Unsupervised learning of temporal features for word categorization in a spiking neural network model of the auditory brain

PubMed Central

Stringer, Simon

2017-01-01

The nature of the code used in the auditory cortex to represent complex auditory stimuli, such as naturally spoken words, remains a matter of debate. Here we argue that such representations are encoded by stable spatio-temporal patterns of firing within cell assemblies known as polychronous groups, or PGs. We develop a physiologically grounded, unsupervised spiking neural network model of the auditory brain with local, biologically realistic, spike-time dependent plasticity (STDP) learning, and show that the plastic cortical layers of the network develop PGs which convey substantially more information about the speaker independent identity of two naturally spoken word stimuli than does rate encoding that ignores the precise spike timings. We furthermore demonstrate that such informative PGs can only develop if the input spatio-temporal spike patterns to the plastic cortical areas of the model are relatively stable. PMID:28797034

Oxytocin Enables Maternal Behavior by Balancing Cortical Inhibition

PubMed Central

Marlin, Bianca J.; Mitre, Mariela; D’amour, James A.; Chao, Moses V.; Froemke, Robert C.

2015-01-01

Oxytocin is important for social interactions and maternal behavior. However, little is known about when, where, and how oxytocin modulates neural circuits to improve social cognition. Here we show how oxytocin enables pup retrieval behavior in female mice by enhancing auditory cortical pup call responses. Retrieval behavior required left but not right auditory cortex, was accelerated by oxytocin in left auditory cortex, and oxytocin receptors were preferentially expressed in left auditory cortex. Neural responses to pup calls were lateralized, with co-tuned and temporally-precise excitatory and inhibitory responses in left cortex of maternal but not pup-naive adults. Finally, pairing calls with oxytocin enhanced responses by balancing the magnitude and timing of inhibition with excitation. Our results describe fundamental synaptic mechanisms by which oxytocin increases the salience of acoustic social stimuli. Furthermore, oxytocin-induced plasticity provides a biological basis for lateralization of auditory cortical processing. PMID:25874674

Changes in neuromagnetic beta-band oscillation after music-supported stroke rehabilitation.

PubMed

Fujioka, Takako; Ween, Jon Erik; Jamali, Shahab; Stuss, Donald T; Ross, Bernhard

2012-04-01

Precise timing of sound is crucial in music for both performing and listening. Indeed, listening to rhythmic sound sequences activates not only the auditory system but also the sensorimotor system. Previously, we showed the significance of neural beta-band oscillations (15-30 Hz) for the timing processing that involves such auditory-motor coordination. Thus, we hypothesized that motor rehabilitation training incorporating music playing will stimulate and enhance auditory-motor interaction in stroke patients. We examined three chronic patients who received Music-Supported Therapy following the protocols practiced by Schneider. Neuromagnetic beta-band activity was remarkably alike during passive listening to a metronome and during finger tapping, with or without the metronome, for either the paretic or nonparetic hand, suggesting a shared mechanism of the beta modulation. In the listening task, the magnitude of the beta decrease after the tone onset was more pronounced at the posttraining time point and was accompanied by improved arm and hand skills. The present case data give insight into the neural underpinnings of rehabilitation with music making and rhythmic auditory stimulation. © 2012 New York Academy of Sciences.

Cortical mechanisms for the segregation and representation of acoustic textures.

PubMed

Overath, Tobias; Kumar, Sukhbinder; Stewart, Lauren; von Kriegstein, Katharina; Cusack, Rhodri; Rees, Adrian; Griffiths, Timothy D

2010-02-10

Auditory object analysis requires two fundamental perceptual processes: the definition of the boundaries between objects, and the abstraction and maintenance of an object's characteristic features. Although it is intuitive to assume that the detection of the discontinuities at an object's boundaries precedes the subsequent precise representation of the object, the specific underlying cortical mechanisms for segregating and representing auditory objects within the auditory scene are unknown. We investigated the cortical bases of these two processes for one type of auditory object, an "acoustic texture," composed of multiple frequency-modulated ramps. In these stimuli, we independently manipulated the statistical rules governing (1) the frequency-time space within individual textures (comprising ramps with a given spectrotemporal coherence) and (2) the boundaries between textures (adjacent textures with different spectrotemporal coherences). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we show mechanisms defining boundaries between textures with different coherences in primary and association auditory cortices, whereas texture coherence is represented only in association cortex. Furthermore, participants' superior detection of boundaries across which texture coherence increased (as opposed to decreased) was reflected in a greater neural response in auditory association cortex at these boundaries. The results suggest a hierarchical mechanism for processing acoustic textures that is relevant to auditory object analysis: boundaries between objects are first detected as a change in statistical rules over frequency-time space, before a representation that corresponds to the characteristics of the perceived object is formed.

The neuromechanics of hearing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Araya, Mussie K.; Brownell, William E.

2015-12-01

Hearing requires precise detection and coding of acoustic signals by the inner ear and equally precise communication of the information through the auditory brainstem. A membrane based motor in the outer hair cell lateral wall contributes to the transformation of sound into a precise neural code. Structural, molecular and energetic similarities between the outer hair cell and auditory brainstem neurons suggest that a similar membrane based motor may contribute to signal processing in the auditory CNS. Cooperative activation of voltage gated ion channels enhances neuronal temporal processing and increases the upper frequency limit for phase locking. We explore the possibility that membrane mechanics contribute to ion channel cooperativity as a consequence of the nearly instantaneous speed of electromechanical signaling and the fact that membrane composition and mechanics modulate ion channel function.

Modulation of isochronous movements in a flexible environment: links between motion and auditory experience.

PubMed

Bravi, Riccardo; Del Tongo, Claudia; Cohen, Erez James; Dalle Mura, Gabriele; Tognetti, Alessandro; Minciacchi, Diego

2014-06-01

The ability to perform isochronous movements while listening to a rhythmic auditory stimulus requires a flexible process that integrates timing information with movement. Here, we explored how non-temporal and temporal characteristics of an auditory stimulus (presence, interval occupancy, and tempo) affect motor performance. These characteristics were chosen on the basis of their ability to modulate the precision and accuracy of synchronized movements. Subjects have participated in sessions in which they performed sets of repeated isochronous wrist's flexion-extensions under various conditions. The conditions were chosen on the basis of the defined characteristics. Kinematic parameters were evaluated during each session, and temporal parameters were analyzed. In order to study the effects of the auditory stimulus, we have minimized all other sensory information that could interfere with its perception or affect the performance of repeated isochronous movements. The present study shows that the distinct characteristics of an auditory stimulus significantly influence isochronous movements by altering their duration. Results provide evidence for an adaptable control of timing in the audio-motor coupling for isochronous movements. This flexibility would make plausible the use of different encoding strategies to adapt audio-motor coupling for specific tasks.

Shared and distinct factors driving attention and temporal processing across modalities

PubMed Central

Berry, Anne S.; Li, Xu; Lin, Ziyong; Lustig, Cindy

2013-01-01

In addition to the classic finding that “sounds are judged longer than lights,” the timing of auditory stimuli is often more precise and accurate than is the timing of visual stimuli. In cognitive models of temporal processing, these modality differences are explained by positing that auditory stimuli more automatically capture and hold attention, more efficiently closing an attentional switch that allows the accumulation of pulses marking the passage of time (Block & Zakay, 1997; Meck, 1991; Penney, 2003). However, attention is a multifaceted construct, and there has been little attempt to determine which aspects of attention may be related to modality effects. We used visual and auditory versions of the Continuous Temporal Expectancy Task (CTET; O'Connell et al., 2009) a timing task previously linked to behavioral and electrophysiological measures of mind-wandering and attention lapses, and tested participants with or without the presence of a video distractor. Performance in the auditory condition was generally superior to that in the visual condition, replicating standard results in the timing literature. The auditory modality was also less affected by declines in sustained attention indexed by declines in performance over time. In contrast, distraction had an equivalent impact on performance in the two modalities. Analysis of individual differences in performance revealed further differences between the two modalities: Poor performance in the auditory condition was primarily related to boredom whereas poor performance in the visual condition was primarily related to distractibility. These results suggest that: 1) challenges to different aspects of attention reveal both modality-specific and nonspecific effects on temporal processing, and 2) different factors drive individual differences when testing across modalities. PMID:23978664

Motor contributions to the temporal precision of auditory attention

PubMed Central

Morillon, Benjamin; Schroeder, Charles E.; Wyart, Valentin

2014-01-01

In temporal—or dynamic—attending theory, it is proposed that motor activity helps to synchronize temporal fluctuations of attention with the timing of events in a task-relevant stream, thus facilitating sensory selection. Here we develop a mechanistic behavioural account for this theory by asking human participants to track a slow reference beat, by noiseless finger pressing, while extracting auditory target tones delivered on-beat and interleaved with distractors. We find that overt rhythmic motor activity improves the segmentation of auditory information by enhancing sensitivity to target tones while actively suppressing distractor tones. This effect is triggered by cyclic fluctuations in sensory gain locked to individual motor acts, scales parametrically with the temporal predictability of sensory events and depends on the temporal alignment between motor and attention fluctuations. Together, these findings reveal how top-down influences associated with a rhythmic motor routine sharpen sensory representations, enacting auditory ‘active sensing’. PMID:25314898

Motor contributions to the temporal precision of auditory attention.

PubMed

Morillon, Benjamin; Schroeder, Charles E; Wyart, Valentin

2014-10-15

In temporal-or dynamic-attending theory, it is proposed that motor activity helps to synchronize temporal fluctuations of attention with the timing of events in a task-relevant stream, thus facilitating sensory selection. Here we develop a mechanistic behavioural account for this theory by asking human participants to track a slow reference beat, by noiseless finger pressing, while extracting auditory target tones delivered on-beat and interleaved with distractors. We find that overt rhythmic motor activity improves the segmentation of auditory information by enhancing sensitivity to target tones while actively suppressing distractor tones. This effect is triggered by cyclic fluctuations in sensory gain locked to individual motor acts, scales parametrically with the temporal predictability of sensory events and depends on the temporal alignment between motor and attention fluctuations. Together, these findings reveal how top-down influences associated with a rhythmic motor routine sharpen sensory representations, enacting auditory 'active sensing'.

