A listener’s brain routinely detects sound arrival differences of a few tens of millionths of a second between the two ears—and this research will map the neural machinery that makes that possible. This matters because binaural hearing is what allows someone to locate a speaker in a crowded room and to follow a conversation against background noise. People who lose their hearing and receive cochlear implants often struggle with these tasks; current implants do not preserve the fine timing cues the brain needs. The gap is that we do not fully understand how the brain’s fastest circuits compute these interaural time differences (ITDs), nor whether findings from small animals translate directly to humans. The project will combine biophysical measurements with new non-invasive brain imaging in both animals and people to build a unified picture of ITD processing across species. If successful, it could guide engineers in redesigning cochlear implant processors to restore natural binaural hearing, improving speech understanding in noisy environments for millions of deaf and hard-of-hearing users. The work is primarily fundamental science, but the same kind of mechanistic understanding that once enabled digital hearing aids now promises to upgrade a technology that has remained limited for decades.
View original technical description
Hearing with two ears (?binaural hearing?) is a critical factor in every-day listening tasks. The brain is able to compare information about the sound arriving at each ear to determine the location of sound sources and to perform ?cocktail-party listening? ? the ability to follow a conversation in a noisy room. The key to these abilities lies in detecting small differences in the time of arrival of the sound at each ear. Sensitivity to these ?interaural? time differences (ITDs) - in the order of a few tens of millionths of a second - requires some of the fastest brain mechanisms that are known to exist. The current research proposal will examine how the brain is able to operate at such fast temporal limits to detect ITDs, and will seek to determine how binaural hearing can be re-established in those who, having lost their hearing, rely on devices such as cochlear implants (electrical devices that stimulate the auditory nerves directly) to hear and understand speech. The programme of work will also use new, non-invasive brain imaging technologies in both animals and humans to test directly the relevance of physiological findings from the brains of small animals to human hearing. Building on outcomes of my previous research, the programme will establish a coherent and integrated view of binaural hearing in the mammalian brain, including humans, and will suggest ways in which new technologies for the deaf and hard-of-hearing can be enhanced for better listening in acoustically cluttered or noisy environments.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know