Hearing – a product of our brain
Our group is interested in how the human brain produces what and how we hear. One of our key questions is how non-auditory processes, such as emotions or attentional demands, affect hearing, and, most importantly, how these processes are implemented in the brain. We investigate these questions in a series of experiments run in normal hearing participants and in participants suffering from tinnitus.
Beyond our interest in rather fundamental processes of brain functioning, we are interested in the development and chronification of tinnitus. In one series of experiments, we want to observe the transfer from acute to chronic tinnitus and analyse associated markers in brain activity. In a second approach, we run a series of experiments focussing on the development of acute tinnitus and compare brain activity before and after experiencing the phantom percept. By these approaches, we hope to identify risk factors for the development of tinnitus and disclose neurophysiological processes leading to resilience against tinnitus chronification. Similar to the studies in normal-hearing participants we will focus on auditory and, importantly also on non-auditory processes influencing sound perception and phantom sound perception in patients suffering from tinnitus.
Research topics
Please follow the links below for more specific information on our research interests:
Hearing as a product of the brain: How do non-auditory processes affect what and how we hear?
Development of auditory phantom percepts: Which neurophysiological processes take place when tinnitus emerges? Can specific brain states inhibit the emergence of Tinnitus?
Chronification of Tinnitus: Which neurophysiological processes make tinnitus persistent?
Posters:
- How jaw relaxation modulates sound processing in the auditory cortex
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