Craig C. Wier

Bio: Craig C. Wier is an academic researcher from University of Texas at Austin. The author has contributed to research in topics: Phase (waves) & Illusion. The author has an hindex of 7, co-authored 15 publications receiving 441 citations.

Discrimination and labeling of noise-buzz sequences with varying noise-lead times: An example of categorical perception

Abstract: The onset of a noise [0.9–2.1 kHz, 55 dB SPL (A weighted)] preceded that of a buzz [100 Hz, 0.5–3.0 kHz, 70 db SPL (A weighted), 500 msec] by −10 to +80 msec and both terminated simultaneously. Eight adults discriminated among noise‐lead times in an oddity task. In separate sessions, they labeled singly presented stimuli with either of the two responses: ’’no noise’’ or ’’noise.’’ The results are highly similar to those reported for the categorical perception of synthetic plosive consonants differing in voice‐onset time. On the average, discrimination was best across a noise‐lead‐time boundary of about 16 msec, where labeling also shifted abruptly. These results and those of categorical perception, generally, are interpreted in terms of Weber’s law as applied to a single component within a stimulus complex. It is concluded that categorical perception of sounds is not unique to speech and suggested that it may be a general property of sensory behavior.Subject Classification: [43]65.75; [43]70.30.

Partial dissociation of spontaneous otoacoustic emissions and distortion products during aspirin use in humans

Abstract: Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) of two types—spontaneous and evoked distortion products—were studied before, during, and following a period of aspirin use. As previously reported, aspirin consumption uniformly reduced the spontaneous OAEs (SOAEs) to unmeasurable or extremely low levels. Aspirin consumption also reduced the amplitude of the evoked distortion products (EDPs) but did not eliminate them entirely. The amplitude of the EDP and its change with aspirin consumption were related to both the proximity of the EDP to the frequency of the SOAE and to the level of the primaries producing the EDP. At low primary levels, even with the SOAE absent (due to aspirin consumption, or suppression), EDPs near the SOAE frequency were 10–20 dB higher than when they were 100 Hz away from the SOAE frequency.

Spontaneous narrow-band oto-acoustic signals emitted by human ears: a replication.

Abstract: The presence of continuous, narrow‐band acoustic signals (oto‐acoustic emissions) in recordings made from the ear canals of human subjects has been reported by several authors. We report here the results of our attempt to detect such emissions from a series of 92 normally hearing ears from 47 adult subjects. Our results were quite similar to those reported by Zurek [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 69, 514–523 (1981)]. Emissions were found in 38% of the people and 27% of the ears tested. The distributions of the recorded emissions were also very similar to the results of Zurek’s study.

A method for relating loudness-matching and intensity-discrimination data

Abstract: A method that allows direct comparisons between pure-tone loudness-matching and intensity-discrimination data in normal and hearing-impaired listeners is described. This method makes a minimal numb...

Discrimination and Labeling of Noise-Buzz Sequences with Varying Noise-Lead Times

Abstract: The onset of a noise (0.9‐2.1 kHz, 55 dB SPL) preceded that of a buzz (100 Hz, 0.5‐3.0 kHz, 70 dB SPL, 500 msec) by —10 to 80 msec and both terminated simultaneously. Eight adults discriminated among noise‐lead times in an oddity task. In separate sessions, they labeled singly presented stimuli with two responses of their choice such as “short noise” and “long noise” or “no noise” and “noise.” The results are highly similar to those reported for the phoneme boundary between voiced and voiceless synthetic plosive consonants. Discrimination was optimal across a 16‐msec noise‐lead time boundary and labeling shifted abruptly at the same noise‐lead time. The results can probably be accounted for in terms of judgment of temporal order or the difference limen for duration of the leading part (noise‐alone) of the stimulus.

Natural language and natural selection

Abstract: Many people have argued that the evolution of the human language faculty cannot be explained by Darwinian natural selection. Chomsky and Gould have suggested that language may have evolved as the by-product of selection for other abilities or as a consequence of as-yet unknown laws of growth and form. Others have argued that a biological specialization for grammar is incompatible with every tenet of Darwinian theory – that it shows no genetic variation, could not exist in any intermediate forms, confers no selective advantage, and would require more evolutionary time and genomic space than is available. We examine these arguments and show that they depend on inaccurate assumptions about biology or language or both. Evolutionary theory offers clear criteria for when a trait should be attributed to natural selection: complex design for some function, and the absence of alternative processes capable of explaining such complexity. Human language meets these criteria: Grammar is a complex mechanism tailored to the transmission of propositional structures through a serial interface. Autonomous and arbitrary grammatical phenomena have been offered as counterexamples to the position that language is an adaptation, but this reasoning is unsound: Communication protocols depend on arbitrary conventions that are adaptive as long as they are shared. Consequently, language acquisition in the child should systematically differ from language evolution in the species, and attempts to analogize them are misleading. Reviewing other arguments and data, we conclude that there is every reason to believe that a specialization for grammar evolved by a conventional neo-Darwinian process.

A new view of language acquisition

Abstract: At the forefront of debates on language are new data demonstrating infants' early acquisition of information about their native language. The data show that infants perceptually “map” critical aspects of ambient language in the first year of life before they can speak. Statistical properties of speech are picked up through exposure to ambient language. Moreover, linguistic experience alters infants' perception of speech, warping perception in the service of language. Infants' strategies are unexpected and unpredicted by historical views. A new theoretical position has emerged, and six postulates of this position are described.

A neurophysiological approach to tinnitus: Clinical implications

Abstract: This paper presents a neurophysiological approach to tinnitus and discusses its clinical implications. A hypothesis of discordant damage of inner and outer hair cells systems in tinnitus generation...

Evoked otoacoustic emissions arise by two fundamentally different mechanisms: A taxonomy for mammalian OAEs

Abstract: Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) of all types are widely assumed to arise by a common mechanism: nonlinear electromechanical distortion within the cochlea. In this view, both stimulus-frequency (SFOAEs) and distortion-product emissions (DPOAEs) arise because nonlinearities in the mechanics act as "sources" of backward-traveling waves. This unified picture is tested by analyzing measurements of emission phase using a simple phenomenological description of the nonlinear re-emission process. The analysis framework is independent of the detailed form of the emission sources and the nonlinearities that produce them. The analysis demonstrates that the common assumption that SFOAEs originate by nonlinear distortion requires that SFOAE phase be essentially independent of frequency, in striking contradiction with experiment. This contradiction implies that evoked otoacoustic emissions arise by two fundamentally different mechanisms within the cochlea. These two mechanisms (linear reflection versus nonlinear distortion) are described and two broad classes of emissions--reflection-source and distortion-source emissions--are distinguished based on the mechanisms of their generation. The implications of this OAE taxonomy for the measurement, interpretation, and clinical use of otoacoustic emissions as noninvasive probes of cochlear function are discussed.