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auditory processing

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·February 11, 2025·4 min read

Stress Alters How the Brain Processes Sound

Chronic stress weakens the brain’s ability to process sounds, requiring louder stimuli to trigger normal responses, according to new research in mice. Scientists found that stress affects inhibitory brain cells, which suppress responses to lower-decibel sounds while maintaining sensitivity to louder noises.

This shows the outline of a head and a brain.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·January 14, 2025·4 min read

Brain Merges Sight and Sound to Understand Speech in Noisy Settings

Researchers are investigating how the brain combines visual and auditory cues to improve speech comprehension in noisy environments. The study focuses on how visual information, like lip movements, enhances the brain's ability to differentiate similar sounds, such as "F" and "S."

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience

·July 11, 2024·5 min read

Brain Region Helps Tune Our Hearing to Focus on Important Sounds

A new study uncovers how the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) aids the auditory cortex in adapting to different hearing contexts. Researchers found that the OFC sends signals to the auditory cortex to help switch between passive and active listening. This discovery enhances our understanding of how the brain filters and reacts to sounds, with implications for treating neurodevelopmental disorders. The findings highlight the OFC's crucial role in managing auditory attention.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience

·May 28, 2024·5 min read

How the Brain Distinguishes Music from Speech

A new study reveals how our brain distinguishes between music and speech using simple acoustic parameters. Researchers found that slower, steady sounds are perceived as music, while faster, irregular sounds are perceived as speech.

This shows a person surrounded by sound waves

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·December 7, 2022·5 min read

Hearing Is Believing: Sounds Can Alter Our Visual Perception

Certain auditory cues not only help us recognize an object more quickly, but they also even alter our visual perception.

This shows people surrounded by speech bubbles

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·November 7, 2022·4 min read

Our Brains ‘Time-Stamp’ Sounds to Process the Words We Hear

The brain processes speech by using a buffer, maintaining a "time stamp" of the past three speech sounds. Findings also reveal the brain processes multiple sounds at the same time without mixing up the identity of each sound by passing information between neurons in the auditory cortex.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·October 29, 2022·6 min read

Fetterman’s Struggles With Language Highlight the Challenges After a Stroke: Understanding Aphasia and the Path to Recovery

US Senate candidate, John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke earlier this year, has been criticized by the opposition for his performance in recent broadcasts and in this week's debate. Following his stroke, Fetterman developed aphasia, auditory processing, and speech issues which have led some to question his fitness for office. While aphasia and auditory processing disorders can make the speech of sufferers difficult to understand, they do not imply cognitive impairments. Researchers shed light on aphasia and stroke recovery, reporting auditory processing symptoms as a result of stroke do not alter one's intelligence, behavior, or other executive abilities.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·October 24, 2022·5 min read

“That Just Sounds Wrong”: How Our Brains Tell Us When a Sound Is Off

Researchers reveal how the auditory cortex reacts to "wrong" sounds and shed light on auditory memory recall.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 18, 2022·4 min read

Literacy Influences Understanding of Speech

The writing system with which we learn to read may influence how we process speech, researchers report. Findings suggest the ability to write influences the way in which our brains process language.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience

·September 22, 2022·4 min read

The Prose of Dr. Seuss Shines a Light on How the Brain Processes Speech

Using the Dr. Seuss classic, The Lorax, researchers shed new light on how the brain engages during complex audiovisual speech perception. The findings reveal how the brain utilizes a complex network of brain regions involved in sensory processing, multisensory integration, and cognitive functions to comprehend a story's context.

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Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 24, 2022·3 min read

How the Sounds We Hear Help Us Predict How Things Feel

Sensory systems in the brain are closely interconnected, with regions that respond to touch also involved when we listen to specific sounds connected to touching certain objects.

This shows the colored bars of a musical equalizer

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·August 31, 2021·6 min read

Why Can’t We Identify Music Notes as Well as Colors? Pitch Perfect Study Provides Answers

Frequency follow response (FFR) is a strong predictor of a person's ability to recognize and name musical notes, and may be an accurate metric for understanding a person's ability to recognize sounds. FFR may not be a fixed trait and can be improved over time.