CRC HRNG INTRO PSYCH PHYS ACSTCS PDF

Preface

This is the fifth edition of a textbook intended to provide beginning graduate students with an introduction to the sciences of hearing, as well as to provide an overview of the field for more experienced readers. The need for a current text has been expanded by the advent and wide acceptance of the professional doctorate in audiology, the Au.D. However, an interest in hearing is by no means limited to audiologists and includes readers with widely diverse academic backgrounds. Among them one finds psychologists, speech-language pathologists, physicians, deaf educators, industrial hygienists, and engineers, among others. The result is a frustrating dilemma in which a text will likely be too basic for some of its intended readers and too advanced for others. Thus, the idea is to provide a volume sufficiently detailed to serve as a core text for graduate students with a primary interest in hearing, at the same time avoiding a reliance on scientific or mathematical backgrounds not shared by those with different kinds of academic experiences.

Hearing science is an exciting area of study because of its broad, interdisciplinary scope, and even more because it is vital and dynamic. Research continuously provides new information to expand on the old and also causes us to rethink what was once well established. The reader (particularly the beginning student) is reminded that new findings occasionally disprove the "laws" of the past. Thus, this textbook should be treated as a first step; it is by no means the final word.

This edition of Hearing was strongly influenced by extensive comments and suggestions from colleagues and graduate students. As a result of their input, material has been updated and added, and a number of new and revised figures have been included; however, the fundamental characteristics of the prior editions have been maintainedwherever possible. These include the basic approach, structure, format, and the general (and often irregular) depth of coverage, the provision of references at the end of each chapter, and liberal references to other sources for further study. As one might expect, the hardest decisions involved choosing material that could be streamlined, replaced, or omitted, keeping the original orientation and flavor of the book, and avoiding a "state-of-the-art" treatise.

It is doubtful that all of the material covered in this text would be addressed in a single, one semester course. It is more likely that this book might be used as a core text for a twocourse sequence dealing with psychological and physiological acoustics, along with appropriately selected readings from the research literature and state-of-the-art books. Suggested readings are provided in context throughout the text to provide a firm foundation for further study.

My sincerest thanks are expressed to the numerous colleagues and students who provided me with valuable suggestions that have been incorporated into this and prior editions. I am especially indebted to my current and former colleagues and students in the Department of Linguistics and Communication Disorders at Queens College, the Ph.D. Program in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and the Au.D. Program at the City University of New York Graduate Center, and at the East Orange Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Thank you all for being continuous examples of excellence and for your valued friendships. I am also grateful to the talented and dedicated staff of Informa Healthcare, who contributed so much to this book and graciously arranged for the preparation of the indices and the proofreading of the final page proofs.

At the risk of inadvertently omitting several, I would like to thank the following people for their advice, inspiration, influence, and support, which have taken forms too numerous to mention: Sandra Beberman,Moe Bergman, Arthur Boothroyd, Helen Cairns, Joseph Danto, Daniel Falatko, Lillian and Sol Gelfand, Irving Hochberg, Gertrude and Oscar Katzen, Arlene Kraat, Aimee Laussen, John Lutolf, Harriet Marshall-Arnold, MauriceMiller, Neil Piper, Teresa Schwander, Stanley Schwartz, Shlomo Silman,Carol Silverman,Harris,Helen and GabeTopel, Robert Vago, Barbara Weinstein, and Mark Weiss. Very special gratitude is expressed to Harry Levitt, who will always be my professor.

Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to Janice, the love of my life, whose memory will always be a blessing and inspiration; and to my wonderful children, Michael, Jessica, Joshua, and Erin, for their love, support, confidence, and unparalleled patience.