APC Lab Participates in Bell Museum Event

APC lab members (left to right): 
Neha Rajappa, Charlotte Lee, Lisanne Bogaard,
Brady Chisholm, and Braden Maxwell.

On Saturday, January 18, 2025, the Bell Museum hosted table demonstrations from local laboratories as part of their event: Spotlight Science: The Science of Sound.  For the second year in a row, members of the Auditory Perception and Cognition Laboratory (APC Lab) contributed to the event with demonstrations of the anatomy of the ear, psychoacoustics, and a digital combination of sounds.  

Thanks Neha, Charlotte, Lis, Brady and Braden!

APC Lab Alum Spotlight: Sara Madsen

Current Employer: GN Advanced Science

Current Job Title: Senior Research Scientist

Favorite current project: I am working on finishing up papers from my UMN postdoc in my free time and we recently published my favorite project. It is a large online study investigating the perception of mistuning in music. Our results showed 1) that mistuning detection is asymmetric, i.e. it is easier to detect mistuning when compressing than when stretching the pitch difference between the two parts, 2) that mistuning detection relies on both beats and inharmonicity cues, and 3) that the relative importance of the two cues varies considerably between participants but is not affected by musical experience.  

We started this project when the university closed because of COVID-19 and it was just meant as “something to do until we can get back in the lab”. However, we ended up with some interesting results which led to the addition of several experiments. We are currently writing up a related study investigating associations between age and hearing loss and mistuning detection in music.

If your current job isn’t your first position since leaving the University of Minnesota, where else have you worked? I am from Denmark and because the latter part of my postdoc coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic I ended up moving my funding to the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and continued my work with Andrew there.

When were you in the APC Lab? I first visited the APC Lab on a 3.5-month external research stay in 2016 and returned as a full lab member from 2019-2020.

What position did you have during your time at the APC Lab? Visiting postdoc (2016) and Research Associate (2019-2020).

What was your favorite project/paper from your time in the APC Lab? My favorite paper is the mistuning paper mentioned above but I also very much like the musician-non-musician study I conducted when I first visited the lab. We here investigated effects of musical experience on speech-in-speech intelligibility when varying the fundamental frequency between competing voices. This and a later related study showed no musician effect. These studies taught me the value of null results.

Favorite restaurant to grab a bite to eat in the Twin Cities/campus? K-BOB

Do you have any funny stories about your time in the lab to share? Generally, I very much enjoyed my time in the lab. Both because of the research but also very much because of the people. It was great being surrounded with people who had similar research interest to my own and who at the same time was extremely welcoming and friendly. My lab mates often socialized outside work and from the first week I was included in many fun social activities such as going to the movies, a fitness class, trivia night, Friendsgiving, presidential debate viewings, Halloween etc. 

If having to mention one specific funny episode, I came to think about the time I had to stop testing because of a problem with the computers. I was annoyed because I did not want for the participant to have to come again. However, it ended up being lucky, because when I opened the door to the testing booth, the participant was fast asleep.

Favorite scientific conference to attend? ARO

Any words of advice for current students/researchers? Enjoy your time in the lab. You might be super busy and focused on work but remember to enjoy the opportunity to pick and work on projects that you find exciting and interesting. Also, help and support your lab mates and help maintain the friendly and supportive environment of the lab.

Andrew Oxenham Comments on Psychology's 8th Place on the Worldwide Shanghai Ranking

Andrew Oxenham, faculty, was quoted in the Minnesota Daily on the psychology’s 8th place in the 2024 Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects. 

Oxenham comments on how there are many different areas of the department encompassing a broad range of research questions, however, there is a lot more interaction and collaboration going on behind the scenes.

Andrew Oxenham and Magdelena Wojtczak Receive a Grant from Uniformed Services University

Congratulations to Andrew Oxenham and Magdalena Wojtczak who have been awarded a $766,307 grant by the Uniformed Services University. 

This grant, in collaboration with researchers at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, will fund their project “Auditory consequences and markers of traumatic brain injury,” aiming to collect measures in a civilian population to differentiate blast exposure from traditional noise-induced hearing loss in service members.

Welcome, Baby Jorji Emika Mesik!

The APC lab would like to welcome its newest member, Jorji Emika Mesik, daughter of  Research Assistant Professors Emily Allen and Juraj Mesik.