Hearing: An Introduction to Psychological and Physiological Acoustics is concerned with the physiology and psychophysics of audition. It aims to introduce the new student to the sciences of hearing and to rekindle the interests of the experienced reader. The book begins with an overview of the auditory system. This is followed by separate chapters on theories of hearing; the routes over which sound is conducted to the inner ear; the cochlear mechanism; the auditory nerve and pathways; and psychoacoustic methods. Subsequent chapters cover the theory of signal detection; how sensitivity for one sound is affected by the presence of another sound; loudness; pitch; aspects of binaural hearing; and speech perception. This book provides both an introduction and a broad overview of the field of hearing science for the advanced undergraduate student or the postgraduate student in such disciplines as audiology and psychology. It should be an extremely useful guide to these students, as well as to those researchers who wish to refresh their knowledge of the field beyond their areas of specialization.
