Hearing is an essential sensory function for human communication. Research in our lab is focused on representation and transformation of sound information in the cortex. To this end,we use a combination of a number of biophysical and biochemical approaches. Specifically, high-resolution real-time optical imaging techniques are used to study the spatio-temporal representation of sound in multiple cortical fields. Single unit recordings and computational approaches are used to characterise the receptive fields of cortical neurons and patch-clamp recordings in cortical slices are used to eveluate the contribution of membrane properties to sound information processing. Further, molecular approaches combined with electrophysiology are used to pin down brain-statedependent processing mechanisms. Insights gained from this work will not only help understand hearing, but also be of value for the development of new therapies for the treatment of hearing disorders.

Auditory cortical fields in guinea pigs revealed by optical imaging. AI: primary cortex; DC: dorsocaudal field; VR: ventrorostral field; VC: ventrocaudal field; T: intermediate zone; R: rostral field.