Current Research

The auditory development research is funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NICHD). One important result of this effort is the finding that while preschool children typically perform more poorly than adults on auditory tasks this performance is not likely a result of an underdeveloped auditory system but rather a consequence of suboptimal listening strategies.

Spatial hearing research has been supported by NASA as well as grants from NIH (NIDCD), the Office of Naval Research , and Rockwell Semiconductor Systems. HDRL has also received intramural support from the Center for Human Performance and Complex Systems at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. In connection with the spatial hearing research the HDRL has developed and extensively evaluated techniques for synthesizing 3-D sound images over headphones. This has stimulated both basic studies of spatial hearing processes and applied studies of potential applications of 3-D sound technology.