Cortical activity patterns predict speech discrimination ability

PubMed Central

Engineer, Crystal T; Perez, Claudia A; Chen, YeTing H; Carraway, Ryan S; Reed, Amanda C; Shetake, Jai A; Jakkamsetti, Vikram; Chang, Kevin Q; Kilgard, Michael P

2010-01-01

Neural activity in the cerebral cortex can explain many aspects of sensory perception. Extensive psychophysical and neurophysiological studies of visual motion and vibrotactile processing show that the firing rate of cortical neurons averaged across 50–500 ms is well correlated with discrimination ability. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that primary auditory cortex (A1) neurons use temporal precision on the order of 1–10 ms to represent speech sounds shifted into the rat hearing range. Neural discrimination was highly correlated with behavioral performance on 11 consonant-discrimination tasks when spike timing was preserved and was not correlated when spike timing was eliminated. This result suggests that spike timing contributes to the auditory cortex representation of consonant sounds. PMID:18425123

Reversal of age-related neural timing delays with training

PubMed Central

Anderson, Samira; White-Schwoch, Travis; Parbery-Clark, Alexandra; Kraus, Nina

2013-01-01

Neural slowing is commonly noted in older adults, with consequences for sensory, motor, and cognitive domains. One of the deleterious effects of neural slowing is impairment of temporal resolution; older adults, therefore, have reduced ability to process the rapid events that characterize speech, especially in noisy environments. Although hearing aids provide increased audibility, they cannot compensate for deficits in auditory temporal processing. Auditory training may provide a strategy to address these deficits. To that end, we evaluated the effects of auditory-based cognitive training on the temporal precision of subcortical processing of speech in noise. After training, older adults exhibited faster neural timing and experienced gains in memory, speed of processing, and speech-in-noise perception, whereas a matched control group showed no changes. Training was also associated with decreased variability of brainstem response peaks, suggesting a decrease in temporal jitter in response to a speech signal. These results demonstrate that auditory-based cognitive training can partially restore age-related deficits in temporal processing in the brain; this plasticity in turn promotes better cognitive and perceptual skills. PMID:23401541

Influence of aging on human sound localization

PubMed Central

Dobreva, Marina S.; O'Neill, William E.

2011-01-01

Errors in sound localization, associated with age-related changes in peripheral and central auditory function, can pose threats to self and others in a commonly encountered environment such as a busy traffic intersection. This study aimed to quantify the accuracy and precision (repeatability) of free-field human sound localization as a function of advancing age. Head-fixed young, middle-aged, and elderly listeners localized band-passed targets using visually guided manual laser pointing in a darkened room. Targets were presented in the frontal field by a robotically controlled loudspeaker assembly hidden behind a screen. Broadband targets (0.1–20 kHz) activated all auditory spatial channels, whereas low-pass and high-pass targets selectively isolated interaural time and intensity difference cues (ITDs and IIDs) for azimuth and high-frequency spectral cues for elevation. In addition, to assess the upper frequency limit of ITD utilization across age groups more thoroughly, narrowband targets were presented at 250-Hz intervals from 250 Hz up to ∼2 kHz. Young subjects generally showed horizontal overestimation (overshoot) and vertical underestimation (undershoot) of auditory target location, and this effect varied with frequency band. Accuracy and/or precision worsened in older individuals for broadband, high-pass, and low-pass targets, reflective of peripheral but also central auditory aging. In addition, compared with young adults, middle-aged, and elderly listeners showed pronounced horizontal localization deficiencies (imprecision) for narrowband targets within 1,250–1,575 Hz, congruent with age-related central decline in auditory temporal processing. Findings underscore the distinct neural processing of the auditory spatial cues in sound localization and their selective deterioration with advancing age. PMID:21368004

Temporal tuning in the bat auditory cortex is sharper when studied with natural echolocation sequences.

PubMed

Beetz, M Jerome; Hechavarría, Julio C; Kössl, Manfred

2016-06-30

Precise temporal coding is necessary for proper acoustic analysis. However, at cortical level, forward suppression appears to limit the ability of neurons to extract temporal information from natural sound sequences. Here we studied how temporal processing can be maintained in the bats' cortex in the presence of suppression evoked by natural echolocation streams that are relevant to the bats' behavior. We show that cortical neurons tuned to target-distance actually profit from forward suppression induced by natural echolocation sequences. These neurons can more precisely extract target distance information when they are stimulated with natural echolocation sequences than during stimulation with isolated call-echo pairs. We conclude that forward suppression does for time domain tuning what lateral inhibition does for selectivity forms such as auditory frequency tuning and visual orientation tuning. When talking about cortical processing, suppression should be seen as a mechanistic tool rather than a limiting element.

Working memory resources are shared across sensory modalities.

PubMed

Salmela, V R; Moisala, M; Alho, K

2014-10-01

A common assumption in the working memory literature is that the visual and auditory modalities have separate and independent memory stores. Recent evidence on visual working memory has suggested that resources are shared between representations, and that the precision of representations sets the limit for memory performance. We tested whether memory resources are also shared across sensory modalities. Memory precision for two visual (spatial frequency and orientation) and two auditory (pitch and tone duration) features was measured separately for each feature and for all possible feature combinations. Thus, only the memory load was varied, from one to four features, while keeping the stimuli similar. In Experiment 1, two gratings and two tones-both containing two varying features-were presented simultaneously. In Experiment 2, two gratings and two tones-each containing only one varying feature-were presented sequentially. The memory precision (delayed discrimination threshold) for a single feature was close to the perceptual threshold. However, as the number of features to be remembered was increased, the discrimination thresholds increased more than twofold. Importantly, the decrease in memory precision did not depend on the modality of the other feature(s), or on whether the features were in the same or in separate objects. Hence, simultaneously storing one visual and one auditory feature had an effect on memory precision equal to those of simultaneously storing two visual or two auditory features. The results show that working memory is limited by the precision of the stored representations, and that working memory can be described as a resource pool that is shared across modalities.

Time course of dynamic range adaptation in the auditory nerve

PubMed Central

Wang, Grace I.; Dean, Isabel; Delgutte, Bertrand

2012-01-01

Auditory adaptation to sound-level statistics occurs as early as in the auditory nerve (AN), the first stage of neural auditory processing. In addition to firing rate adaptation characterized by a rate decrement dependent on previous spike activity, AN fibers show dynamic range adaptation, which is characterized by a shift of the rate-level function or dynamic range toward the most frequently occurring levels in a dynamic stimulus, thereby improving the precision of coding of the most common sound levels (Wen B, Wang GI, Dean I, Delgutte B. J Neurosci 29: 13797–13808, 2009). We investigated the time course of dynamic range adaptation by recording from AN fibers with a stimulus in which the sound levels periodically switch from one nonuniform level distribution to another (Dean I, Robinson BL, Harper NS, McAlpine D. J Neurosci 28: 6430–6438, 2008). Dynamic range adaptation occurred rapidly, but its exact time course was difficult to determine directly from the data because of the concomitant firing rate adaptation. To characterize the time course of dynamic range adaptation without the confound of firing rate adaptation, we developed a phenomenological “dual adaptation” model that accounts for both forms of AN adaptation. When fitted to the data, the model predicts that dynamic range adaptation occurs as rapidly as firing rate adaptation, over 100–400 ms, and the time constants of the two forms of adaptation are correlated. These findings suggest that adaptive processing in the auditory periphery in response to changes in mean sound level occurs rapidly enough to have significant impact on the coding of natural sounds. PMID:22457465

The Influence of Tactile Cognitive Maps on Auditory Space Perception in Sighted Persons.

PubMed

Tonelli, Alessia; Gori, Monica; Brayda, Luca

2016-01-01

We have recently shown that vision is important to improve spatial auditory cognition. In this study, we investigate whether touch is as effective as vision to create a cognitive map of a soundscape. In particular, we tested whether the creation of a mental representation of a room, obtained through tactile exploration of a 3D model, can influence the perception of a complex auditory task in sighted people. We tested two groups of blindfolded sighted people - one experimental and one control group - in an auditory space bisection task. In the first group, the bisection task was performed three times: specifically, the participants explored with their hands the 3D tactile model of the room and were led along the perimeter of the room between the first and the second execution of the space bisection. Then, they were allowed to remove the blindfold for a few minutes and look at the room between the second and third execution of the space bisection. Instead, the control group repeated for two consecutive times the space bisection task without performing any environmental exploration in between. Considering the first execution as a baseline, we found an improvement in the precision after the tactile exploration of the 3D model. Interestingly, no additional gain was obtained when room observation followed the tactile exploration, suggesting that no additional gain was obtained by vision cues after spatial tactile cues were internalized. No improvement was found between the first and the second execution of the space bisection without environmental exploration in the control group, suggesting that the improvement was not due to task learning. Our results show that tactile information modulates the precision of an ongoing space auditory task as well as visual information. This suggests that cognitive maps elicited by touch may participate in cross-modal calibration and supra-modal representations of space that increase implicit knowledge about sound propagation.

Kinesthetic information facilitates saccades towards proprioceptive-tactile targets.

PubMed

Voudouris, Dimitris; Goettker, Alexander; Mueller, Stefanie; Fiehler, Katja

2016-05-01

Saccades to somatosensory targets have longer latencies and are less accurate and precise than saccades to visual targets. Here we examined how different somatosensory information influences the planning and control of saccadic eye movements. Participants fixated a central cross and initiated a saccade as fast as possible in response to a tactile stimulus that was presented to either the index or the middle fingertip of their unseen left hand. In a static condition, the hand remained at a target location for the entire block of trials and the stimulus was presented at a fixed time after an auditory tone. Therefore, the target location was derived only from proprioceptive and tactile information. In a moving condition, the hand was first actively moved to the same target location and the stimulus was then presented immediately. Thus, in the moving condition additional kinesthetic information about the target location was available. We found shorter saccade latencies in the moving compared to the static condition, but no differences in accuracy or precision of saccadic endpoints. In a second experiment, we introduced variable delays after the auditory tone (static condition) or after the end of the hand movement (moving condition) in order to reduce the predictability of the moment of the stimulation and to allow more time to process the kinesthetic information. Again, we found shorter latencies in the moving compared to the static condition but no improvement in saccade accuracy or precision. In a third experiment, we showed that the shorter saccade latencies in the moving condition cannot be explained by the temporal proximity between the relevant event (auditory tone or end of hand movement) and the moment of the stimulation. Our findings suggest that kinesthetic information facilitates planning, but not control, of saccadic eye movements to proprioceptive-tactile targets. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tracking the Time Course of Word-Frequency Effects in Auditory Word Recognition with Event-Related Potentials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dufour, Sophie; Brunelliere, Angele; Frauenfelder, Ulrich H.

2013-01-01

Although the word-frequency effect is one of the most established findings in spoken-word recognition, the precise processing locus of this effect is still a topic of debate. In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to track the time course of the word-frequency effect. In addition, the neighborhood density effect, which is known to…

Hox2 Genes Are Required for Tonotopic Map Precision and Sound Discrimination in the Mouse Auditory Brainstem.

