Page 28 - Summer 2010

Nina Kraus, Ph.D., Hugh Knowles Professor, (Communication Sciences; Neurobiology and Physiology; Otolaryngology) at Northwestern University, directs the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory (www.brainvolts.northwestern.edu). Dr. Kraus investigates the neurobiology underlying speech and music perception and learning-associated brain plasticity. She studies normal listeners throughout the lifespan, clinical populations (dyslexia; autism; hearing loss), auditory experts (musicians) and animal models. Her method of assessing the brain’s encod- ing of sounds has been adapted as BioMARK a product that helps educators and clinicians better assess auditory function. Kraus was raised in a musically rich and linguistically diverse household. She holds degrees in Biology and Neuroscience from Swarthmore College and Northwestern University.
Trent Nicol is the manager of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University (www.brainvolts. northwestern.edu). He is involved in all lab projects, and runs its animal research component. Over the course of his 20-year involvement with the Lab, he has been responsible for much of the instrumentation and software required for examining the brain’s response to complex sounds, and has worked closely with many students who have moved on to careers in the auditory neuroscience fields. Away from the lab, he is often found hunched over a soldering iron bringing vintage radios back to life and restoring assorted pieces of obsolete vacuum tube gear.
Musician’s Auditory World 27