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Feng, Albert S.
Professor, Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Biophysics and Computational Biology, Bioengineering
B.S.E.E., M.S., University of Miami
Ph.D., Cornell University
Research Areas
Neural basis of sound pattern recognition
Dr. Feng‘s research is focused on understanding the neural basis of sound pattern recognition. His students and postdocs presently study the neural mechanisms that underlie extraction of sound embedded in noisy background. Intracellular and extracellular recordings are made from single neurons in the auditory system of frogs and bats, two groups of animals that communicate in acoustically complex environments. In frogs, males produce advertisement calls in large choruses to attract females. The females must determine the locations and identities of individual callers. Research therefore addresses how the timing and spatial configuration of sounds in complex environments affect sound detection, localization, and pattern recognition. Echolocating bats rely on analysis of echoes of their sonar emissions to determine the location, range, and identity of stationary and moving objects along their flight paths. Current research is focused on determining the cellular mechanisms that underlie rapid neural oscillations and synaptic inhibition responsible for creation of temporal filters. Dr. Feng currently leads the Intelligent Hearing Aid project, in which biologically inspired signal processing techniques are being investigated for enhancing noise cancellation for tomorrow‘s hearing aids.
Representative Publications
Feng, A. S.; Narins, P. M., Ultrasonic communication in concave-eared torrent frogs (Amolops tormotus). Journal of Comparative Physiology a-Neuroethology Sensory Neural and Behavioral Physiology 2008, 194, (2), 159-167.
Gridi-Papp, M.; Feng, A.S.; Shen, J.X.; Yu, Z.L.; Narins, P.M.; Active control of ultrasonic hearing in frogs. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 2008, 105 (31), 11013-11018.
Larsen, E.; Iyer, N.; Lansing, C.R.; Feng, A.S. Discrimination of direct-to-reverberant energy ratio. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 2008, 124, 450-461.
Shen, J.-X.; Feng, A. S.; Xu, Z. M.; Yu, Z. L.; Arch, V. S.; Yu, X. J.; Narins, P. M., Ultrasonic frogs show hyperacute phonotaxis to the female's courtship calls. Nature 2008, 453, 914-917.
Vieira, M.; Christensen, B. L.; Wheeler, B. C.; Feng, A. S.; Kollmar, R., Survival and stimulation of neurite outgrowth in a serum-free culture of spiral ganglion neurons from adult mice. Hearing Research 2007, 230, (1-2), 17-23.
Wang, X. M.; Galazyuk, A. V.; Feng, A. S., FM signals produce robust paradoxical latency shifts in the bat's inferior colliculus. J. Comp. Physiol. 2007, 193, 13-20 (Epub November 18, 2006).
Yang, S. C.; Feng, A. S., Heterogeneous biophysical properties of frog dorsal medullary nucleus (cochlear nucleus) neurons. Journal of Neurophysiology 2007, 98, (4), 1953-1964.
Feng AS, Narins PM, Xu CH, Lin WY, Yu ZL, Qiu Q, Xu ZM and Shen JX. 2006. Ultrasonic communication in frogs. Nature 440:333-336. (Highlighted in News@Nature.com, Nature Online Science Update, Science News, The New Scientist, National Geographic News, etc).
Feng AS and Schul J. 2006. Signal processing in real-world environments. In "Hearing and Sound Communication in Amphibians" (eds. P.M. Narins, A.S. Feng, R.R. Fay and A.N. Popper), Springer Handbook of Auditory Research 28:323-350. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Feng AS and Jones DL. 2006. Localization-based grouping. A chapter in "Computational Auditory Scene Analysis" (D.L. Wang and G.J. Brown, eds.). pp. 187-207. New York: Wiley Inter-Science.
Suthers RA, Narins PM, Lin WY, Schnitzler HU, Densinger A, Xu CH, Feng AS. 2006. Voices of the dead: Complex nonlinear vocal signals from the larynx of an ultrasonic frog. J. Exp. Biol. 209: 4984-4993.
Galazyuk AV, Lin WY, Llano D, Feng AS. 2005. Leading inhibition to oscillation and time domain processing in the auditory midbrain. J. Neurophysiol. 94:314-326.
Additional Information
Collaborative Projects:
UIUC Professors Bruce Wheeler, Douglas Jones, Charissa Lansing, and William O‘Brien - Intelligent Hearing Aid
Professor Peter Narins at UCLA - Sound communication in Old World frogs
Professor Mario Penna at University of Chile - Neurobiology of sound communication in Chilean frogs
Professor Wolfgang Walkowiak at University of Cologne - Neurobiology of sound communication in American treefrogs
Related Research (By Area):
Bioinformatics and Neuroinformatics
Computational Neuroscience
Neuroengineering
Neuroethology
Sensory and Motor Systems
Contact information:
