - Full account of gaze-control paradigms that probe the acoustic action-perception cycle, including multisensory integration, auditory plasticity, and hearing impaired




The Auditory Cortex


Book Description

There has been substantial progress in understanding the contributions of the auditory forebrain to hearing, sound localization, communication, emotive behavior, and cognition. The Auditory Cortex covers the latest knowledge about the auditory forebrain, including the auditory cortex as well as the medial geniculate body in the thalamus. This book will cover all important aspects of the auditory forebrain organization and function, integrating the auditory thalamus and cortex into a smooth, coherent whole. Volume One covers basic auditory neuroscience. It complements The Auditory Cortex, Volume 2: Integrative Neuroscience, which takes a more applied/clinical perspective.




Hearing


Book Description

Handbook of Perception, Volume IV: Hearing reviews the literature on the physical, physiological, and psychological aspects of hearing. The book covers a wide array of topics relevant to hearing, including the measurement and biophysics of the cochlea, binaural and spatial hearing, and the effects of hearing impairment on the auditory system. The psychological, sociological, and physiological effects of noise are also addressed. This volume is organized into six sections encompassing 16 chapters and begins with a historical overview of the history of research on hearing, from the antiquity of acoustics to the physical and mathematical developments that gave rise to auditory facts and theories. Auditory perception, physiology, and theory are followed up to about 1940, whereas the work on analysis synthesis and perception of speech is traced up to about 1960. The chapters that follow focus on measurement, the biophysics of the cochlea, and neural coding. The underlying mechanisms of the processing of acoustic information are given consideration. The book methodically introduces the reader to the mechanisms of frequency, intensity, time, and periodicity, along with stress, trauma, and pathology. A chapter on the transient physiological effects of noise and their relation to neuroendocrine stress theory concludes the treatise. This book is intended for psychologists, biologists, and natural scientists, as well as for those who are interested in the physical, physiological, and psychological aspects of hearing.




Computational Models of the Auditory System


Book Description

The Springer Handbook of Auditory Research presents a series of comprehensive and synthetic reviews of the fundamental topics in modern auditory research. The v- umes are aimed at all individuals with interests in hearing research including advanced graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and clinical investigators. The volumes are intended to introduce new investigators to important aspects of hearing science and to help established investigators to better understand the fundamental theories and data in fields of hearing that they may not normally follow closely. Each volume presents a particular topic comprehensively, and each serves as a synthetic overview and guide to the literature. As such, the chapters present neither exhaustive data reviews nor original research that has not yet appeared in pe- reviewed journals. The volumes focus on topics that have developed a solid data and conceptual foundation rather than on those for which a literature is only beg- ning to develop. New research areas will be covered on a timely basis in the series as they begin to mature.




Mathematical Modeling of the Hearing Process


Book Description

The articles of these proceedings arise from a NSF-CBMS regional conference on the mathematical modeling of the hearing process, that was held at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the summer of 1980. To put the a=ticles in perspective, it is best to briefly review the history of suc~ modeling. It has proceeded, more or less, in three stages. The first was initiated by Herman Helmholtz in the 1880's, whose theories dominated the subject for years. However, because of his lack of accurate experimental data and his heuristic arguments it became apparent that his models needed revision. Accordingly, based on the experimental observations of von Bekesy, the "long wave" theories were developed in the 1950's by investigators such as Zwislocki, Peterson, and Bogert. However, as the ex?eri~ents became more refined (such as Rhode's ~wssbauer Measurements) even these models came into question. This has brought on a flurry of 'activity in recent years into how to extend the models to account for these more recent eXT. lerimental observations. One approach is through a device co~monly refered to as a second filter (see Allen's article) and another is through a more elaborate hydroelastic model (see Chadwick's article). In conjunction with this latter approach, there has been some recent work on developing a low frequency model of the cochlea (see Holmes' article).