The auditory system is equipped with specialized circuits to handle the computational demands of speech perception and sound localization. Our lab uses electrophysiological methods to study the neural basis of speech and sound location perception, and how these processes are affected by top-down factors such as attention and working memory. Studies on the cortical processing of complex non-spatial information (speech vs. music) and multistable perception of speech will be presented. Recent observations on the cortical representation of sound location as a function of spatial attention will also be discussed. Findings bear on the role of sensory cortex in mediating the interplay of top-down and bottom-up coding in the human brain.