Dr. Stecker is an Assistant Professor in the UW Speech and Hearing Sciences Department and an affiliate faculty member of the Institure for Learning & Brain Sciences. Dr. Stecker directs the SPACElab, which uses two main approaches to explore how the brain uses sound to understand the complex and ever-changing world around us. First, behavioral experiments study how listeners perceive auditory space and the particular kinds of acoustic information they use to do so. Second, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to map out the brain regions involved in processing that information. Professor Stecker also maintains ongoing collaborations with cortical neurophysiologists (computer studies of information coding by auditory cortical neurons) and audiologists (psychophysics in hearing-impaired listeners and simulated cochlear-implant use).
B.A., University of California, San Diego, Cognitive Science, 1994
M.A., University of California, Berkeley, Psychology, 1998
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, Psychology, 2000
University of Washington, Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences, 2005-Present
VA Northern California Health Care System, Post-Doctoral Fellow 2004-2005
University of Michigan, Kresge Hearing Research Institute, Post-Doctoral Fellow, 2001-2004
1998-1999, Teaching Effectiveness Award, University of California, Berkeley 1995-1995, McDonnell Fellow, Cognitive Neuroscience
Stecker, G. C. (2010, in press). Trading of interaural time and level differences in high-rate narrowband click trains. Hearing Research.
Brown, A. D. and Stecker, G. C. (2010, in press ). Temporal weighting of interaural time and level differences in high-rate click trains. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 128(1):283-292.
Stecker, G. C. and Brown, A. D. (2010). Temporal weighting of binaural cues revealed by detection of dynamic interaural differences in high-rate Gabor click trains. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 127(5):3092-3103.
Davies-Venn, E., Souza, P., Stecker, G. C., and Brennan, M. (2009). Effects of audibility and multichannel wide dynamic range compression on consonant recognition for listeners with severe hearing loss. Ear and Hearing 30(5):494-504.
Billings, C. J., Tremblay, K. L., Stecker, G. C., and Tolin, W. M. (2009). Sensitivity of Human evoked cortical activity to signal-to-noise ratio rather than absolute signal level. Hearing Research 254(1-2):15-24.
Stecker, G. C., and Hafter, E. R. (2009). A recency effect in sound localization? J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 125(6):3914-24.
Woods, D. L., Stecker, G. C., Rinne, T., Herron, T. J., Cate, A.D., Yund. E. W., Liao, I., and Kang, X. J., (2009). Functional maps of human auditory cortex: effects of acoustic features and attention. PloS One 4:e5183 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005183.
Cate, A.D., Herron, T. J., Yund. E. W., Stecker, G. C., Rinne, T., Kang, X. J., Petkov, C.I., Disbrow, E. A. and Woods, D. L. (2009). Auditory attention activates peripheral visual cortex. PLoS ONE 4(2): e4645.
Harrington, I. A., Stecker, G. C., Macpherson, E. A., and Middlebrooks, J. C. (2008). Spatial sensitivity of neurons in the anterior, posterior, and primary of cat auditory cortex. Hearing Research. 240(1-2):22-41.
Malhotra, S., Stecker, G. C., Middlebrooks, J. C., and Lomber, S. G. (2008). Sound localization deficits during reversible deactivation of primary auditory cortex and/or the dorsal zone. J. Neurophysiology.
Middlebrooks, J. C., Harrington, I. A., Macpherson, E. A., and Stecker, G. C. (2007) Sound localization and the auditory cortex. In Dallos, P., Oertel, D., and Hoy, R. (eds.) The Senses: A Comprehensive Reference. Volume 3: Audition. London: Elsevier.
Rinne, T., Stecker, G. C., Kang, X. J., Yund, E. W., Herron, T. J., and Woods, D. L. (2007). Attention modulates sound processing in human auditory cortex but not the inferior colliculus. Neuroreport 18:1311-1314.
Stecker, GC, Bowman, GA, Yund, EW, Herron, TJ, Roup, CJ, and Woods, DL (2006) Perceptual Training Improves Syllable Identification in New and Experienced Hearing-Aid Users. Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development 43(4):537-552.
Stecker, GC, Harrington, IA, Macpherson, EA, and Middlebrooks, JC (2005). Spatial sensitivity in the dorsal zone (area DZ) of cat auditory cortex. J Neurophysiology 94:1267-80.
Stecker, GC (2005). Rate-limited, but accurate, central processing of interaural time differences in modulated high-frequency sounds: Focus on "Neural Sensitivity to Interaural Envelope Delays in the Inferior Colliculus of the Guinea Pig". J Neurophysiology 93:3048-9.
Middlebrooks, JC, Furukawa, S, Stecker, GC, and Mickey, BJ (2005). "Distributed representation of sound-source location in the auditory cortex." In: Konig, Heil, Budinger, and Scheich (eds.) Auditory cortex: a synthesis of human and animal research. Mahwah NJ: Erlbaum.
Stecker, GC, Harrington, IA, and Middlebrooks, JC (2005). Location coding by opponent neural populations in the auditory cortex. PLoS Biology 3:e78 (0520-0528).
Stecker, GC (2004). Parallel Emergence of Spatial Tuning and Echo Suppression in the Auditory Midbrain? Focus on "A Neuronal Correlate of the Precedence Effect Is Associated With Spatial Selectivity in the Barn Owl's Auditory Midbrain". J Neurophysiology 92:1965-6.
Stecker, GC and Middlebrooks, JC (2003). Distributed coding of sound locations in the auditory cortex. Biological Cybernetics 89:341-349.
Stecker, GC, Mickey, BJ, Macpherson, EA, and Middlebrooks, JC (2003). Spatial sensitivity in field PAF of cat auditory cortex. J Neurophysiology 89:2889-2903.
Stecker, GC and Hafter, ER (2002). Temporal weighting in sound localization. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 112:1046-1057.
Hafter, ER, Valenzuela, MN, Stecker, GC, and Crum, P. C (2001). Informational dominance in the auditory scene. In: Breebaart, Houtsma, Kohlrausch, Prijs, and Schoonhoven (eds.) Physiological and psychophysical bases of auditory function. Maastricht NL: Shaker.
Stecker, GC and Hafter, ER (2000). An effect of temporal asymmetry on loudness. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 107:3358-3368.
