Research and Facilities
Research
We study the neural networks that mediate speech perception, especially in noisy environments. Our research focuses on mechanisms that improve intelligibility for both normal listeners and those with hearing loss: acoustic cues, multisensory integration, and top-down inference. Multisensory integration, for instance, merges auditory (voice) and visual (facial movement) signals into a unified experience, enabling faster and more accurate speech recognition. In top-down inference, our brains use context and prior knowledge to resolve ambiguities and repair degraded sounds. We investigate the neural mechanisms of speech perception in humans with non-invasive techniques including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), high-density electroencephalography (EEG), and neural network analysis.
Facilities
The Miller Lab is located in the Center for Mind and Brain (http://mindbrain.ucdavis.edu/facilities). The lab houses behavioral testing rooms, offices for researchers and visitors, and meeting space. A double-walled anechoic, electromagnetically shielded room contains our high-density (128-channel) EEG acquisition system. All audio/visual recording and presentation uses studio-grade equipment. Computing resources include a shared Linux cluster with the aggregate processing power of thirteen 64-bit, dual- or quad-core processors, 164 GB of memory, and 4.5 TB of disk storage. For functional MRI, we have full access to two research-dedicated scanners at the UC Davis Imaging Research Center (http://ucdirc.ucdavis.edu/facilities/index.php). Most of our scanning is performed on a Siemens 3T TRIO with 8-channel phased-array headcoil. Within the scanner, auditory stimuli are presented via an MR-compatible electrodynamic headphone system producing high-fidelity sound (http://www.mr-confon.de/en/index.html). Visual stimuli are presented with a three-chip DLP projector.
Imaging Research Center |
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| 3T TRIO with 8-channel phased-array headcoil |  |
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MR-compatible electrodynamic headphone system |
Center for Mind and Brain |
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Electromagnetically shielded, anechoic room for psychoacoustics and EEG. |
| High-density EEG acquisition system |  |
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State-of-the-art hearing aids |