Tecumseh Fitch is a professor of cognitive biology in the Department of Cognitive Biology at the University of Vienna. His main interests are in bioacoustics and the evolution of cognition, particularly the evolution of human speech, language, and music, all studied from a broad comparative perspective. In addition to communication he studies animal pattern perception in visual and auditory modalities to help understand the biological bases of human syntax. He was a recipient of an ERC Advanced Grant (2009-2014). Fitch and his group conduct experimental research on vocalization and cognition in humans and a variety of vertebrates, including chimpanzees, seals, deer, alligators and many birds.