Promotions for Two Long-time APC Lab Members

Emily Allen, PhD and Juraj Mesik, PhD have been appointed Research Assistant Professors in the Department of Psychology. Both are members of the Auditory Perception and Cognition Laboratory. Congratulations Emily and Juraj!  

Allen’s current research, funded by a 3-year NIH NIDCD Early Career Research (ECR) R21 grant, uses advanced techniques such as mesoscopic MRI, subcortical neuroimaging, computational modeling, and resting state connectivity to develop a reliable and precise method for defining and parcellating auditory cortex in humans and to provide the scientific community with a state-of-the-art multimodal structure-function characterization of primary auditory cortex.

Mesik's current research, funded by an early career NIH R21 grant, uses behavioral, eye tracking, and electroencephalographic (EEG) techniques to explore relationships among different measures of listening effort experienced when trying to understand speech in challenging acoustic backgrounds, as well as how these measures are affected by aging. Additionally, Mesik's work aims to characterize if and how changes in listening effort influence cortical processing of acoustic and linguistic features of continuous speech.

APC Lab Members Present at Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO)

On February 3-7, 2024 a large contingent of the APC lab attended the 47th Annual MidWinter Meeting for the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) in Anaheim, CA.  Lab members shared their research in eleven poster presentations:

Emily Allen, Juraj Mesik, Anahita Mehta, Kendrick Kay, Andrew Oxenham
SU2: Representations of Relative Frequency in Human Auditory Cortex

Lisanne Bogaard, Andrew Oxenham
SU180: The Impact of Inharmonicity on Voice Denumerability and Discrimination in Polyphonic Music

Braden Maxwell, Andrew Oxenham
M177: Cues for Tone-In-Noise Detection: Evidence From Constant-Stimuli and Adaptive Approaches

Zi Gao, Andrew J. Oxenham
SU178: Adaptation to sentences and melodies when making judgments along a voice/non-voice continuum

Jaeeun Lee, Andrew Oxenham
SU 194: The Effects of Temporal-Spectral Asynchrony on Speech Intelligibility in a Multi-Talker Listening Environment

Juraj Mesik, PuiYii Goh, Magdalena Wojtczak
T184: A Comparison of Pupillometric, Cortical-alpha, and Self-report-based Measures of Listening Effort During Speech-in-speech Recognition Task

Yongtian Ou, Kendrick N. Kay, Andrew J. Oxenham
T2: Interaction between fundamental frequency and spectral centroid in the cortical encoding of pitch and timbre, 

Elaea Purmalietis, Andrew J. Oxenham
T147: Exploring Level Effects on Auditory Enhancement: Implications for Hearing Loss

Kelly Whiteford, Neha Rajappa, Penelope Corbett, Andrew Oxenham
T173: Mechanisms of Frequency Modulation Perception Across the Adult Lifespan

Ali Williams, Andrew Oxenham
SU182: Comparing Individual Differences Across Spectral Contrast Effects With Speech and Non-Speech Stimuli

Magdalena Wojtczak, PuiYii Goh, Andrew J. Oxenham
T176: The Role of Perceptual Grouping in Auditory Enhancement Effect

APC Lab Participates in Bell Museum Event

On Saturday, January 20, the Bell Museum hosted table demonstrations from local laboratories as part of their event: Spotlight Science: The Science of Sound. Braden Maxwell, a postdoctoral associate working with Andrew Oxenham and a member of the Auditory Perception and Cognition Laboratory (APC Lab), contributed a demonstration on the anatomy of the ear, psychoacoustics, and the digital combination of sounds. 

Kids and their parents had the opportunity to examine a 3D model of the ear and learn about the cochlea, the middle ear bones, and parts of the vestibular system. They also had the chance to hear different sound frequencies, durations, and changes in loudness, and to make their own new "recipe" of digitally combined musical orchestra sounds. As part of this event, Maxwell fielded several questions from adults about hearing loss, hearing aids, and the connections between hearing and cognitive function. Over one thousand people of all ages attended this educational outreach event.

APC Lab Alum Spotlight: Bonnie Lau

Current Employer: University of Washington

Current Job Title: Research Assistant Professor

Current website: UW Laboratory for Auditory Neuroscience and Development (LAND) Lab

Favorite current project: I am working on a longitudinal study using magnetoencephalography to investigate auditory brain development in the first year of life in typical-hearing and hard-of-hearing infants. The very first participants in this study are now almost 5 years old and we recently received funding to bring them back into the lab for a follow-up visit. It has been really exciting to see them back in the lab! 

If your current job isn’t your first position since leaving the University of Minnesota, where else have you worked? Institute for Language and Brain Sciences

When were you in the APC Lab? 2014/2015

What position did you have during your time at the APC Lab? Postdoc

What was your favorite project/paper from your time in the APC Lab? This is the first paper where I started combining EEG and psychophysics, recorded a visual evoked potential, and had the privilege of working with a fellow APC lab member at the time, Dorea Ruggles. 

Favorite restaurant to grab a bite to eat in the Twin Cities/campus? I enjoyed eating Vietnamese food in the Twin Cities.

Do you have any funny stories about your time in the lab to share? Besides doing research, one of the things I wanted to accomplish the most during my time in the lab was to go ice fishing. It was more fun than I expected!

Favorite scientific conference to attend? It’s a tie between ARO and ASA.

Any words of advice for current students/researchers? Enjoy your time in the APC Lab, especially your labmates – there’s no place like it!

APC Lab Attend Conference on Implantable Auditory Prostheses

From left: Oxenham, Kreft, Purmalietis

On July 10-14 2023, the Auditory Perception and Cognition (APC) Lab members Andrew Oxenham, Heather Kreft, and Elaea Purmalietis attended the Conference on Implantable Auditory Prostheses held at Lake Tahoe, California. There they presented a poster titled “Assessing the electrode-neural interface using focused stimulation patterns and spatial tuning curves in cochlear-implant users.” 

The research delved into whether changes in sound perception of people with cochlear implants could be predicted by changing the mode of electrode stimulation, and whether “good” electrodes based on higher sensitivity were also
“good” electrodes in terms of their spatial selectivity. The goal of this project is to improve cochlear implants to enhance hearing for people using them.

"Assessing the electrode-neural interface using focused stimulation patterns and spatial tuning curves in cochlear-implant users" click to enlarge

Andrew Oxenham, PhD, professor in the Department of Psychology and director/PI of the APC Lab at the University of Minnesota. Heather Kreft, researcher and audiologist in the APC Lab at the University of Minnesota. Elaea Purmalietis, research professional in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota.