Biography

Erin Hannon is the director of the UNLV Music Lab — more formally known as the UNLV Auditory Cognition and Development Lab — a research laboratory dedicated to finding the connection between music and psychological perception. She is also a professor in UNLV’s department of psychology.

Hannon’s research focuses on the links between music, language, and cultural perceptions — particularly in developing children. She probes how people come to understand sound, such as music and language, and the ways our cultural environment impacts that. Her research contributes to a growing body of scientific knowledge related to developmental disorders in language and reading; movement and coordination therapies; and rehabilitation after stroke, traumatic brain injury, or other neural disorders. 

Hannon approaches her research by examining how culture-specific listening experiences influence music perception, similarities between musical and linguistic skills during childhood, and how developmental milestones in music perception relate to other social, cognitive, and linguistic abilities and behaviors. Hannon's research has been published in notable psychology journals including Cognitive Psychology and the Journal of Experimental Psychology.