Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory Home
Hemispheric Specialization
Left hemisphere specialization for speech perception is a well-known phenomenon. Less widely recognized is that the asymmetrical processing of speech is as much due to the complexity of the acoustic signal as it is to the fact that it is "speech." Studies in the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory have demonstrated asymmetrical subcortical processing of complex sounds, both speech and non-speech, in animals, suggesting a fundamental evolutionary precursor for left-brain specialization in humans. In humans, ongoing studies are investigating patterns of laterality in normal subjects throughout the life span and in children with learning problems.
Auditory brainstem timing predicts cerebral asymmetry for speech sounds
Right-hemisphere auditory cortex is dominant for coding syllable patterns in speech
