An auditory workshop at Ecole Normale Supérieure, Dept d'Etudes Cognitives, Paris, France.
(Organizers: C. Lorenzi & M. Ardoint; Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, CNRS-U. Paris Descartes-Ecole Normale Supérieure)
The auditory sensory epithelium, the cochlea, converts acoustic soundwaves into neural action potentials by breaking up sounds in frequency bands. This has led many theories of hearing and hearing impairment to focus on spatial (tonotopic) representations of sounds that emphasize the relative energy across frequency, i.e. spectral representations. There is, however, a large amount of temporal structure within the frequency bands that is encoded via neural phase-locking at a peripheral level, and preserved or recoded in the subcortical and cortical auditory pathways. Recent work suggests that the representation of this temporal information may be severely degraded following cochlear damage, offering novel explanations to the speech and music perception deficits experienced by most hearing-impaired listeners and cochlear implantees. The present workshop brings together a small number of auditory scientists investigating the nature of the temporal structure of sound, its use for perception and the effects of cochlear damage on auditory temporal processing.
A way to analyze speech and non-speech sounds is to decompose the output of cochlear filters into two temporal features, on different time scales: temporal envelope (a slow amplitude modulation) and temporal fine structure (a frequency-modulated carrier signal). This decomposition offers a theoretical framework that triggered an important number of psychoacoustical, electrophysiological, audiological and brain-imaging investigations over the last decade. However, the independence of temporalenvelope and temporal fine-structure information processing is still a matter of discussion, and the exact role of each temporal feature in pitch and speech perception remains strongly debated. The goal of the present workshop is to review and discuss old and new data argueing for and against this theoretical framework and a role of temporal cues in pitch and speech perception for normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners.
The detailed programme with timetable is available here.
Roy Patterson and Ian Winter (Cambridge Univ, CNBH, UK) will open the workshop by providing an historical overview of the present debate, initiated more than half a century ago. Michael Heinz (Purdue Univ, USA), Yves Cazals (ISERM, CNRS, Paul Cezanne Univ, Marseille, France), Samira Anderson (Northwestern University, Chicago, USA) and Ian Winter (Cambridge Univ, UK) will then present recent neurophysiological and computational-modelling results uncovering the peripheral and central auditory processes involved in the perception of simple and complex temporal envelope and temporal fine structure patterns, and the potential effects of cochlear lesions on such processes. Robert Shannon (HEI, Los Angeles, USA), Kathryn Hopkins (Cambridge Univ, UK), Deniz Baskent (Groningen Univ, Netherlands), Stanley Sheft (Rush Univ Medical Center, Chicago, USA) and Thomas Lunner (Oticon Eriksholm, Denmark & Linköping Univ., Sweden) will present psychophysical studies investigating the role of each temporal feature (temporal envelope and fine structure) in speech identification in quiet and in noise for normal-hearing, hearing-impaired listeners, cochlear implantees and listeners equipped with electro-acoustic rehabilitation devices. Fine structure may also be a major cue to pitch. Brian Moore (Cambridge Univ, UK), Sébastien Santurette (CAHR, Copenhaguen, DK), Christophe Micheyl (Minnesotta Univ, USA), Hedwig Gockel (CBU, MRC, UK) and Isabelle Peretz (Montreal & McGill Univ, Canada) will finally present recent psychoacoustical and neuroscientific studies investigating pitch perception in normal-hearing listeners and listeners with specific pitch-perception disorders.
Christine Petit (Institut Pasteur, Collège de France, ISERM, France), Romain Brette (ENS, Paris, France), Alain de Cheveigné, Daniel Pressnitzer, Trevor Agus, Christian Lorenzi (Paris Descartes Univ, ENS, CNRS, France) will chair the different sessions of this workshop. Concluding remarks will be given by Pierre Divenyi (VAMC, EBIRE, California, USA) and Ian Winter.
Location: Amphithéatre Dussane, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 45 rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France. [map]
How to reach Ecole Normale Supérieure: by RER (Stop at Luxembourg) /metro (Stop at Censier Daubenton) /bus : (Lines 21 or 27: stop at Feuillantines).
Date: Friday, the 18th of December 2009, 9a.m.-7p.m. All welcome (no registration fee).
This workshop is supported by the DUALPRO FP7 EC project and Neurelec-France.
