Recent advances in anatomical, physiological, and psychophysical techniques and new formal analyses have made considerable advances in integrating the various aspects of hearing. Consisting of five sections, this volume begins with development and proceeds from the periphery to the highest psychological functions reflected in speech and guided behavior. In the first section the developing auditory system is considered; in Section Two cochlear neurobiology and current theories of cochlear mechanics are reviewed. Section Three deals with the response properties and electrical characteristics of auditory neurons. Section Four discusses the models of peripheral and central factors in intensity perception, auditory masking, and spectral shape discrimination. The final section examines auditory neuroethology and speech processing.