Friday, February 9, 2024

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

Saturday, February 3, 2024

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 SoundBraden 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.




Tuesday, January 30, 2024

APC Lab Alum Spotlight: Bonnie Lau

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. 

Bonnie Lau on a frozen lakeFavorite 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!

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

APC Lab Attend Conference on Implantable Auditory Prostheses

Oxenham, Kreft, and Purmalietis presenting poster
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.

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

APC Lab Alum Spotlight: Jackson Graves

Jackson Graves
Current Employer: Kresge Hearing Research Institute, University of Michigan

Current Job Title: Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Current websitejacksongravesphd.webnode.page

Favorite current project: In Michigan, our current project looks at harmony perception using chords and their “metamers”, stimuli that are physically different, but with equivalent outputs in an auditory model. We hope this will tell us more about how harmony (multiple simultaneous pitches) could be coded by the auditory system. We’re pretty excited about it!

If your current job isn’t your first position since leaving the University of Minnesota, where else have you worked? During my PhD, I spent 6 months in 2017 working with Dr. Barbara Tillmann and Dr. Anne Caclin at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL) in Lyon, France. This short stay produced a lot of continuing collaboration on projects about congenital amusia (tone deafness). After finishing my PhD in Minnesota, I then spent 5 years (2018-2022) as a postdoc in the Perceptual Systems Laboratory (LSP) of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, France. Working with Dr. Daniel Pressnitzer and Dr. Paul Egré, we used measures like pupillometry to identify signals of perceptual uncertainty.

When were you in the APC Lab?  January 2011 – January 2018

What position did you have during your time at the APC Lab? I started in the lab as an undergraduate (2011-2012) doing a research project for my senior thesis. I liked it so much I then went on to do a PhD in the lab (2012-2018).

What was your favorite project/paper from your time in the APC Lab? I still remember working with Andrew and Christophe Micheyl on my senior thesis project, which ultimately became my first paper (2014, JEP:HPP). Meetings with Andrew and Chris where we puzzled things out together, drew on the whiteboard, debugged code, looked at the data in new ways and learned something for the first time – these still stick in my memory as the experiences that convinced me I wanted a career in science.

Favorite restaurant to grab a bite to eat in the Twin Cities/campus? You can’t beat the spicy falafel sandwich at Wally’s in Dinkytown! And it’s only a short walk from the APC lab.

Do you have any funny stories about your time in the lab to share? The funniest thing about the APC lab is how disturbing and unnatural it sounds when everybody sings Happy Birthday perfectly in tune. (Is this still true?) It’s a very generous lab: when I defended my PhD, the lab gave me some essential gifts for anyone about to live in France: a beret and a fake mustache. I kept them for Halloween costumes!

Favorite scientific conference to attend? Probably ASA, but it’s a tough choice between ASA and ARO!

Any words of advice for current students/researchers? Be kind to yourself and to your lab mates. Give grace and understanding to yourself and to your lab mates. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it, and don’t be too hard on yourself when things don’t go as smoothly as planned, because that’s a normal part of the process. We’re all figuring it out together.