Making Sense Of Sound
In her book Of Sound Mind (September 2021) Nina Kraus examines the partnership of sound and brain, showing for the first time that the processing of sound drives many of the brain's core functions.
Sound matters
Sound engages how we feel, think, sense and move
Source: Nina Kraus
Sound processing in the brain is affected by the languages we speak, the music we make, and our brain health Source: Nina Kraus
The rest is noise?
‘BILL’ turns into ‘PILL’ by adding 1/20 second of silence just before the vocalisation of the vowel sound begins. Try it!
Source: Nina Kraus
The ‘ingredients’ of sound are key to understanding why each person hears sound in the world differently. An individual’s experience of sound can change for the better or for the worse depending on how they sense, think, feel and move at any age and stage in life.
Source: Nina Kraus
“Making sense of sound is one of the hardest jobs we ask our brains to do. Our hearing is always on—we can’t close our ears the way we close our eyes. We don’t just hear; we engage with sounds.”
OF SOUND MIND: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World (September 2021, MIT Press).
Nina Kraus PhD is a Professor of Neurobiology who has done pathbreaking research on sound and hearing for more than 30 years.