PubMed

Karmakar, Kajari; Narita, Yuichi; Fadok, Jonathan; Ducret, Sebastien; Loche, Alberto; Kitazawa, Taro; Genoud, Christel; Di Meglio, Thomas; Thierry, Raphael; Bacelo, Joao; Lüthi, Andreas; Rijli, Filippo M

2017-01-03

Tonotopy is a hallmark of auditory pathways and provides the basis for sound discrimination. Little is known about the involvement of transcription factors in brainstem cochlear neurons orchestrating the tonotopic precision of pre-synaptic input. We found that in the absence of Hoxa2 and Hoxb2 function in Atoh1-derived glutamatergic bushy cells of the anterior ventral cochlear nucleus, broad input topography and sound transmission were largely preserved. However, fine-scale synaptic refinement and sharpening of isofrequency bands of cochlear neuron activation upon pure tone stimulation were impaired in Hox2 mutants, resulting in defective sound-frequency discrimination in behavioral tests. These results establish a role for Hox factors in tonotopic refinement of connectivity and in ensuring the precision of sound transmission in the mammalian auditory circuit. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Temporal and identity prediction in visual-auditory events: Electrophysiological evidence from stimulus omissions.

PubMed

van Laarhoven, Thijs; Stekelenburg, Jeroen J; Vroomen, Jean

2017-04-15

A rare omission of a sound that is predictable by anticipatory visual information induces an early negative omission response (oN1) in the EEG during the period of silence where the sound was expected. It was previously suggested that the oN1 was primarily driven by the identity of the anticipated sound. Here, we examined the role of temporal prediction in conjunction with identity prediction of the anticipated sound in the evocation of the auditory oN1. With incongruent audiovisual stimuli (a video of a handclap that is consistently combined with the sound of a car horn) we demonstrate in Experiment 1 that a natural match in identity between the visual and auditory stimulus is not required for inducing the oN1, and that the perceptual system can adapt predictions to unnatural stimulus events. In Experiment 2 we varied either the auditory onset (relative to the visual onset) or the identity of the sound across trials in order to hamper temporal and identity predictions. Relative to the natural stimulus with correct auditory timing and matching audiovisual identity, the oN1 was abolished when either the timing or the identity of the sound could not be predicted reliably from the video. Our study demonstrates the flexibility of the perceptual system in predictive processing (Experiment 1) and also shows that precise predictions of timing and content are both essential elements for inducing an oN1 (Experiment 2). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Testing the importance of auditory detections in avian point counts

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brewster, J.P.; Simons, T.R.

2009-01-01

Recent advances in the methods used to estimate detection probability during point counts suggest that the detection process is shaped by the types of cues available to observers. For example, models of the detection process based on distance-sampling or time-of-detection methods may yield different results for auditory versus visual cues because of differences in the factors that affect the transmission of these cues from a bird to an observer or differences in an observer's ability to localize cues. Previous studies suggest that auditory detections predominate in forested habitats, but it is not clear how often observers hear birds prior to detecting them visually. We hypothesized that auditory cues might be even more important than previously reported, so we conducted an experiment in a forested habitat in North Carolina that allowed us to better separate auditory and visual detections. Three teams of three observers each performed simultaneous 3-min unlimited-radius point counts at 30 points in a mixed-hardwood forest. One team member could see, but not hear birds, one could hear, but not see, and the third was nonhandicapped. Of the total number of birds detected, 2.9% were detected by deafened observers, 75.1% by blinded observers, and 78.2% by nonhandicapped observers. Detections by blinded and nonhandicapped observers were the same only 54% of the time. Our results suggest that the detection of birds in forest habitats is almost entirely by auditory cues. Because many factors affect the probability that observers will detect auditory cues, the accuracy and precision of avian point count estimates are likely lower than assumed by most field ornithologists. ?? 2009 Association of Field Ornithologists.

Cognitive effects of rhythmic auditory stimulation in Parkinson's disease: A P300 study.

PubMed

Lei, Juan; Conradi, Nadine; Abel, Cornelius; Frisch, Stefan; Brodski-Guerniero, Alla; Hildner, Marcel; Kell, Christian A; Kaiser, Jochen; Schmidt-Kassow, Maren

2018-05-16

Rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) may compensate dysfunctions of the basal ganglia (BG), involved with intrinsic evaluation of temporal intervals and action initiation or continuation. In the cognitive domain, RAS containing periodically presented tones facilitates young healthy participants' attention allocation to anticipated time points, indicated by better performance and larger P300 amplitudes to periodic compared to random stimuli. Additionally, active auditory-motor synchronization (AMS) leads to a more precise temporal encoding of stimuli via embodied timing encoding than stimulus presentation adapted to the participants' actual movements. Here we investigated the effect of RAS and AMS in Parkinson's disease (PD). 23 PD patients and 23 healthy age-matched controls underwent an auditory oddball task. We manipulated the timing (periodic/random/adaptive) and setting (pedaling/sitting still) of stimulation. While patients elicited a general timing effect, i.e., larger P300 amplitudes for periodic versus random tones for both, sitting and pedaling conditions, controls showed a timing effect only for the sitting but not for the pedaling condition. However, a correlation between P300 amplitudes and motor variability in the periodic pedaling condition was obtained in control participants only. We conclude that RAS facilitates attentional processing of temporally predictable external events in PD patients as well as healthy controls, but embodied timing encoding via body movement does not affect stimulus processing due to BG impairment in patients. Moreover, even with intact embodied timing encoding, such as healthy elderly, the effect of AMS depends on the degree of movement synchronization performance, which is very low in the current study. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Relative size of auditory pathways in symmetrically and asymmetrically eared owls.

PubMed

Gutiérrez-Ibáñez, Cristián; Iwaniuk, Andrew N; Wylie, Douglas R

2011-01-01

Owls are highly efficient predators with a specialized auditory system designed to aid in the localization of prey. One of the most unique anatomical features of the owl auditory system is the evolution of vertically asymmetrical ears in some species, which improves their ability to localize the elevational component of a sound stimulus. In the asymmetrically eared barn owl, interaural time differences (ITD) are used to localize sounds in azimuth, whereas interaural level differences (ILD) are used to localize sounds in elevation. These two features are processed independently in two separate neural pathways that converge in the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus to form an auditory map of space. Here, we present a comparison of the relative volume of 11 auditory nuclei in both the ITD and the ILD pathways of 8 species of symmetrically and asymmetrically eared owls in order to investigate evolutionary changes in the auditory pathways in relation to ear asymmetry. Overall, our results indicate that asymmetrically eared owls have much larger auditory nuclei than owls with symmetrical ears. In asymmetrically eared owls we found that both the ITD and ILD pathways are equally enlarged, and other auditory nuclei, not directly involved in binaural comparisons, are also enlarged. We suggest that the hypertrophy of auditory nuclei in asymmetrically eared owls likely reflects both an improved ability to precisely locate sounds in space and an expansion of the hearing range. Additionally, our results suggest that the hypertrophy of nuclei that compute space may have preceded that of the expansion of the hearing range and evolutionary changes in the size of the auditory system occurred independently of phylogeny. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The evolutionary neuroscience of musical beat perception: the Action Simulation for Auditory Prediction (ASAP) hypothesis

PubMed Central

Patel, Aniruddh D.; Iversen, John R.

2013-01-01

Every human culture has some form of music with a beat: a perceived periodic pulse that structures the perception of musical rhythm and which serves as a framework for synchronized movement to music. What are the neural mechanisms of musical beat perception, and how did they evolve? One view, which dates back to Darwin and implicitly informs some current models of beat perception, is that the relevant neural mechanisms are relatively general and are widespread among animal species. On the basis of recent neural and cross-species data on musical beat processing, this paper argues for a different view. Here we argue that beat perception is a complex brain function involving temporally-precise communication between auditory regions and motor planning regions of the cortex (even in the absence of overt movement). More specifically, we propose that simulation of periodic movement in motor planning regions provides a neural signal that helps the auditory system predict the timing of upcoming beats. This “action simulation for auditory prediction” (ASAP) hypothesis leads to testable predictions. We further suggest that ASAP relies on dorsal auditory pathway connections between auditory regions and motor planning regions via the parietal cortex, and suggest that these connections may be stronger in humans than in non-human primates due to the evolution of vocal learning in our lineage. This suggestion motivates cross-species research to determine which species are capable of human-like beat perception, i.e., beat perception that involves accurate temporal prediction of beat times across a fairly broad range of tempi. PMID:24860439

Tonotopic alterations in inhibitory input to the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body in a mouse model of Fragile X syndrome.

PubMed

McCullagh, Elizabeth A; Salcedo, Ernesto; Huntsman, Molly M; Klug, Achim

2017-11-01

Hyperexcitability and the imbalance of excitation/inhibition are one of the leading causes of abnormal sensory processing in Fragile X syndrome (FXS). The precise timing and distribution of excitation and inhibition is crucial for auditory processing at the level of the auditory brainstem, which is responsible for sound localization ability. Sound localization is one of the sensory abilities disrupted by loss of the Fragile X Mental Retardation 1 (Fmr1) gene. Using triple immunofluorescence staining we tested whether there were alterations in the number and size of presynaptic structures for the three primary neurotransmitters (glutamate, glycine, and GABA) in the auditory brainstem of Fmr1 knockout mice. We found decreases in either glycinergic or GABAergic inhibition to the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) specific to the tonotopic location within the nucleus. MNTB is one of the primary inhibitory nuclei in the auditory brainstem and participates in the sound localization process with fast and well-timed inhibition. Thus, a decrease in inhibitory afferents to MNTB neurons should lead to greater inhibitory output to the projections from this nucleus. In contrast, we did not see any other significant alterations in balance of excitation/inhibition in any of the other auditory brainstem nuclei measured, suggesting that the alterations observed in the MNTB are both nucleus and frequency specific. We furthermore show that glycinergic inhibition may be an important contributor to imbalances in excitation and inhibition in FXS and that the auditory brainstem is a useful circuit for testing these imbalances. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Optimal Audiovisual Integration in the Ventriloquism Effect But Pervasive Deficits in Unisensory Spatial Localization in Amblyopia.

