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Neural encoding of Speech sounds
All Kraus- Lab work is motivated by interest in the linkages between neural encoding of speech and music in the auditory nervous system, the resultant perception of those sounds, and subsequent incorporation of perception into higher-level language (e.g. reading) and music skills. These processes, and the relationships among them, are studied throughout the auditory pathway in normal adults and children, and populations in which auditory function may be compromised (e.g. poor readers, autism, hearing impaired, older adults) or enhanced (musicians).
Complementing the human studies, anatomic regions and physiologic mechanisms involved in processing speech and music stimuli are investigated in an animal model. Intracranial recordings from auditory midbrain, thalamus and cortex permit highly localized investigation of auditory processing in order to inform us about the non-invasive, scalp-recorded neural events recorded in humans.
