Perceptual Measures and Consequences of Normal and Abnormal Cochlear Processing

Project Description

The inner ear, or cochlea, is the first stage of processing along the auditory pathways. It is where sound energy is transformed into neural spikes, which are transmitted along the auditory nerve to the brain. Most cases of hearing impairment involve some damage to the cochlea. This project has two main aims: 

  1. Use otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) and behavioral measures to measure the effects of top-down (efferent) activation on human cochlear mechanics. Understanding how cochlear mechanics are changed by dynamic efferent effects should lead to improved signal processing in situations where the cochlea (or efferent activation) is impaired. 
  2. Use psychoacoustic and speech measures to explore the effects of across-frequency differences in cochlear processing delays.

PI: Magdalena Wojtczak

Magdalena Wojtczak

Experts@Minnesota profile

Selected Publications

Beim, J. A., Elliott, M., Oxenham, A. J., and Wojtczak, M. (2015). "Stimulus frequency otoacoustic emissions provide no evidence for the role of efferents in the enhancement effect," Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology 16, 613-629. 

Wojtczak, M., Beim, J. A., and Oxenham, A. J. (2015). "Exploring the role of feedback-based auditory reflexes in forward masking by Schroeder-phase complexes," Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology 16, 81-99. 

Wojtczak, M., Beim, J. A., Micheyl, C., and Oxenham, A. J. (2013). "Perception of across-frequency asynchrony by listeners with cochlear hearing loss," Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology 14, 573-589.