Introduction

This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part describes the simulation of hearing impairment using two types of auditory system models: animal and computational. It explores a computational model of the cat inner ear that simulates neuronal responses to arbitrary signals. The part presents the results of physiological measurements using the cat as an animal model. It outlines a computational model of the auditory periphery that provides an account of the nonlinear input/output characteristics of the cochlea. The part investigates the use of a cochlear model to develop an adaptive processing strategy for hearing aids. Computational models are based primarily on data obtained from physiological measurements of animal models and, to a lesser extent, on psychophysical measurements. Computational models have the advantage of repeatability, due to their deterministic nature, and permit manipulation of any internal variable.