Adam Tierney

Adam Tierney is a Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Birkbeck, University of London. His research focuses on auditory neuroscience, exploring how auditory processing underpins speech, music, and rhythm perception. He investigates links between neural mechanisms of sound processing and cognitive abilities such as reading, language learning, and rhythmic skills. His work spans developmental, clinical, and cross-cultural contexts, emphasizing the interplay between perception, attention, and neural plasticity.

Key research themes include:

• Neural entrainment to rhythmic structures
• Effects of musical training on auditory processing
• Speech-in-noise perception and its developmental basis
• Cross-modal perception of music and speech
• Second language acquisition and domain-general auditory aptitude

Recent work examines how perceptual strategies dynamically adapt across contexts, leveraging large-scale datasets and global music recordings to uncover universal auditory principles. He has pioneered methods to quantify pitch discreteness in music and speech, linking acoustic properties to perceptual outcomes. His findings underscore the role of rhythmic skills in neurodevelopmental outcomes like literacy.

Notable contributions include demonstrating how auditory brainstem responses predict reading readiness in children, and how musical training alters adolescent auditory maturation. Collaborative projects explore the social neuroscience of singing and its effects on group cohesion.