Rapid auditory learning of temporal gap detection.

The rapid initial phase of training-induced improvement has been shown to reflect a genuine sensory change in perception. Several features of early and rapid learning, such as generalization and stability, remain to be characterized. The present study demonstrated that learning effects from brief training on a temporal gap detection task using spectrally similar narrowband noise markers defining the gap (within-channel task), transfer across ears, however, not across spectrally dissimilar markers (between-channel task).

Influence of musical training on sensitivity to temporal fine structure.

Objective: The objective of this study was to extend the findings that temporal fine structure encoding is altered in musicians by examining sensitivity to temporal fine structure (TFS) in an alternative (non-Western) musician model that is rarely adopted--Indian classical music.

Design: The sensitivity to TFS was measured by the ability to discriminate two complex tones that differed in TFS but not in envelope repetition rate.

Study Sample: Sixteen South Indian classical (Carnatic) musicians and 28 non-musicians with normal hearing participated in this study.

Hearing dummies: individualized computer models of hearing impairment.

Unlabelled: Objective: Our aim was to explore the usage of individualized computer models to simulate hearing loss based on detailed psychophysical assessment and to offer hypothetical diagnoses of the underlying pathology.

Design: Individualized computer models of normal and impaired hearing were constructed and evaluated using the psychophysical data obtained from human listeners. Computer models of impaired hearing were generated to reflect the hypothesized underlying pathology (e.

Experience-dependent learning of auditory temporal resolution: evidence from Carnatic-trained musicians.

Musical training and experience greatly enhance the cortical and subcortical processing of sounds, which may translate to superior auditory perceptual acuity. Auditory temporal resolution is a fundamental perceptual aspect that is critical for speech understanding in noise in listeners with normal hearing, auditory disorders, cochlear implants, and language disorders, yet very few studies have focused on music-induced learning of temporal resolution. This report demonstrates that Carnatic musical training and experience have a significant impact on temporal resolution assayed by gap detection thresholds.

A computer model of the auditory periphery and its application to the study of hearing.

Computer models of the auditory periphery provide a tool for -formulating theories concerning the relationship between the physiology of the auditory system and the perception of sounds both in normal and impaired hearing. However, the time-consuming nature of their construction constitutes a major impediment to their use, and it is important that transparent models be available on an 'off-the-shelf' basis to researchers. The MATLAB Auditory Periphery (MAP) model aims to meet these requirements and be freely available.