PubMed

Richards, Michael D; Goltz, Herbert C; Wong, Agnes M F

2018-01-01

Classically understood as a deficit in spatial vision, amblyopia is increasingly recognized to also impair audiovisual multisensory processing. Studies to date, however, have not determined whether the audiovisual abnormalities reflect a failure of multisensory integration, or an optimal strategy in the face of unisensory impairment. We use the ventriloquism effect and the maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE) model of optimal integration to investigate integration of audiovisual spatial information in amblyopia. Participants with unilateral amblyopia (n = 14; mean age 28.8 years; 7 anisometropic, 3 strabismic, 4 mixed mechanism) and visually normal controls (n = 16, mean age 29.2 years) localized brief unimodal auditory, unimodal visual, and bimodal (audiovisual) stimuli during binocular viewing using a location discrimination task. A subset of bimodal trials involved the ventriloquism effect, an illusion in which auditory and visual stimuli originating from different locations are perceived as originating from a single location. Localization precision and bias were determined by psychometric curve fitting, and the observed parameters were compared with predictions from the MLE model. Spatial localization precision was significantly reduced in the amblyopia group compared with the control group for unimodal visual, unimodal auditory, and bimodal stimuli. Analyses of localization precision and bias for bimodal stimuli showed no significant deviations from the MLE model in either the amblyopia group or the control group. Despite pervasive deficits in localization precision for visual, auditory, and audiovisual stimuli, audiovisual integration remains intact and optimal in unilateral amblyopia.

Synchronization to auditory and visual rhythms in hearing and deaf individuals

PubMed Central

Iversen, John R.; Patel, Aniruddh D.; Nicodemus, Brenda; Emmorey, Karen

2014-01-01

A striking asymmetry in human sensorimotor processing is that humans synchronize movements to rhythmic sound with far greater precision than to temporally equivalent visual stimuli (e.g., to an auditory vs. a flashing visual metronome). Traditionally, this finding is thought to reflect a fundamental difference in auditory vs. visual processing, i.e., superior temporal processing by the auditory system and/or privileged coupling between the auditory and motor systems. It is unclear whether this asymmetry is an inevitable consequence of brain organization or whether it can be modified (or even eliminated) by stimulus characteristics or by experience. With respect to stimulus characteristics, we found that a moving, colliding visual stimulus (a silent image of a bouncing ball with a distinct collision point on the floor) was able to drive synchronization nearly as accurately as sound in hearing participants. To study the role of experience, we compared synchronization to flashing metronomes in hearing and profoundly deaf individuals. Deaf individuals performed better than hearing individuals when synchronizing with visual flashes, suggesting that cross-modal plasticity enhances the ability to synchronize with temporally discrete visual stimuli. Furthermore, when deaf (but not hearing) individuals synchronized with the bouncing ball, their tapping patterns suggest that visual timing may access higher-order beat perception mechanisms for deaf individuals. These results indicate that the auditory advantage in rhythmic synchronization is more experience- and stimulus-dependent than has been previously reported. PMID:25460395

Degraded Auditory Processing in a Rat Model of Autism Limits the Speech Representation in Non-primary Auditory Cortex

PubMed Central

Engineer, C.T.; Centanni, T.M.; Im, K.W.; Borland, M.S.; Moreno, N.A.; Carraway, R.S.; Wilson, L.G.; Kilgard, M.P.

2014-01-01

Although individuals with autism are known to have significant communication problems, the cellular mechanisms responsible for impaired communication are poorly understood. Valproic acid (VPA) is an anticonvulsant that is a known risk factor for autism in prenatally exposed children. Prenatal VPA exposure in rats causes numerous neural and behavioral abnormalities that mimic autism. We predicted that VPA exposure may lead to auditory processing impairments which may contribute to the deficits in communication observed in individuals with autism. In this study, we document auditory cortex responses in rats prenatally exposed to VPA. We recorded local field potentials and multiunit responses to speech sounds in primary auditory cortex, anterior auditory field, ventral auditory field. and posterior auditory field in VPA exposed and control rats. Prenatal VPA exposure severely degrades the precise spatiotemporal patterns evoked by speech sounds in secondary, but not primary auditory cortex. This result parallels findings in humans and suggests that secondary auditory fields may be more sensitive to environmental disturbances and may provide insight into possible mechanisms related to auditory deficits in individuals with autism. PMID:24639033

Thresholds of Auditory-Motor Coupling Measured with a Simple Task in Musicians and Non-Musicians: Was the Sound Simultaneous to the Key Press?

PubMed Central

van Vugt, Floris T.; Tillmann, Barbara

2014-01-01

The human brain is able to predict the sensory effects of its actions. But how precise are these predictions? The present research proposes a tool to measure thresholds between a simple action (keystroke) and a resulting sound. On each trial, participants were required to press a key. Upon each keystroke, a woodblock sound was presented. In some trials, the sound came immediately with the downward keystroke; at other times, it was delayed by a varying amount of time. Participants were asked to verbally report whether the sound came immediately or was delayed. Participants' delay detection thresholds (in msec) were measured with a staircase-like procedure. We hypothesised that musicians would have a lower threshold than non-musicians. Comparing pianists and brass players, we furthermore hypothesised that, as a result of a sharper attack of the timbre of their instrument, pianists might have lower thresholds than brass players. Our results show that non-musicians exhibited higher thresholds for delay detection (180±104 ms) than the two groups of musicians (102±65 ms), but there were no differences between pianists and brass players. The variance in delay detection thresholds could be explained by variance in sensorimotor synchronisation capacities as well as variance in a purely auditory temporal irregularity detection measure. This suggests that the brain's capacity to generate temporal predictions of sensory consequences can be decomposed into general temporal prediction capacities together with auditory-motor coupling. These findings indicate that the brain has a relatively large window of integration within which an action and its resulting effect are judged as simultaneous. Furthermore, musical expertise may narrow this window down, potentially due to a more refined temporal prediction. This novel paradigm provides a simple test to estimate the temporal precision of auditory-motor action-effect coupling, and the paradigm can readily be incorporated in studies investigating both healthy and patient populations. PMID:24498299

Losing the beat: deficits in temporal coordination.

PubMed

Palmer, Caroline; Lidji, Pascale; Peretz, Isabelle

2014-12-19

Tapping or clapping to an auditory beat, an easy task for most individuals, reveals precise temporal synchronization with auditory patterns such as music, even in the presence of temporal fluctuations. Most models of beat-tracking rely on the theoretical concept of pulse: a perceived regular beat generated by an internal oscillation that forms the foundation of entrainment abilities. Although tapping to the beat is a natural sensorimotor activity for most individuals, not everyone can track an auditory beat. Recently, the case of Mathieu was documented (Phillips-Silver et al. 2011 Neuropsychologia 49, 961-969. (doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.02.002)). Mathieu presented himself as having difficulty following a beat and exhibited synchronization failures. We examined beat-tracking in normal control participants, Mathieu, and a second beat-deaf individual, who tapped with an auditory metronome in which unpredictable perturbations were introduced to disrupt entrainment. Both beat-deaf cases exhibited failures in error correction in response to the perturbation task while exhibiting normal spontaneous motor tempi (in the absence of an auditory stimulus), supporting a deficit specific to perception-action coupling. A damped harmonic oscillator model was applied to the temporal adaptation responses; the model's parameters of relaxation time and endogenous frequency accounted for differences between the beat-deaf cases as well as the control group individuals.

Losing the beat: deficits in temporal coordination

PubMed Central

Palmer, Caroline; Lidji, Pascale; Peretz, Isabelle

2014-01-01

Tapping or clapping to an auditory beat, an easy task for most individuals, reveals precise temporal synchronization with auditory patterns such as music, even in the presence of temporal fluctuations. Most models of beat-tracking rely on the theoretical concept of pulse: a perceived regular beat generated by an internal oscillation that forms the foundation of entrainment abilities. Although tapping to the beat is a natural sensorimotor activity for most individuals, not everyone can track an auditory beat. Recently, the case of Mathieu was documented (Phillips-Silver et al. 2011 Neuropsychologia 49, 961–969. (doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.02.002)). Mathieu presented himself as having difficulty following a beat and exhibited synchronization failures. We examined beat-tracking in normal control participants, Mathieu, and a second beat-deaf individual, who tapped with an auditory metronome in which unpredictable perturbations were introduced to disrupt entrainment. Both beat-deaf cases exhibited failures in error correction in response to the perturbation task while exhibiting normal spontaneous motor tempi (in the absence of an auditory stimulus), supporting a deficit specific to perception–action coupling. A damped harmonic oscillator model was applied to the temporal adaptation responses; the model's parameters of relaxation time and endogenous frequency accounted for differences between the beat-deaf cases as well as the control group individuals. PMID:25385783

Music, clicks, and their imaginations favor differently the event-based timing component for rhythmic movements.

PubMed

Bravi, Riccardo; Quarta, Eros; Del Tongo, Claudia; Carbonaro, Nicola; Tognetti, Alessandro; Minciacchi, Diego

2015-06-01

The involvement or noninvolvement of a clock-like neural process, an effector-independent representation of the time intervals to produce, is described as the essential difference between event-based and emergent timing. In a previous work (Bravi et al. in Exp Brain Res 232:1663-1675, 2014a. doi: 10.1007/s00221-014-3845-9 ), we studied repetitive isochronous wrist's flexion-extensions (IWFEs), performed while minimizing visual and tactile information, to clarify whether non-temporal and temporal characteristics of paced auditory stimuli affect the precision and accuracy of the rhythmic motor performance. Here, with the inclusion of new recordings, we expand the examination of the dataset described in our previous study to investigate whether simple and complex paced auditory stimuli (clicks and music) and their imaginations influence in a different way the timing mechanisms for repetitive IWFEs. Sets of IWFEs were analyzed by the windowed (lag one) autocorrelation-wγ(1), a statistical method recently introduced for the distinction between event-based and emergent timing. Our findings provide evidence that paced auditory information and its imagination favor the engagement of a clock-like neural process, and specifically that music, unlike clicks, lacks the power to elicit event-based timing, not counteracting the natural shift of wγ(1) toward positive values as frequency of movements increase.

Discrimination of communication vocalizations by single neurons and groups of neurons in the auditory midbrain.

PubMed

Schneider, David M; Woolley, Sarah M N

2010-06-01

Many social animals including songbirds use communication vocalizations for individual recognition. The perception of vocalizations depends on the encoding of complex sounds by neurons in the ascending auditory system, each of which is tuned to a particular subset of acoustic features. Here, we examined how well the responses of single auditory neurons could be used to discriminate among bird songs and we compared discriminability to spectrotemporal tuning. We then used biologically realistic models of pooled neural responses to test whether the responses of groups of neurons discriminated among songs better than the responses of single neurons and whether discrimination by groups of neurons was related to spectrotemporal tuning and trial-to-trial response variability. The responses of single auditory midbrain neurons could be used to discriminate among vocalizations with a wide range of abilities, ranging from chance to 100%. The ability to discriminate among songs using single neuron responses was not correlated with spectrotemporal tuning. Pooling the responses of pairs of neurons generally led to better discrimination than the average of the two inputs and the most discriminating input. Pooling the responses of three to five single neurons continued to improve neural discrimination. The increase in discriminability was largest for groups of neurons with similar spectrotemporal tuning. Further, we found that groups of neurons with correlated spike trains achieved the largest gains in discriminability. We simulated neurons with varying levels of temporal precision and measured the discriminability of responses from single simulated neurons and groups of simulated neurons. Simulated neurons with biologically observed levels of temporal precision benefited more from pooling correlated inputs than did neurons with highly precise or imprecise spike trains. These findings suggest that pooling correlated neural responses with the levels of precision observed in the auditory midbrain increases neural discrimination of complex vocalizations.

