A one-sentence theme of this special issue and of our knowledge of descending control in the auditory system could be “the hearing brain is vast.” The narrowly defined hierarchy of the classical auditory pathway is firmly in the dustbin of history. How we think about sound, how we feel about sound, the movements that accompany sound, and what we experience with our other senses play key roles in shaping our auditory infrastructure (Kraus and White-Schwoch, 2015)—what I have come to call the “sound mind” (Kraus, 2021b). Our experience with sound—lifelong,in-the-moment, and all points between—leaves a legacy on this massively interconnected auditory system courtesy of the efferent system. Control of our auditory infrastructure, not only throughout the auditory system itself but by non-auditory brain systems, points to the pervasive influence of hearing to the lives of all organisms.
