LAUSR

Neal Viemeister has dedicated his scientific career to one of the most influential research programs in hearing sciences. This program aims to apply the modulation theory to auditory perception. This theory, inspired by telecommunication sciences, relies on the following assumptions: (i) communication sounds including speech and animal vocalizations convey salient and slow temporal modulation cues; (ii) the auditory system of species using communication sounds has evolved to optimize its responses to these modulation cues; (iii) the transmission of information conveyed by communication signals is constrained by the ‘modulation transfer function’ (MTF) of the transmission path (a room, a hearing aid,...). We will show how the pioneering work of Neal Viemeister on the ‘temporal MTF’ and his rigorous investigation of modulation perception by human listeners contributed to an in-depth understanding of the demodulation processes implemented in the peripheral and central auditory system. We will show how his wo...