A Review of Auditory Prediction and Its Potential Role in Tinnitus Perception.

PubMed

Durai, Mithila; O'Keeffe, Mary G; Searchfield, Grant D

2018-06-01

The precise mechanisms underlying tinnitus perception and distress are still not fully understood. A recent proposition is that auditory prediction errors and related memory representations may play a role in driving tinnitus perception. It is of interest to further explore this. To obtain a comprehensive narrative synthesis of current research in relation to auditory prediction and its potential role in tinnitus perception and severity. A narrative review methodological framework was followed. The key words Prediction Auditory, Memory Prediction Auditory, Tinnitus AND Memory, Tinnitus AND Prediction in Article Title, Abstract, and Keywords were extensively searched on four databases: PubMed, Scopus, SpringerLink, and PsychINFO. All study types were selected from 2000-2016 (end of 2016) and had the following exclusion criteria applied: minimum age of participants <18, nonhuman participants, and article not available in English. Reference lists of articles were reviewed to identify any further relevant studies. Articles were short listed based on title relevance. After reading the abstracts and with consensus made between coauthors, a total of 114 studies were selected for charting data. The hierarchical predictive coding model based on the Bayesian brain hypothesis, attentional modulation and top-down feedback serves as the fundamental framework in current literature for how auditory prediction may occur. Predictions are integral to speech and music processing, as well as in sequential processing and identification of auditory objects during auditory streaming. Although deviant responses are observable from middle latency time ranges, the mismatch negativity (MMN) waveform is the most commonly studied electrophysiological index of auditory irregularity detection. However, limitations may apply when interpreting findings because of the debatable origin of the MMN and its restricted ability to model real-life, more complex auditory phenomenon. Cortical oscillatory band activity may act as neurophysiological substrates for auditory prediction. Tinnitus has been modeled as an auditory object which may demonstrate incomplete processing during auditory scene analysis resulting in tinnitus salience and therefore difficulty in habituation. Within the electrophysiological domain, there is currently mixed evidence regarding oscillatory band changes in tinnitus. There are theoretical proposals for a relationship between prediction error and tinnitus but few published empirical studies. American Academy of Audiology.

Tap Arduino: An Arduino microcontroller for low-latency auditory feedback in sensorimotor synchronization experiments.

PubMed

Schultz, Benjamin G; van Vugt, Floris T

2016-12-01

Timing abilities are often measured by having participants tap their finger along with a metronome and presenting tap-triggered auditory feedback. These experiments predominantly use electronic percussion pads combined with software (e.g., FTAP or Max/MSP) that records responses and delivers auditory feedback. However, these setups involve unknown latencies between tap onset and auditory feedback and can sometimes miss responses or record multiple, superfluous responses for a single tap. These issues may distort measurements of tapping performance or affect the performance of the individual. We present an alternative setup using an Arduino microcontroller that addresses these issues and delivers low-latency auditory feedback. We validated our setup by having participants (N = 6) tap on a force-sensitive resistor pad connected to the Arduino and on an electronic percussion pad with various levels of force and tempi. The Arduino delivered auditory feedback through a pulse-width modulation (PWM) pin connected to a headphone jack or a wave shield component. The Arduino's PWM (M = 0.6 ms, SD = 0.3) and wave shield (M = 2.6 ms, SD = 0.3) demonstrated significantly lower auditory feedback latencies than the percussion pad (M = 9.1 ms, SD = 2.0), FTAP (M = 14.6 ms, SD = 2.8), and Max/MSP (M = 15.8 ms, SD = 3.4). The PWM and wave shield latencies were also significantly less variable than those from FTAP and Max/MSP. The Arduino missed significantly fewer taps, and recorded fewer superfluous responses, than the percussion pad. The Arduino captured all responses, whereas at lower tapping forces, the percussion pad missed more taps. Regardless of tapping force, the Arduino outperformed the percussion pad. Overall, the Arduino is a high-precision, low-latency, portable, and affordable tool for auditory experiments.

Integration of auditory and somatosensory error signals in the neural control of speech movements.

PubMed

Feng, Yongqiang; Gracco, Vincent L; Max, Ludo

2011-08-01

We investigated auditory and somatosensory feedback contributions to the neural control of speech. In task I, sensorimotor adaptation was studied by perturbing one of these sensory modalities or both modalities simultaneously. The first formant (F1) frequency in the auditory feedback was shifted up by a real-time processor and/or the extent of jaw opening was increased or decreased with a force field applied by a robotic device. All eight subjects lowered F1 to compensate for the up-shifted F1 in the feedback signal regardless of whether or not the jaw was perturbed. Adaptive changes in subjects' acoustic output resulted from adjustments in articulatory movements of the jaw or tongue. Adaptation in jaw opening extent in response to the mechanical perturbation occurred only when no auditory feedback perturbation was applied or when the direction of adaptation to the force was compatible with the direction of adaptation to a simultaneous acoustic perturbation. In tasks II and III, subjects' auditory and somatosensory precision and accuracy were estimated. Correlation analyses showed that the relationships 1) between F1 adaptation extent and auditory acuity for F1 and 2) between jaw position adaptation extent and somatosensory acuity for jaw position were weak and statistically not significant. Taken together, the combined findings from this work suggest that, in speech production, sensorimotor adaptation updates the underlying control mechanisms in such a way that the planning of vowel-related articulatory movements takes into account a complex integration of error signals from previous trials but likely with a dominant role for the auditory modality.

Prediction and constraint in audiovisual speech perception

PubMed Central

Peelle, Jonathan E.; Sommers, Mitchell S.

2015-01-01

During face-to-face conversational speech listeners must efficiently process a rapid and complex stream of multisensory information. Visual speech can serve as a critical complement to auditory information because it provides cues to both the timing of the incoming acoustic signal (the amplitude envelope, influencing attention and perceptual sensitivity) and its content (place and manner of articulation, constraining lexical selection). Here we review behavioral and neurophysiological evidence regarding listeners' use of visual speech information. Multisensory integration of audiovisual speech cues improves recognition accuracy, particularly for speech in noise. Even when speech is intelligible based solely on auditory information, adding visual information may reduce the cognitive demands placed on listeners through increasing precision of prediction. Electrophysiological studies demonstrate oscillatory cortical entrainment to speech in auditory cortex is enhanced when visual speech is present, increasing sensitivity to important acoustic cues. Neuroimaging studies also suggest increased activity in auditory cortex when congruent visual information is available, but additionally emphasize the involvement of heteromodal regions of posterior superior temporal sulcus as playing a role in integrative processing. We interpret these findings in a framework of temporally-focused lexical competition in which visual speech information affects auditory processing to increase sensitivity to auditory information through an early integration mechanism, and a late integration stage that incorporates specific information about a speaker's articulators to constrain the number of possible candidates in a spoken utterance. Ultimately it is words compatible with both auditory and visual information that most strongly determine successful speech perception during everyday listening. Thus, audiovisual speech perception is accomplished through multiple stages of integration, supported by distinct neuroanatomical mechanisms. PMID:25890390

Synaptic transmission at the endbulb of Held deteriorates during age‐related hearing loss

PubMed Central

Manis, Paul B.

2016-01-01

Key points Synaptic transmission at the endbulb of Held was assessed by whole‐cell patch clamp recordings from auditory neurons in mature (2–4 months) and aged (20–26 months) mice.Synaptic transmission is degraded in aged mice, which may contribute to the decline in neural processing of the central auditory system during age‐related hearing loss.The changes in synaptic transmission in aged mice can be partially rescued by improving calcium buffering, or decreasing action potential‐evoked calcium influx.These experiments suggest potential mechanisms, such as regulating intraterminal calcium, that could be manipulated to improve the fidelity of transmission at the aged endbulb of Held. Abstract Age‐related hearing loss (ARHL) is associated with changes to the auditory periphery that raise sensory thresholds and alter coding, and is accompanied by alterations in excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission, and intrinsic excitability in the circuits of the central auditory system. However, it remains unclear how synaptic transmission changes at the first central auditory synapses during ARHL. Using mature (2–4 months) and old (20–26 months) CBA/CaJ mice, we studied synaptic transmission at the endbulb of Held. Mature and old mice showed no difference in either spontaneous quantal synaptic transmission or low frequency evoked synaptic transmission at the endbulb of Held. However, when challenged with sustained high frequency stimulation, synapses in old mice exhibited increased asynchronous transmitter release and reduced synchronous release. This suggests that the transmission of temporally precise information is degraded at the endbulb during ARHL. Increasing intraterminal calcium buffering with EGTA‐AM or decreasing calcium influx with ω‐agatoxin IVA decreased the amount of asynchronous release and restored synchronous release in old mice. In addition, recovery from depression following high frequency trains was faster in old mice, but was restored to a normal time course by EGTA‐AM treatment. These results suggest that intraterminal calcium in old endbulbs may rise to abnormally high levels during high rates of auditory nerve firing, or that calcium‐dependent processes involved in release are altered with age. These observations suggest that ARHL is associated with a decrease in temporal precision of synaptic release at the first central auditory synapse, which may contribute to perceptual deficits in hearing. PMID:27618790

Precision rodent whisker stimulator with integrated servo-locked control and displacement measurement.

PubMed

Walker, Jennifer L; Monjaraz-Fuentes, Fernanda; Pedrow, Christi R; Rector, David M

2011-03-15

We developed a high speed voice coil based whisker stimulator that delivers precise deflections of a single whisker or group of whiskers in a repeatable manner. The device is miniature, quiet, and inexpensive to build. Multiple stimulators fit together for independent stimulation of four or more whiskers. The system can be used with animals under anesthesia as well as awake animals with head-restraint, and does not require trimming the whiskers. The system can deliver 1-2 mm deflections in 2 ms resulting in velocities up to 900 mm/s to attain a wide range of evoked responses. Since auditory artifacts can influence behavioral studies using whisker stimulation, we tested potential effects of auditory noise by recording somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) with varying auditory click levels, and with/without 80 dBa background white noise. We found that auditory clicks as low as 40 dBa significantly influence the SEP. With background white noise, auditory clicks as low as 50 dBa were still detected in components of the SEP. For behavioral studies where animals must learn to respond to whisker stimulation, these sounds must be minimized. Together, the stimulator and data system can be used for psychometric vigilance tasks, mapping of the barrel cortex and other electrophysiological paradigms. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A psychophysical imaging method evidencing auditory cue extraction during speech perception: a group analysis of auditory classification images.

