In this week's Science Cafe Adam Walton visits Cardiff University's School of Psychology to explore how we hear and make sense of the sounds around us, and also how science is helping those with hearing problems.

Adam meets Professor John Culling, head of the School of Psychology who takes him on an "acoustic walk" up an echoey stairwell to discover how our environment affects what we hear, and the clever tricks that the brain is capable of to help us make sense of it all. We also hear about how science is tackling the complex problem of helping those with impaired hearing. Adam also meets Dr Bill Macken who has been studying how our brains deal with "distracting" sounds. Adam tries a test to memorise numbers while being distracted by sound. The test is designed to see whether different types of sound actually impair our ability to perform tasks. The technique has been applied to the sounds on a flightdeck and how they might affect the pilot. .

Links

Cardiff School of Psychology

BBC Health: Deafness & Hearing

BBC h2g2: The Wonder Of The Human Ear

BBC Drama: All About Sound