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Welcome to the
Psychoacoustics Lab!
Department of Psychology  University of Minnesota
75 East River Road Minneapolis, MN 55455
(612) 625-8557
About the Lab
The Psychoacoustics Lab is located in Room N625 of Elliott Hall (the Psychology Building; Click for MAP) on the East Bank of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. In addition to providing a panoramic view of campus, the lab houses three single-person soundproof booths, each with a self-contained system for presenting auditory stimuli to subjects and gathering the subjects’ responses. Additional computers are available for analyzing data and developing software. The lab also contains office space for much of the lab staff and a small electronics shop.
What do we study?
Psychoacoustics is the study of the relationship between the physical characteristics of acoustic stimuli and the psychological experiences or perceptions that listeners have in response to those stimuli. In order to study this relationship, we perform experiments in which we present sounds to listeners and ask them to make simple judgments or decisions about those sounds. On the basis of their responses, we try to draw conclusions about how the auditory system converts the physical stimulus into neural energy and how the resulting neural information is processed by the brain. Ideally, we would like to be able to generate models that are consistent with what is known about the physiology of the auditory system and that can describe and predict the perceptions that will be produced by particular stimuli.
Why do we study what we study?
Our brains gather information about the outside world through our senses, including the auditory system. Without any way of obtaining information about the outside world, we would be unable to interact with or act upon the environment in any meaningful way. The way in which our senses operate shapes and determines the information that reaches our brains. With that in mind, we can talk about three major reasons for studying psychoacoustics:
1) If we understand how the auditory system converts sounds into perceptions, we can use that knowledge to transmit information more effectively. For example, if we want to design a fire alarm, we want it to produce a sound that is loud enough and of a quality that can be easily heard in a variety of circumstances. If we understand what kind of echoes make orchestral music pleasing to listen to, we can design a concert hall so that those kinds of echoes are produced when music is played.
2) If we can learn about how the normally-functioning auditory system processes sound, we can attempt to correct or compensate for hearing losses through the use of hearing aids and other devices. For example, we know that a hearing loss usually does not produce a simple decrease in the perceived loudness of sounds. In other words, merely increasing the loudness of sounds cannot return the normal hearing experience. The normal ear performs a number of complex processes that affect the information that reaches the nervous system. If we can understand and model these processes, we can incorporate them into prosthetic devices to attempt to mimic more closely normal auditory functioning.
3) As humans, we are naturally curious about how our minds and bodies work. With respect to the auditory system, we might wonder about things like: Why can’t I hear the television very well when the dishwasher is running, and yet I can pick out and attend to different instruments in a piece of music? How am I able to follow and understand someone’s speech at a party when six other conversations are going on around me? How do I know where the sound is coming from when someone calls my name? The study of psychoacoustics seeks the answers to these and other questions in order to help us to better understand ourselves.
Associations / Journal Seminar
Given the diverse nature of the subject of our research, we often communicate and collaborate with faculty and students from other university departments such as Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Neuroscience, and Otolaryngology. A lively forum for interaction among members of these various departments is provided by our long-running Journal Seminar group, which meets each week to discuss recent psychoacoustical publications.
PROSPECTIVE SUBJECTS:
If you are interested in participating in our research as a subject, CLICK HERE for more information.
Dr. Neal F. Viemeister's Psychoacoustics Laboratory at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities. psychoacoustics, laboratory, lab, neal, viemeister, acoustic, acoustics, acoustical, hearing, psychophysics, audiology, auditory, audition, sensation, perception, research, jasa, psychology, elliott, university, minnesota, twin, cities, minneapolis |