PubMed

Varnet, Léo; Knoblauch, Kenneth; Serniclaes, Willy; Meunier, Fanny; Hoen, Michel

2015-01-01

Although there is a large consensus regarding the involvement of specific acoustic cues in speech perception, the precise mechanisms underlying the transformation from continuous acoustical properties into discrete perceptual units remains undetermined. This gap in knowledge is partially due to the lack of a turnkey solution for isolating critical speech cues from natural stimuli. In this paper, we describe a psychoacoustic imaging method known as the Auditory Classification Image technique that allows experimenters to estimate the relative importance of time-frequency regions in categorizing natural speech utterances in noise. Importantly, this technique enables the testing of hypotheses on the listening strategies of participants at the group level. We exemplify this approach by identifying the acoustic cues involved in da/ga categorization with two phonetic contexts, Al- or Ar-. The application of Auditory Classification Images to our group of 16 participants revealed significant critical regions on the second and third formant onsets, as predicted by the literature, as well as an unexpected temporal cue on the first formant. Finally, through a cluster-based nonparametric test, we demonstrate that this method is sufficiently sensitive to detect fine modifications of the classification strategies between different utterances of the same phoneme.

Clinical Use of AEVP- and AERP-Measures in Childhood Speech Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maassen, Ben; Pasman, Jaco; Nijland, Lian; Rotteveel, Jan

2006-01-01

It has long been recognized that from the first months of life auditory perception plays a crucial role in speech and language development. Only in recent years, however, is the precise mechanism of auditory development and its interaction with the acquisition of speech and language beginning to be systematically revealed. This paper presents the…

Attention, Awareness, and the Perception of Auditory Scenes

PubMed Central

Snyder, Joel S.; Gregg, Melissa K.; Weintraub, David M.; Alain, Claude

2011-01-01

Auditory perception and cognition entails both low-level and high-level processes, which are likely to interact with each other to create our rich conscious experience of soundscapes. Recent research that we review has revealed numerous influences of high-level factors, such as attention, intention, and prior experience, on conscious auditory perception. And recently, studies have shown that auditory scene analysis tasks can exhibit multistability in a manner very similar to ambiguous visual stimuli, presenting a unique opportunity to study neural correlates of auditory awareness and the extent to which mechanisms of perception are shared across sensory modalities. Research has also led to a growing number of techniques through which auditory perception can be manipulated and even completely suppressed. Such findings have important consequences for our understanding of the mechanisms of perception and also should allow scientists to precisely distinguish the influences of different higher-level influences. PMID:22347201

Neural spike-timing patterns vary with sound shape and periodicity in three auditory cortical fields

PubMed Central

Lee, Christopher M.; Osman, Ahmad F.; Volgushev, Maxim; Escabí, Monty A.

2016-01-01

Mammals perceive a wide range of temporal cues in natural sounds, and the auditory cortex is essential for their detection and discrimination. The rat primary (A1), ventral (VAF), and caudal suprarhinal (cSRAF) auditory cortical fields have separate thalamocortical pathways that may support unique temporal cue sensitivities. To explore this, we record responses of single neurons in the three fields to variations in envelope shape and modulation frequency of periodic noise sequences. Spike rate, relative synchrony, and first-spike latency metrics have previously been used to quantify neural sensitivities to temporal sound cues; however, such metrics do not measure absolute spike timing of sustained responses to sound shape. To address this, in this study we quantify two forms of spike-timing precision, jitter, and reliability. In all three fields, we find that jitter decreases logarithmically with increase in the basis spline (B-spline) cutoff frequency used to shape the sound envelope. In contrast, reliability decreases logarithmically with increase in sound envelope modulation frequency. In A1, jitter and reliability vary independently, whereas in ventral cortical fields, jitter and reliability covary. Jitter time scales increase (A1 < VAF < cSRAF) and modulation frequency upper cutoffs decrease (A1 > VAF > cSRAF) with ventral progression from A1. These results suggest a transition from independent encoding of shape and periodicity sound cues on short time scales in A1 to a joint encoding of these same cues on longer time scales in ventral nonprimary cortices. PMID:26843599

Moving to the Beat and Singing are Linked in Humans

PubMed Central

Dalla Bella, Simone; Berkowska, Magdalena; Sowiński, Jakub

2015-01-01

The abilities to sing and to move to the beat of a rhythmic auditory stimulus emerge early during development, and both engage perceptual, motor, and sensorimotor processes. These similarities between singing and synchronization to a beat may be rooted in biology. Patel (2008) has suggested that motor synchronization to auditory rhythms may have emerged during evolution as a byproduct of selection for vocal learning (“vocal learning and synchronization hypothesis”). This view predicts a strong link between vocal performance and synchronization skills in humans. Here, we tested this prediction by asking occasional singers to tap along with auditory pulse trains and to imitate familiar melodies. Both vocal imitation and synchronization skills were measured in terms of accuracy and precision or consistency. Accurate and precise singers tapped more in the vicinity of the pacing stimuli (i.e., they were more accurate) than less accurate and less precise singers. Moreover, accurate singers were more consistent when tapping to the beat. These differences cannot be ascribed to basic motor skills or to motivational factors. Individual differences in terms of singing proficiency and synchronization skills may reflect the variability of a shared sensorimotor translation mechanism. PMID:26733370

Cochlear neuropathy and the coding of supra-threshold sound.

PubMed

Bharadwaj, Hari M; Verhulst, Sarah; Shaheen, Luke; Liberman, M Charles; Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G

2014-01-01

Many listeners with hearing thresholds within the clinically normal range nonetheless complain of difficulty hearing in everyday settings and understanding speech in noise. Converging evidence from human and animal studies points to one potential source of such difficulties: differences in the fidelity with which supra-threshold sound is encoded in the early portions of the auditory pathway. Measures of auditory subcortical steady-state responses (SSSRs) in humans and animals support the idea that the temporal precision of the early auditory representation can be poor even when hearing thresholds are normal. In humans with normal hearing thresholds (NHTs), paradigms that require listeners to make use of the detailed spectro-temporal structure of supra-threshold sound, such as selective attention and discrimination of frequency modulation (FM), reveal individual differences that correlate with subcortical temporal coding precision. Animal studies show that noise exposure and aging can cause a loss of a large percentage of auditory nerve fibers (ANFs) without any significant change in measured audiograms. Here, we argue that cochlear neuropathy may reduce encoding precision of supra-threshold sound, and that this manifests both behaviorally and in SSSRs in humans. Furthermore, recent studies suggest that noise-induced neuropathy may be selective for higher-threshold, lower-spontaneous-rate nerve fibers. Based on our hypothesis, we suggest some approaches that may yield particularly sensitive, objective measures of supra-threshold coding deficits that arise due to neuropathy. Finally, we comment on the potential clinical significance of these ideas and identify areas for future investigation.

Detection of Interaural Time Differences in the Alligator

PubMed Central

Carr, Catherine E.; Soares, Daphne; Smolders, Jean; Simon, Jonathan Z.

2011-01-01

The auditory systems of birds and mammals use timing information from each ear to detect interaural time difference (ITD). To determine whether the Jeffress-type algorithms that underlie sensitivity to ITD in birds are an evolutionarily stable strategy, we recorded from the auditory nuclei of crocodilians, who are the sister group to the birds. In alligators, precisely timed spikes in the first-order nucleus magnocellularis (NM) encode the timing of sounds, and NM neurons project to neurons in the nucleus laminaris (NL) that detect interaural time differences. In vivo recordings from NL neurons show that the arrival time of phase-locked spikes differs between the ipsilateral and contralateral inputs. When this disparity is nullified by their best ITD, the neurons respond maximally. Thus NL neurons act as coincidence detectors. A biologically detailed model of NL with alligator parameters discriminated ITDs up to 1 kHz. The range of best ITDs represented in NL was much larger than in birds, however, and extended from 0 to 1000 μs contralateral, with a median ITD of 450 μs. Thus, crocodilians and birds employ similar algorithms for ITD detection, although crocodilians have larger heads. PMID:19553438

Interface Design Implications for Recalling the Spatial Configuration of Virtual Auditory Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McMullen, Kyla A.

Although the concept of virtual spatial audio has existed for almost twenty-five years, only in the past fifteen years has modern computing technology enabled the real-time processing needed to deliver high-precision spatial audio. Furthermore, the concept of virtually walking through an auditory environment did not exist. The applications of such an interface have numerous potential uses. Spatial audio has the potential to be used in various manners ranging from enhancing sounds delivered in virtual gaming worlds to conveying spatial locations in real-time emergency response systems. To incorporate this technology in real-world systems, various concerns should be addressed. First, to widely incorporate spatial audio into real-world systems, head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) must be inexpensively created for each user. The present study further investigated an HRTF subjective selection procedure previously developed within our research group. Users discriminated auditory cues to subjectively select their preferred HRTF from a publicly available database. Next, the issue of training to find virtual sources was addressed. Listeners participated in a localization training experiment using their selected HRTFs. The training procedure was created from the characterization of successful search strategies in prior auditory search experiments. Search accuracy significantly improved after listeners performed the training procedure. Next, in the investigation of auditory spatial memory, listeners completed three search and recall tasks with differing recall methods. Recall accuracy significantly decreased in tasks that required the storage of sound source configurations in memory. To assess the impacts of practical scenarios, the present work assessed the performance effects of: signal uncertainty, visual augmentation, and different attenuation modeling. Fortunately, source uncertainty did not affect listeners' ability to recall or identify sound sources. The present study also found that the presence of visual reference frames significantly increased recall accuracy. Additionally, the incorporation of drastic attenuation significantly improved environment recall accuracy. Through investigating the aforementioned concerns, the present study made initial footsteps guiding the design of virtual auditory environments that support spatial configuration recall.

Dyslexia risk gene relates to representation of sound in the auditory brainstem.

