Robert Dooling studies comparative aspects of hearing and acoustic communication and has published over 250 articles, chapters, and books on this topic. He received his Ph.D. in Physiological Psychology from Saint Louis University and was an postdoctoral fellow and assistant professor at the Rockefeller University in New York before coming to the University of Maryland. He has received numerous awards over the years for his research including several Career development awards from NIH and an Alexander V. Humboldt Senior Scientist Award.

Doctoral Programs

  • Cognitive and Neural Systems (CNS)

Degrees

  • PhD
    Saint Louis University, Physiological Psychology
  • MS
    Saint Louis University, Biology
  • BS
    Creighton University, Biology/Chemistry

Research in my laboratory of comparative psychoacoustics is aimed at understanding how animals communicate with one another using vocalizations and whether there are parallels with how humans communicate with one another using speech and language. Like humans, birds such as songbirds and parrots rely on hearing and learning to develop a normal vocal repertoire. We often study budgerigars, canaries, zebra finches, and other small birds because they must learn their species-specific vocalizations - a process that bears some similarity to how humans learn speech and language. Past projects have included vocal learning and vocal development in budgerigars, how hearing loss affects vocal learning and production, whether newly regenerated auditory sensory hair cells result in a recovery of hearing and vocal behavior, and how noise affects hearing both in the lab and also in natural environments. We are currently examining the extent to which birds listen to the sequence of syllables in their song (much like humans listen to speech) or whether pay more attention to the subtle acoustic structure of the song syllables. Somewhat surprisingly, we have found that the message is coded in the acoustic fine structure of these complex sound syllables and not in the sequence of syllables. Moreover, birds are hearing these subtle differences in timbre in their song syllables well beyond what the human auditory system is capable of perceiving. In other words, avian acoustic communication may be much more sophisticated than we previously thought. 

 

  • Campus
    Chair, IACUC
  • Campus
    Chair, Intellectual Property Committee
  • Campus
    Member, Conflict of Interest Committee
  • Campus
    Chair, President's Medals Committee
  • Campus
    Honors and Prizes Committee
  • Campus
    APT Appeals Committee
  • Campus
    Facilities Advisory Council

Former Students

  • Student Name
    Sandra Blumenrath, Ph.D.
    Current Position
    Science Education Fellow, Howard Hughes Foundation
  • Student Name
    Vicky Tu, Ph.D.
    Current Position
    Director of Neuroscience Program, Virginia Tech
  • Student Name
    Michael Osmanski, Ph.D.
    Current Position
    Research Associate, Johns Hopkins Biomedical Engineering
  • Student Name
    Amanda Lauer, Ph.D.
    Current Position
    Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins Otolaryngology
  • Student Name
    Susan Brown, Ph.D.
    Current Position
    Chronicle of Higher Education
  • Student Name
    Elizabeth Brittan-Powell, Ph.D.
    Current Position
    Director, MPowering Initiative, UM College Park
  • Student Name
    Thomas Park, Ph.D.
    Current Position
    Professor, Department of Biology Univ of Illinois
  • Student Name
    Kazu Okanoya, Ph.D.
    Current Position
    Professor of Cognitive and Brain Science, Univ of Tokyo
  • Student Name
    Amy Nespor, Ph.D.
    Current Position
    Assist Management Consulting, LLC
  • Student Name
    Michael Dent, Ph.D.
    Current Position
    Professor, Univ of Buffalo
Robert J. Dooling
2123d Biology-Psychology Bldg
Department of Psychology
Phone
(301) 405-5925
Email
rdooling [at] umd.edu
Office Hours
By Appointment