An all-in-one-volume approach to the structure and function of the central auditory system of mammals, this richly illustrated book provides a concise overview of the subject in the first chapter, followed by an in-depth treatment of all levels of the central auditory pathway in the next four chapters. The authors expertly integrate general aspects of sound processing at a given level of the system with special topics relevant to that level. The emphasis shifts from a cellular level of auditory analysis at the first brain centre to the interplay of fifteen centres in a maze of connecting loops using various neurotransmitters, to the organisation of topographic maps of neuronal responses in the midbrain, to questions of how a highly parallel and hierarchical system of distributed thalamic and cortical information channels can function so that, finally, sounds may be perceived and recognized. This book is intended for both the researcher who needs a quick reference, and the expert with a more specialized and detailed interest in the subject.

How do animals produce and process sounds for communication? How do their brains encode the large amounts of sensory information so rapidly and how do they use this to cope with their environment? These questions not only concern the evolution of sound communication systems but also aim to understand how arousal, motivation, emotion and behavioral contexts are vocally expressed and how important sound attributes are recognized and perceived. This book highlights auditory communication in several species from four perspectives: actual sound communication, audio-vocal adaptations, adaptations of sound processing and representation in higher auditory brain centers, and emotional and cognitive adaptations in signaling and processing. Broad in scope and geared towards graduate students and researchers within the fields of auditory communication and cognition, this book will appeal to auditory neurobiologists, speech, hearing and communication scientists and engineers, students of animal behavior and neuroethologists.