PubMed

Neef, Nicole E; Müller, Bent; Liebig, Johanna; Schaadt, Gesa; Grigutsch, Maren; Gunter, Thomas C; Wilcke, Arndt; Kirsten, Holger; Skeide, Michael A; Kraft, Indra; Kraus, Nina; Emmrich, Frank; Brauer, Jens; Boltze, Johannes; Friederici, Angela D

2017-04-01

Dyslexia is a reading disorder with strong associations with KIAA0319 and DCDC2. Both genes play a functional role in spike time precision of neurons. Strikingly, poor readers show an imprecise encoding of fast transients of speech in the auditory brainstem. Whether dyslexia risk genes are related to the quality of sound encoding in the auditory brainstem remains to be investigated. Here, we quantified the response consistency of speech-evoked brainstem responses to the acoustically presented syllable [da] in 159 genotyped, literate and preliterate children. When controlling for age, sex, familial risk and intelligence, partial correlation analyses associated a higher dyslexia risk loading with KIAA0319 with noisier responses. In contrast, a higher risk loading with DCDC2 was associated with a trend towards more stable responses. These results suggest that unstable representation of sound, and thus, reduced neural discrimination ability of stop consonants, occurred in genotypes carrying a higher amount of KIAA0319 risk alleles. Current data provide the first evidence that the dyslexia-associated gene KIAA0319 can alter brainstem responses and impair phoneme processing in the auditory brainstem. This brain-gene relationship provides insight into the complex relationships between phenotype and genotype thereby improving the understanding of the dyslexia-inherent complex multifactorial condition. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

When Non-Dominant Is Better than Dominant: Kinesiotape Modulates Asymmetries in Timed Performance during a Synchronization-Continuation Task

PubMed Central

Bravi, Riccardo; Cohen, Erez J.; Martinelli, Alessio; Gottard, Anna; Minciacchi, Diego

2017-01-01

There is a growing consensus regarding the specialization of the non-dominant limb (NDL)/hemisphere system to employ proprioceptive feedback when executing motor actions. In a wide variety of rhythmic tasks the dominant limb (DL) has advantages in speed and timing consistency over the NDL. Recently, we demonstrated that the application of Kinesio® Tex (KT) tape, an elastic therapeutic device used for treating athletic injuries, improves significantly the timing consistency of isochronous wrist’s flexion-extensions (IWFEs) of the DL. We argued that the augmented precision of IWFEs is determined by a more efficient motor control during movements due to the extra-proprioceptive effect provided by KT. In this study, we tested the effect of KT on timing precision of IWFEs performed with the DL and the NDL, and we evaluated the efficacy of KT to counteract possible timing precision difference between limbs. Young healthy subjects performed with and without KT (NKT) a synchronization-continuation task in which they first entrained IWFEs to paced auditory stimuli (synchronization phase), and subsequently continued to produce motor responses with the same temporal interval in the absence of the auditory stimulus (continuation phase). Two inter-onset intervals (IOIs) of 550-ms and 800-ms, one within and the other beyond the boundaries of the spontaneous motor tempo, were tested. Kinematics was recorded and temporal parameters were extracted and analyzed. Our results show that limb advantages in performing proficiently rhythmic movements are not side-locked but depend also on speed of movement. The application of KT significantly reduces the timing variability of IWFEs performed at 550-ms IOI. KT not only cancels the disadvantages of the NDL but also makes it even more precise than the DL without KT. The superior sensitivity of the NDL to use the extra-sensory information provided by KT is attributed to a greater competence of the NDL/hemisphere system to rely on sensory input. The findings in this study add a new piece of information to the context of motor timing literature. The performance asymmetries here demonstrated as preferred temporal environments could reflect limb differences in the choice of sensorimotor control strategies for the production of human movement. PMID:28943842

Unpredicted Pitch Modulates Beta Oscillatory Power during Rhythmic Entrainment to a Tone Sequence.

PubMed

Chang, Andrew; Bosnyak, Dan J; Trainor, Laurel J

2016-01-01

Extracting temporal regularities in external stimuli in order to predict upcoming events is an essential aspect of perception. Fluctuations in induced power of beta band (15-25 Hz) oscillations in auditory cortex are involved in predictive timing during rhythmic entrainment, but whether such fluctuations are affected by prediction in the spectral (frequency/pitch) domain remains unclear. We tested whether unpredicted (i.e., unexpected) pitches in a rhythmic tone sequence modulate beta band activity by recording EEG while participants passively listened to isochronous auditory oddball sequences with occasional unpredicted deviant pitches at two different presentation rates. The results showed that the power in low-beta (15-20 Hz) was larger around 200-300 ms following deviant tones compared to standard tones, and this effect was larger when the deviant tones were less predicted. Our results suggest that the induced beta power activities in auditory cortex are consistent with a role in sensory prediction of both "when" (timing) upcoming sounds will occur as well as the prediction precision error of "what" (spectral content in this case). We suggest, further, that both timing and content predictions may co-modulate beta oscillations via attention. These findings extend earlier work on neural oscillations by investigating the functional significance of beta oscillations for sensory prediction. The findings help elucidate the functional significance of beta oscillations in perception.

Unpredicted Pitch Modulates Beta Oscillatory Power during Rhythmic Entrainment to a Tone Sequence

PubMed Central

Chang, Andrew; Bosnyak, Dan J.; Trainor, Laurel J.

2016-01-01

Extracting temporal regularities in external stimuli in order to predict upcoming events is an essential aspect of perception. Fluctuations in induced power of beta band (15–25 Hz) oscillations in auditory cortex are involved in predictive timing during rhythmic entrainment, but whether such fluctuations are affected by prediction in the spectral (frequency/pitch) domain remains unclear. We tested whether unpredicted (i.e., unexpected) pitches in a rhythmic tone sequence modulate beta band activity by recording EEG while participants passively listened to isochronous auditory oddball sequences with occasional unpredicted deviant pitches at two different presentation rates. The results showed that the power in low-beta (15–20 Hz) was larger around 200–300 ms following deviant tones compared to standard tones, and this effect was larger when the deviant tones were less predicted. Our results suggest that the induced beta power activities in auditory cortex are consistent with a role in sensory prediction of both “when” (timing) upcoming sounds will occur as well as the prediction precision error of “what” (spectral content in this case). We suggest, further, that both timing and content predictions may co-modulate beta oscillations via attention. These findings extend earlier work on neural oscillations by investigating the functional significance of beta oscillations for sensory prediction. The findings help elucidate the functional significance of beta oscillations in perception. PMID:27014138

High-throughput behavioral screening method for detecting auditory response defects in zebrafish.

PubMed

Bang, Pascal I; Yelick, Pamela C; Malicki, Jarema J; Sewell, William F

2002-08-30

We have developed an automated, high-throughput behavioral screening method for detecting hearing defects in zebrafish. Our assay monitors a rapid escape reflex in response to a loud sound. With this approach, 36 adult zebrafish, restrained in visually isolated compartments, can be simultaneously assessed for responsiveness to near-field 400 Hz sinusoidal tone bursts. Automated, objective determinations of responses are achieved with a computer program that obtains images at precise times relative to the acoustic stimulus. Images taken with a CCD video camera before and after stimulus presentation are subtracted to reveal a response to the sound. Up to 108 fish can be screened per hour. Over 6500 fish were tested to validate the reliability of the assay. We found that 1% of these animals displayed hearing deficits. The phenotypes of non-responders were further assessed with radiological analysis for defects in the gross morphology of the auditory system. Nearly all of those showed abnormalities in conductive elements of the auditory system: the swim bladder or Weberian ossicles. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science B.V.

Cortical Inhibition Reduces Information Redundancy at Presentation of Communication Sounds in the Primary Auditory Cortex

PubMed Central

Gaucher, Quentin; Huetz, Chloé; Gourévitch, Boris

2013-01-01

In all sensory modalities, intracortical inhibition shapes the functional properties of cortical neurons but also influences the responses to natural stimuli. Studies performed in various species have revealed that auditory cortex neurons respond to conspecific vocalizations by temporal spike patterns displaying a high trial-to-trial reliability, which might result from precise timing between excitation and inhibition. Studying the guinea pig auditory cortex, we show that partial blockage of GABAA receptors by gabazine (GBZ) application (10 μm, a concentration that promotes expansion of cortical receptive fields) increased the evoked firing rate and the spike-timing reliability during presentation of communication sounds (conspecific and heterospecific vocalizations), whereas GABAB receptor antagonists [10 μm saclofen; 10–50 μm CGP55845 (p-3-aminopropyl-p-diethoxymethyl phosphoric acid)] had nonsignificant effects. Computing mutual information (MI) from the responses to vocalizations using either the evoked firing rate or the temporal spike patterns revealed that GBZ application increased the MI derived from the activity of single cortical site but did not change the MI derived from population activity. In addition, quantification of information redundancy showed that GBZ significantly increased redundancy at the population level. This result suggests that a potential role of intracortical inhibition is to reduce information redundancy during the processing of natural stimuli. PMID:23804094

Encoding of Natural Sounds at Multiple Spectral and Temporal Resolutions in the Human Auditory Cortex

PubMed Central

Santoro, Roberta; Moerel, Michelle; De Martino, Federico; Goebel, Rainer; Ugurbil, Kamil; Yacoub, Essa; Formisano, Elia

2014-01-01

Functional neuroimaging research provides detailed observations of the response patterns that natural sounds (e.g. human voices and speech, animal cries, environmental sounds) evoke in the human brain. The computational and representational mechanisms underlying these observations, however, remain largely unknown. Here we combine high spatial resolution (3 and 7 Tesla) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with computational modeling to reveal how natural sounds are represented in the human brain. We compare competing models of sound representations and select the model that most accurately predicts fMRI response patterns to natural sounds. Our results show that the cortical encoding of natural sounds entails the formation of multiple representations of sound spectrograms with different degrees of spectral and temporal resolution. The cortex derives these multi-resolution representations through frequency-specific neural processing channels and through the combined analysis of the spectral and temporal modulations in the spectrogram. Furthermore, our findings suggest that a spectral-temporal resolution trade-off may govern the modulation tuning of neuronal populations throughout the auditory cortex. Specifically, our fMRI results suggest that neuronal populations in posterior/dorsal auditory regions preferably encode coarse spectral information with high temporal precision. Vice-versa, neuronal populations in anterior/ventral auditory regions preferably encode fine-grained spectral information with low temporal precision. We propose that such a multi-resolution analysis may be crucially relevant for flexible and behaviorally-relevant sound processing and may constitute one of the computational underpinnings of functional specialization in auditory cortex. PMID:24391486

Auditory compensation for head rotation is incomplete.

