Seminars in Hearing Research

Date: Thursday, October 30, 2025

Location: Nelson Hall, Room 1215

Time: 12:00-1:00pm

Speaker:  Ravi Krishnan, Professor,SLHS

Title: “Differential sensitivity of the cortical pitch response components to temporal attributes of pitch contours influenced by language experience."

Abstract:Pitch, a robust perceptual attribute, plays a critical role in processing information relevant to speech, language, and music. Thus, pitch offers an effective analytic window to advance our understanding of how tonal language experience shapes processing of linguistic/nonlinguistic pitch at subcortical and cortical levels in a well-coordinated pitch processing network. We focus here on the sensitivity of the pitch specific cortical pitch response (CPR) components to the several temporal attributes of pitch contours that are influenced by language experience. We will also directly compare pitch representations at the cortical (as reflected in the CPR) and the midbrain (as reflected in the FFR) to examine the how language experience shapes the interplay between pitch processing at these two levels. We will provide evidence that the components of the CPR and the FFR are differentially sensitive to the perceptually relevant temporal parameters (temporal regularity (relevant to pitch salience), pitch acceleration, pitch height, and variations in pitch contour) of dynamic pitch stimuli. For example, we have shown that the Na-Pb component of CPR is sensitive to pitch, its salience and height. Pb-Nb in contrast is sensitive to pitch acceleration. The CPR components may also index both experience-dependent extrasensory and experience-independent sensory effects. Direct comparisons of the effects of parametric variation of several temporal attributes of pitch on the response amplitude of the brainstem and cortical pitch responses revealed different patterns in the Chinese group. This finding appears to suggest experience-dependent transformation in pitch processing from the midbrain to cortical levels, likely mediated by top-down sensory and/or extrasensory processes on the bottom up input from the midbrain. Finally, our findings converge with extant literature that attests to the crucial role of the RH in the processing of linguistic as well as nonlinguistic pitch. Further experiments, that parametrically manipulate temporal attributes of pitch, are needed to advance our understanding of the organization and interplay between the subcortical and cortical components of the experience shaped pitch processing network.

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The working schedule is available here: https://purdue.edu/TPAN/hearing/shrp_schedule

The titles and abstracts of the talks will be added here: https://purdue.edu/TPAN/hearing/shrp_abstracts