Page 8 - Volume 12, Issue 2 - Spring 2012

cussing the processing of tonal languages, which are spoken by the majority of the world’s people. He goes on to describe how the programming of cochlear implants takes into account the knowledge that tones are not only for tonal languages.
Marjorie R. Leek and Michelle R. Molis of the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research address how hear- ing impairment leading to a sensorineural hearing loss inter- feres with the spectral analysis of sounds. The resulting loss of frequency resolution makes it extremely difficult to under- stand speech in noisy surroundings. Michael G. Heinz from Purdue University discusses the prediction of the psychoa- coustic attributes of complex hearing from physiological meas- ures. He and his colleagues have linked neural coding predict- ed from computational models of certain auditory structures with the perception of speech measured from normal-hearing
listeners to better inform the design of cochlear implants. Finally, Christoph E. Schreiner from the University of California, San Francisco, and his colleagues present a series of findings about the role of neural excitability in analyzing the sounds we hear. Using a variety of innovative approaches, their investigations of neuronal organization and processing are critical in understanding the contributions of the auditory cor- tex to the perception of the sounds of our environment.
Leek and Molis emphasize the necessity of cooperation between the peripheral auditory system and the auditory brain to ensure that the combined information from the two ears across time and frequency leads to the successful per- ception of an acoustic signal. For certain, as they conclude, auditory structure and physiological function must be essen- tially intact to support hearing behavior.
From the Guest Editor 7