CNS neurobiology of speech-sound encoding, perception and perceptual learning

My lab is primarily interested in understanding neurobiologic processes underlying speech-sound perception and learning-associated brain plasticity. Neural representation of sound in the brain is related to behavioral perception in humans and to direct intracranial recordings in an animal model.
The Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory investigates 1) neurobiological processes underlying speech-sound encoding and perception, 2) visual modality influences on these biological processes, 3) the biological bases of hemispheric specialization to the acoustics of speech & music, 4) the effects of environmental challenges, like background noise, on speech-sound encoding, and 5) auditory perceptual learning. These issues are investigated in normal listeners, children with learning problems and in an animal model.

e-mail Dr. Kraus
ph: 847.491.3181
fax: 847.491.2523

• Banai K, Nicol T, Zecker S, Kraus N (2005). Brainstem timing: Implications for cortical processing and literacy. The Journal of Neuroscience, 25 (43): 980-985.

• Wible B, Nicol T, Kraus N (2005). Correlation between brainstem and cortical auditory processes in normal and language-impaired children. Brain, 128: 417-423.

• Russo N, Nicol T, Zecker S, Hayes E, Kraus N (2005). Auditory training improves neural timing in the human brainstem. Behav Brain Res , 156: 95-103.

• Johnson KL, Nicol T, & Kraus N (2005). Seeing speech affects acoustic information processing in the human brainstem. Experimental Brain Research, Oct 1-10.

Other Links:

• link to the Auditory Neuroscience lab

• Northwestern University School of Speech

• Northwestern Institute for Neuroscience (NUIN)