The McCullagh lab focuses on understanding what factors alter hearing ability, including:

1. Understanding how different organisms process sound information based on their physiology, environment, genetics, and other factors.
2. Using autism, aging and other changes that occur to the brain to understand how auditory processing is different in those conditions as well as to understand the basic circuitry and how it functions
3. Modern techniques to manipulate the circuits involved in sound source processing to better understand the circuitry involved.