Insights into Human Auditory Processing Gained from Perceptual Learning

Abstract

Many auditory skills improve with practice, indicating malleability of the underlying neural system. Here we consider the effect of training on the human perception of basic sound attributes such as frequency, intensity, and duration. We first compare learning patterns across multiple tasks, in each of which listeners discriminate changes in a different sound attribute. These patterns differ markedly for different tasks and sometimes even for different stimuli within the same task, in terms of both how performance changes over training sessions and how learning generalizes to untrained conditions. The differences suggest that training on different tasks affects different neural processes. We then describe in more detail sets of training experiments on auditory-timing and spatial-hearing skills and make inferences about the underlying neural processes affected by the training. Finally, we speculate about the neural underpinnings of auditory learning. This chapter thus illustrates that the examination of auditory learning can provide unique insights into the human perception and neural processing of sounds.