[The significance of the CNS for the physiology of hearing (author's transl)].
Some general aspects of auditory perception (funnelling, contrast, pattern recognition, form perception, methodological limitations) are discussed in the first part of this presentation. The modern concept of the hydrodynamics of the inner ear, including electronic modelling of the function of the basilar membrane is their dealth with. For the encoding and decoding processes of the auditory system the different grades of intensity function at the different neuronal levels is compared with that of the envelope of the basilar membranes deflection. The influence of the efferent system is discussed. In a third section of the paper some new results from our department are reported concerning the single unit activity at geniculate level recorded from the awake cat by means of a telemetric system. Neurophysiological correlates to vowel- and consonant detectors and their relations to be the phonem recognition of speech could be demonstrated. Finally, the most recent state of objective audiometry is discussed (DC-potentials, simultaneous records of electrocochleogram and cortically evoked activity, relations to EEG's power spectrum, and brains changes in vigilance) with a view of future approaches to ERA.