Auditory Neuroscience: Making Sense of Sound (Mit Press) - Softcover

Schnupp, Jan; Nelken, Israel; King, Andrew J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262518023 ISBN 13: 9780262518024

Publisher: The MIT Press, 2012

Synopsis

An integrated overview of hearing and the interplay of physical, biological, and psychological processes underlying it.

Every time we listen―to speech, to music, to footsteps approaching or retreating―our auditory perception is the result of a long chain of diverse and intricate processes that unfold within the source of the sound itself, in the air, in our ears, and, most of all, in our brains. Hearing is an "everyday miracle" that, despite its staggering complexity, seems effortless. This book offers an integrated account of hearing in terms of the neural processes that take place in different parts of the auditory system.

Because hearing results from the interplay of so many physical, biological, and psychological processes, the book pulls together the different aspects of hearing―including acoustics, the mathematics of signal processing, the physiology of the ear and central auditory pathways, psychoacoustics, speech, and music―into a coherent whole.

About this title

From the Author

Hearing is the telepathic sense that we take for granted. Think about it: you might be sitting somewhere quietly when suddenly some fantastically small ripples of air pressure wiggle your ear drums by just fractions of a micrometer, and within a fraction of a second your brain will have deduced from those pressure ripples that someone on the table next to you has dropped a spoon, or that a phone is ringing, or a dog is barking. Or you might be rapt in conversation, listening to a friend's latest exploits. When you do that, you are effectively reconstructing your friend's thoughts and emotions from the train of invisible vibrations that emanate from your friend's vocal apparatus. It's nothing if not miraculous. In this book,we try to explain how this all works. We are aiming mostly at an audience of undergraduate students in the biomedical sciences, psychology, audiology or biomedical engineering, but the book ought to be accessible to many interested laymen too. We have also put together a website to accompany the book with accompanying mutlimedia content at auditoryneuroscience.com. Take a look. If you like it, tell your friends - if not, tell us. All the best,Jan, Andy and Eli

About the Author

Jan Schnupp is Professor of Neuroscience and Codirector of the Auditory Neuroscience Research Group in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics at Oxford University and a Fellow of St. Peter's College.

Israel Nelken is Professor in the Department of Neurobiology in the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences and a member of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Andrew King is Professor of Neurophysiology, Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow, and Codirector of the Auditory Neuroscience Research Group in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics at Oxford University and a Fellow of Merton College.

Edition details

• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0262518023
• ISBN 13: 9780262518024
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 366