Hearing through the clatter

MIT News  September 9, 2019 A team of researchers in the US Columbia University, MIT, Harvard University) found that the auditory cortex responds differently to the presence of background noise, suggesting that auditory processing occurs in steps that progressively hone in on and isolate a sound of interest. They found that the primary and non-primary regions of the auditory cortex responded differently to natural sound depending upon whether background noise was present. Music, speech, or a squeaky toy all activated the non-primary cortex region similarly, whether or not background noise was present. Attention is not driving this aspect of sound […]