SPACE Lab

Welcome to the SPACE Lab!

Directed by Dr. Alexander L. Francis, Ph.D., research in the SPACE Lab centers around the short- and long-term consequences of the cognitive challenges posed by both the presence of unwanted sound (noise) and difficulty with perceiving sound (hearing impairment). We employ psychophysiological and behavioral measures to investigate cognitive and affective responses to the challenges posed by environmental noise and loss of hearing acuity, especially in older adults. The central thesis of our work is that challenges to listening, whether due to unwanted sound or to difficulties assessing the auditory environment, increase demand on central processing mechanisms such as attention and working memory and induce negative affective responses with both short- and long-term impact on health and well-being. Results of this work will serve to better guide research and development of effective policy, workplace design, and clinical interventions for individuals with hearing impairment, unusual sensitivity to noise, and/or who work or live in noisy environments.

Latest Papers:

• Francis, A. L., & Strauss, D. J. (2026). An evolutionary history of human listening: Mismatches between auditory priors and contemporary acoustic environments. JASA Express Letters, 6(3). Link
• Friedman, E. M., Schafer, M. H., Franks, M. M., & Francis, A. L. (2026). Poorer subjective hearing is associated with less frequent and more negative social interactions in older adults. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 81(3), gbaf261. Link
• Strauss, D. J., Francis, A. L., Schäfer, Z., Latzel, M., Corona–Strauss, F. I., & Launer, S. (2025). Understanding speech in “noise” or free energy minimization in the soundscapes of the anthropocene. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 19, 1534425. Link
• Francis, A. L., Chen, Y., Medina Lopez, P., & Clougherty, J. E. (2024). Sense of control and noise sensitivity affect frustration from interfering noise. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 156(3), 1746-1756. Link
• Seidl, N., Newell, M., & Francis, A. L. (2024). Just Keep Spinning? The Impact of Auditory and Somatosensory Cues on Rotary Chair Testing. American Journal of Audiology, 1-13. Link
• Francis, A.L. (2022). Adding noise is a confounded nuisance. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 152, 1375. Published online Sept. 2, 2022. DOI: 10.1121/10.0013874 Link

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