A Brief History of SHAR

Abstract

The following preface is the one that we published in Volume 1 of the Springer Handbook of Auditory Research back in 1992. As anyone reading the original preface, or the many users of the series, will note, we have far exceeded our original expectation of eight volumes. Indeed, with books published to date, and those in the pipeline, we are now set for more than 60 volumes in SHAR, and we are still open to new and exciting ideas for additional books. We are very proud that there seems to be consensus, at least among our friends and colleagues, that SHAR has become an important and influential part of the auditory literature. While we have worked hard to develop and maintain the quality and value of SHAR, the real value of the books is very much because of the numer- ous authors who have given their time to write outstanding chapters and to our many coeditors who have provided the intellectual leadership to the individual volumes. We have worked with a remarkable and wonderful group of people, many of whom have become great personal friends of both of us. We also continue to work with a spectacular group of editors at Springer, currently Melissa Higgs and formerly Ann Avouris. Indeed, several of our past editors have moved on in the publishing world to become senior executives. To our delight, this includes the current president of Springer US, Dr. William Curtis. But the truth is that the series would and could not be possible without the support of our families, and we dedicate all of the SHAR books, past and future, to them. Our wives, Catherine Fay and Helen Popper, and our children, Michelle Popper Levit, Melissa Popper Levinsohn, Christian Fay, and Amanda Fay, have been immensely patient as we developed and worked on this series. We thank them and state, without doubt, that this series could not have happened without them. We also dedicate the future of SHAR to our next generation of (potential) auditory researchers—our grandchildren—Ethan and Sophie Levinsohn; Emma Levit; and Nathaniel, Evan, and Stella Fay. Preface 1992: The Springer Handbook of Auditory Research presents a series of comprehensive and synthetic reviews of the fundamental topics in modern auditory research. The volumes are aimed at all individuals with interests in hearing research including advanced graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and clinical investigators. The volumes are intended to introduce new investigators to important aspects of hearing science and to help established investigators to better understand the fundamental theories and data in fi elds of hearing that they may not normally follow closely. Each volume presents a particular topic comprehensively, and each serves as a synthetic overview and guide to the literature. As such, the chapters present neither exhaustive data reviews nor original research that has not yet appeared in peer-reviewed journals. The volumes focus on topics that have developed a solid data and conceptual foundation rather than on those for which a literature is only beginning to develop. New research areas will be covered on a timely basis in the series as they begin to mature. Each volume in the series consists of a few substantial chapters on a particular topic. In some cases, the topics will be ones of traditional interest for which there is a substantial body of data and theory, such as auditory neuroanatomy (Vol. 1) and neurophysiology (Vol. 2). Other volumes in the series deal with topics that have begun to mature more recently, such as development, plasticity, and computational models of neural processing. In many cases, the series editors are joined by a coeditor having special expertise in the topic of the volume.