The Brain And Sensory Plasticity: Language Acquisition And Hearing

The Brain and Sensory Plasticity: Language Acquisition and Hearing is the eighth volume honoring the annual Kresge-Mirmelstein award for excellence. This volume celebrates Masakazu Koniski, who has led the field in neuroethology since the 1960's. This book contains a collection of seven research articles presented by prominent contributors in the field of neuroethology.

Fifteen international specialists contribute seven cutting edge research articles from the field of neuroethology. Topics include auditory space in barn owls, human language representation, time series analyses of spike trains, neural circuits, synaptic plasticity in the developing visual thalamus, auditory physiologic measures in human cortical function, and acoustic and scientific bases of the treatment tool, Fast ForWord. The CD-ROM contains video footage of the presentation on Fast ForWord, an explanation of the Echomaster program discussed in the book, and a color slide presentation to supplement the text. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Sheila V. Stager, BSc, MS, MS, PhD(Voice Treatment Center)
Description:The chapters of this book arise from presentations given at the seminar associated with the presentation of the 2001 Kresge-Mirmelstein Award to Masakazu Konishi, a major contributor in the field of neuroethology. The book integrates chapters on neurophysiological aspects of hearing and language from a number of experts in the field.
Purpose:The purpose is to provide a written version of the papers presented during the seminar. Given the breadth and depth of experience and knowledge of the contributors, this compendium of the talks was well worth publishing. The book provides a nice integration of chapters on basic science and chapters on clinical application.
Audience:This book would be useful for individuals who have at least an intermediate understanding of the field of hearing science. The contributors are highly qualified.
Features:The overriding theme of the papers is how what we know about neurophysiology may apply to issues of sensory perception, and what the difficulties may be in directly applying neurophysiological concepts specifically to speech perception. Some chapters provide summaries of basic science issues, and others discuss how this information may be used clinically for both diagnosis and intervention. One of the strengths of the book is that in the later chapters, reference is made to material discussed in earlier chapters.
Assessment:This book would be an excellent addition to the library of anyone with a good working knowledge in hearing science. The contributors are well known, and the integration of material makes this a useful contribution to the field.

Kenneth and Frances Barnes Bullington Professor of Hearing Science, Director, Kresge Hearing Research Laboratory of the South. Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Department of Otolaryngology and Biocommunication, New Orleans, Louisiana.