"How people acquire and process information has been a fundamental question in psychology since its inception. Cognitive science has devoted much effort to addressing the question, but typically in the domain of vision. Auditory processing has generally received less extensive inquiry, whether in basic perceptual or cognitive psychology or in applied areas such as human factors. Moreover, even within the field of audition, higher-order auditory processes have received less study than such lower-level processes as loudness and pitch perception (Bregman, 1990; Plomp, 2002). Yet over the past two decades there has been a growing base of empirical research on auditory cognition and its role in human performance at work and in everyday life. I describe this work in this book. The notion that listening requires attention and that it can at times be a difficult undertaking is well known to the elementary school teacher. Less well appreciated is the effort that we adults must put forth to comprehend auditory information in our everyday lives. Auditory processing relies on mechanisms of the brain as well as the ear. Describing the mental effort involved in these interacting mechanisms is the primary purpose of this book"-- Provided by publisher.