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Auditory Neuroscience
Team Leader
Research Fellows
Postgraduate Students
- Ms Ranmalee Eramudugolla
- Mr Marc Kamke
 Hearing is the basis of social communication for the overwhelming majority of humans, and hearing loss is one of the major health problems associated with ageing. The research of our group is directed to understanding the brain mechanisms involved in normal hearing and the way in which these mechanisms are modified as a consequence of hearing loss or brain damage. This broad area encompasses three major research foci:
- Perception of vocal communications and other complex sounds depends on
processing in the auditory cortex. One major thrust of our research is to
understand the functional organization of primate auditory cortex and the
role that different auditory cortical areas play in the processing of vocalizations.
Hearing loss results in either the reduction or elimination of input to the
brain from the inner ear, and this altered input results in plastic changes
in the central nervous system. A second research focus is to determine the
nature of the changes in auditory cortical and subcortical structures that
occur as a consequence of partial or total hearing loss. An associated area
of research, in collaboration with colleagues at the Bionic Ear Institute,
is in plastic changes in the cortex of deaf animals that have received electrical
stimulation via cochlear implants.- Most acoustic environments are complex in that they contain multiple concurrent
sound sources, and auditory perception involves attention to salient features
of the auditory scene. A third research focus is on auditory attentional processes
in normal listeners, and the disruption of these processes in patients with
brain damage as a consequence of a stroke.
We have enjoyed fruitful collaborations with a number of research groups in Australia and overseas. Our major current collaborations are with the following:
- Assoc. Prof. Marcello Rosa, Department of Physiology, Monash University: organization and function of auditory cortical areas involved in the processing of vocalizations .
- Assoc Prof. Jason Mattingley, Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne: auditory attentional processes in normal listeners and stroke patients
- Assoc Prof. Rob Shepherd, Bionic Ear Institute: neurophysiological and behavioural studies of auditory system plasticity
- Dr Russell Martin and Dr Ken Mc Anally, Defence Science and Technology Organization: auditory attentional processes; auditory perceptual learning.
- Dr Tony Paolini, School of Psychological Science, LaTrobe University: behavioural studies of auditory system plasticity
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