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My lab focuses on the neurophysiology of the auditory system. We are currently conducting research in three areas. Our primary interest is in the neural processing of complex sounds. In the past, my lab has examined the processing of human speech, and other non-speech complex sounds, by neurons in the auditory system. More recently, we have focused on the neural representation of simultaneous sounds. Although humans and animals are quite good at separating sounds that overlap in frequency and in time, the neurophysiological mechanisms that underlie this ability are poorly understood. Second, in collaboration with Dr. Dolores López of the University of Salamanca, Spain, we have investigated the physiological and anatomical properties of neurons that mediate the “acoustic startle response”. One interesting structure in the sensorimotor pathway that underlies acoustic startle is the cochlear root nucleus, which is unusual in that its projection bypasses the traditional auditory pathway to provide short-latency input to the reticular formation. Third, with collaborator Dr. Russell Snyder of the University of California-San Francisco, we have carried out neurophysiological and computer-modeling studies of reorganization in the central auditory system following injury to the cochlea.