How the brain tracks speech timing versus speech sounds
Dynamic temporal integration of speech structure in the human brain
This project looks at whether the brain groups speech by clock time or by sound units like phonemes to better understand how people hear spoken language.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Rochester NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Rochester, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11325294 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
From a listener's point of view, researchers will record brain activity while people hear sentences that are speeded up, slowed down, or otherwise time-scaled to see whether neural responses follow fixed clock time or align with speech units like phonemes and words. They will sample activity across different parts of the cortex and compare responses across regions to find where timing versus structure matters most. The team will combine human recordings with computer models that try to reproduce both time- and structure-based integration. Together these experiments and models aim to link brain signals to the way we perceive and parse spoken language.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are adults who can listen to spoken sentences in a lab setting, typically people with normal hearing and sometimes people with hearing or language difficulties.
Not a fit: People with profound deafness or severe cognitive impairment may not be able to participate or gain direct benefit from this basic neuroscience research.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could clarify how the brain builds meaning from speech and inform better treatments, hearing technologies, or diagnostics for people with listening or language disorders.
How similar studies have performed: Prior studies show brain activity can align with speech timing, but systematically linking integration to abstract speech units across the cortex and producing unified computational models is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
Rochester, United States
- University of Rochester — Rochester, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Norman-Haignere, Samuel V — University of Rochester
- Study coordinator: Norman-Haignere, Samuel V
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.