Development of a Computational Auditory Model

Preface This report is a summary of the work which I performed on cochlear modeling within the framework of a 2 year cooperation between ESAT-KULeuven and IPO-Eindhoven. This report gives a detailed overview of the development of a computational auditory model and of the obstacles that one can expect on the road towards it. For the casual reader some of the mathematics in it will be painful, but I thought it necessary to include as much detail as possible so that this work can serve as a good technical reference for further development. This report should be considered as a writeup on work in progress. Nevertheless the chapters on cochlear filterbanks and adaptation have reached a more or less finished form, while on the other hand the chapter on data representation and post processing leaves many questions unanswered. I hope to be able to continue work on this topic and present a more conclusive report at some point in the future. The topic of cochlear modeling, though closely related to my previous experience, was not the core topic of my research at KULeuven during this period nor a mainstream activity at IPO. Hence this part-time cooperative research activity was an experiment and challenge both for IPO and myself. It was hard to put continuation in this " one-day-a-week " effort, often leading to frustration because of the slow progress associated with such a work schedule. Looking back on it afterwards and at this report I should conclude, however, that the time was well spent and I hope that cooperation between KULeuven and IPO will continue, be it in a more informal way. Moreover my stay at IPO had more than enough nice sides to compensate for the hard edges. As a researcher I found it refreshing and stimulating to have a " second home ". So in this introductory note a warm thanks belongs to all members of the group " Horen en Spraak " for the help, talks, discussions, formal or not, which I had with them over the past two of years.