Vivid Sound Lab

Lab Leaders: Prof. Dr. Martin Meyer, PD Dr. Patrick Neff

Lab Members:  Eric Larrieux, Jinyi Han, Nick Sommerhalder, M.Sc., Zino Wellauer, M.Sc.

At the Vivid Sound Lab, we investigate how humans perceive, process, and navigate sound in everyday environments. By combining neuroscience, psychoacoustics, spatial audio engineering and citizen science, we aim to take auditory research out of traditional laboratory settings and into immersive, ecologically valid acoustic environments.

Our interdisciplinary lab develops and deploys cutting-edge methods, like higher-order ambisonic sound fields, EEG-based neural tracking, and real-world audio simulations, to study how the brain decodes complex soundscapes. We’re particularly focused on speech comprehension in noisy settings, spatial hearing accuracy, and the diverse experiences of individuals across a variety of populations.

By presenting realistic soundscapes in the laboratory and measuring people's cognitive, behavioural, and electrophysiological responses to them, we aim to improve hearing diagnostics, acoustic design, and next-generation audio technologies.

Projects

HearHere – Mapping and Resolving Sensory Challenges in the Urban Soundscape (Stadt Zürich)

SpiN3D: Speech in Noise in a virtual 3D Audio-Environment

ProLACTin: Processing Language and Cognition in Chronic Subjective Tinnitus

Links

Language, Aging, and Central Hearing Disorders (LACH)

Interdisciplinary Tinnitus Research Zurich

Participant pool (coming soon)

Selected Publications

Sommerhalder, N., Bureš, Z., Profant, O., Kleinjung, T., Neff, P., & Meyer, M. (2025). Association of Tinnitus With Speech Recognition and Executive Functions in Older Adults. Trends in hearing, 29, 23312165251389585. https://doi.org/10.1177/23312165251389585

Wellauer, Z. H., Avdi, D., Shabestari, P. S., Preisig, A., Fritzsche, J., Peter, N., Meyer, M., Kleinjung, T., & Neff, P. K. A. (2025). Modulating altered sensory prediction using bilateral auditory cortex high-definition transcranial random noise stimulation and acoustic masking. Clinical Neurophysiology, 182, 2111388. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2025.2111388