PubMed

Freeman, Tom C A; Culling, John F; Akeroyd, Michael A; Brimijoin, W Owen

2017-02-01

Hearing is confronted by a similar problem to vision when the observer moves. The image motion that is created remains ambiguous until the observer knows the velocity of eye and/or head. One way the visual system solves this problem is to use motor commands, proprioception, and vestibular information. These "extraretinal signals" compensate for self-movement, converting image motion into head-centered coordinates, although not always perfectly. We investigated whether the auditory system also transforms coordinates by examining the degree of compensation for head rotation when judging a moving sound. Real-time recordings of head motion were used to change the "movement gain" relating head movement to source movement across a loudspeaker array. We then determined psychophysically the gain that corresponded to a perceptually stationary source. Experiment 1 showed that the gain was small and positive for a wide range of trained head speeds. Hence, listeners perceived a stationary source as moving slightly opposite to the head rotation, in much the same way that observers see stationary visual objects move against a smooth pursuit eye movement. Experiment 2 showed the degree of compensation remained the same for sounds presented at different azimuths, although the precision of performance declined when the sound was eccentric. We discuss two possible explanations for incomplete compensation, one based on differences in the accuracy of signals encoding image motion and self-movement and one concerning statistical optimization that sacrifices accuracy for precision. We then consider the degree to which such explanations can be applied to auditory motion perception in moving listeners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Enhanced auditory spatial localization in blind echolocators.

PubMed

Vercillo, Tiziana; Milne, Jennifer L; Gori, Monica; Goodale, Melvyn A

2015-01-01

Echolocation is the extraordinary ability to represent the external environment by using reflected sound waves from self-generated auditory pulses. Blind human expert echolocators show extremely precise spatial acuity and high accuracy in determining the shape and motion of objects by using echoes. In the current study, we investigated whether or not the use of echolocation would improve the representation of auditory space, which is severely compromised in congenitally blind individuals (Gori et al., 2014). The performance of three blind expert echolocators was compared to that of 6 blind non-echolocators and 11 sighted participants. Two tasks were performed: (1) a space bisection task in which participants judged whether the second of a sequence of three sounds was closer in space to the first or the third sound and (2) a minimum audible angle task in which participants reported which of two sounds presented successively was located more to the right. The blind non-echolocating group showed a severe impairment only in the space bisection task compared to the sighted group. Remarkably, the three blind expert echolocators performed both spatial tasks with similar or even better precision and accuracy than the sighted group. These results suggest that echolocation may improve the general sense of auditory space, most likely through a process of sensory calibration. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prediction and constraint in audiovisual speech perception.

PubMed

Peelle, Jonathan E; Sommers, Mitchell S

2015-07-01

During face-to-face conversational speech listeners must efficiently process a rapid and complex stream of multisensory information. Visual speech can serve as a critical complement to auditory information because it provides cues to both the timing of the incoming acoustic signal (the amplitude envelope, influencing attention and perceptual sensitivity) and its content (place and manner of articulation, constraining lexical selection). Here we review behavioral and neurophysiological evidence regarding listeners' use of visual speech information. Multisensory integration of audiovisual speech cues improves recognition accuracy, particularly for speech in noise. Even when speech is intelligible based solely on auditory information, adding visual information may reduce the cognitive demands placed on listeners through increasing the precision of prediction. Electrophysiological studies demonstrate that oscillatory cortical entrainment to speech in auditory cortex is enhanced when visual speech is present, increasing sensitivity to important acoustic cues. Neuroimaging studies also suggest increased activity in auditory cortex when congruent visual information is available, but additionally emphasize the involvement of heteromodal regions of posterior superior temporal sulcus as playing a role in integrative processing. We interpret these findings in a framework of temporally-focused lexical competition in which visual speech information affects auditory processing to increase sensitivity to acoustic information through an early integration mechanism, and a late integration stage that incorporates specific information about a speaker's articulators to constrain the number of possible candidates in a spoken utterance. Ultimately it is words compatible with both auditory and visual information that most strongly determine successful speech perception during everyday listening. Thus, audiovisual speech perception is accomplished through multiple stages of integration, supported by distinct neuroanatomical mechanisms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modality-dependent effect of motion information in sensory-motor synchronised tapping.

PubMed

Ono, Kentaro

2018-05-14

Synchronised action is important for everyday life. Generally, the auditory domain is more sensitive for coding temporal information, and previous studies have shown that auditory-motor synchronisation is much more precise than visuo-motor synchronisation. Interestingly, adding motion information improves synchronisation with visual stimuli and the advantage of the auditory modality seems to diminish. However, whether adding motion information also improves auditory-motor synchronisation remains unknown. This study compared tapping accuracy with a stationary or moving stimulus in both auditory and visual modalities. Participants were instructed to tap in synchrony with the onset of a sound or flash in the stationary condition, while these stimuli were perceived as moving from side to side in the motion condition. The results demonstrated that synchronised tapping with a moving visual stimulus was significantly more accurate than tapping with a stationary visual stimulus, as previous studies have shown. However, tapping with a moving auditory stimulus was significantly poorer than tapping with a stationary auditory stimulus. Although motion information impaired audio-motor synchronisation, an advantage of auditory modality compared to visual modality still existed. These findings are likely the result of higher temporal resolution in the auditory domain, which is likely due to the physiological and structural differences in the auditory and visual pathways in the brain. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Auditory Gap-in-Noise Detection Behavior in Ferrets and Humans

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

The precise encoding of temporal features of auditory stimuli by the mammalian auditory system is critical to the perception of biologically important sounds, including vocalizations, speech, and music. In this study, auditory gap-detection behavior was evaluated in adult pigmented ferrets (Mustelid putorius furo) using bandpassed stimuli designed to widely sample the ferret’s behavioral and physiological audiogram. Animals were tested under positive operant conditioning, with psychometric functions constructed in response to gap-in-noise lengths ranging from 3 to 270 ms. Using a modified version of this gap-detection task, with the same stimulus frequency parameters, we also tested a cohort of normal-hearing human subjects. Gap-detection thresholds were computed from psychometric curves transformed according to signal detection theory, revealing that for both ferrets and humans, detection sensitivity was worse for silent gaps embedded within low-frequency noise compared with high-frequency or broadband stimuli. Additional psychometric function analysis of ferret behavior indicated effects of stimulus spectral content on aspects of behavioral performance related to decision-making processes, with animals displaying improved sensitivity for broadband gap-in-noise detection. Reaction times derived from unconditioned head-orienting data and the time from stimulus onset to reward spout activation varied with the stimulus frequency content and gap length, as well as the approach-to-target choice and reward location. The present study represents a comprehensive evaluation of gap-detection behavior in ferrets, while similarities in performance with our human subjects confirm the use of the ferret as an appropriate model of temporal processing. PMID:26052794

Estimating subglottal pressure via airflow interruption with auditory masking.

PubMed

Hoffman, Matthew R; Jiang, Jack J

2009-11-01

Current noninvasive measurement of subglottal pressure using airflow interruption often produces inconsistent results due to the elicitation of audio-laryngeal reflexes. Auditory feedback could be considered as a means of ensuring measurement accuracy and precision. The purpose of this study was to determine if auditory masking could be used with the airflow interruption system to improve intrasubject consistency. A prerecorded sample of subject phonation was played on a loop over headphones during the trials with auditory masking. This provided subjects with a target pitch and blocked out distracting ambient noise created by the airflow interrupter. Subglottal pressure was noninvasively measured using the airflow interruption system. Thirty subjects, divided into two equal groups, performed 10 trials without auditory masking and 10 trials with auditory masking. Group one performed the normal trials first, followed by the trials with auditory masking. Group two performed the auditory masking trials first, followed by the normal trials. Intrasubject consistency was improved by adding auditory masking, resulting in a decrease in average intrasubject standard deviation from 0.93+/-0.51 to 0.47+/-0.22 cm H(2)O (P < 0.001). Auditory masking can be used effectively to combat audio-laryngeal reflexes and aid subjects in maintaining constant glottal configuration and frequency, thereby increasing intrasubject consistency when measuring subglottal pressure. By considering auditory feedback, a more reliable method of measurement was developed. This method could be used by clinicians, as reliable, immediately available values of subglottal pressure are useful in evaluating laryngeal health and monitoring treatment progress.

Compensating Level-Dependent Frequency Representation in Auditory Cortex by Synaptic Integration of Corticocortical Input

PubMed Central

Happel, Max F. K.; Ohl, Frank W.

2017-01-01

Robust perception of auditory objects over a large range of sound intensities is a fundamental feature of the auditory system. However, firing characteristics of single neurons across the entire auditory system, like the frequency tuning, can change significantly with stimulus intensity. Physiological correlates of level-constancy of auditory representations hence should be manifested on the level of larger neuronal assemblies or population patterns. In this study we have investigated how information of frequency and sound level is integrated on the circuit-level in the primary auditory cortex (AI) of the Mongolian gerbil. We used a combination of pharmacological silencing of corticocortically relayed activity and laminar current source density (CSD) analysis. Our data demonstrate that with increasing stimulus intensities progressively lower frequencies lead to the maximal impulse response within cortical input layers at a given cortical site inherited from thalamocortical synaptic inputs. We further identified a temporally precise intercolumnar synaptic convergence of early thalamocortical and horizontal corticocortical inputs. Later tone-evoked activity in upper layers showed a preservation of broad tonotopic tuning across sound levels without shifts towards lower frequencies. Synaptic integration within corticocortical circuits may hence contribute to a level-robust representation of auditory information on a neuronal population level in the auditory cortex. PMID:28046062

Speech processing: from peripheral to hemispheric asymmetry of the auditory system.

PubMed

Lazard, Diane S; Collette, Jean-Louis; Perrot, Xavier

2012-01-01

Language processing from the cochlea to auditory association cortices shows side-dependent specificities with an apparent left hemispheric dominance. The aim of this article was to propose to nonspeech specialists a didactic review of two complementary theories about hemispheric asymmetry in speech processing. Starting from anatomico-physiological and clinical observations of auditory asymmetry and interhemispheric connections, this review then exposes behavioral (dichotic listening paradigm) as well as functional (functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography) experiments that assessed hemispheric specialization for speech processing. Even though speech at an early phonological level is regarded as being processed bilaterally, a left-hemispheric dominance exists for higher-level processing. This asymmetry may arise from a segregation of the speech signal, broken apart within nonprimary auditory areas in two distinct temporal integration windows--a fast one on the left and a slower one on the right--modeled through the asymmetric sampling in time theory or a spectro-temporal trade-off, with a higher temporal resolution in the left hemisphere and a higher spectral resolution in the right hemisphere, modeled through the spectral/temporal resolution trade-off theory. Both theories deal with the concept that lower-order tuning principles for acoustic signal might drive higher-order organization for speech processing. However, the precise nature, mechanisms, and origin of speech processing asymmetry are still being debated. Finally, an example of hemispheric asymmetry alteration, which has direct clinical implications, is given through the case of auditory aging that mixes peripheral disorder and modifications of central processing. Copyright © 2011 The American Laryngological, Rhinological, and Otological Society, Inc.

Retrosplenial cortex is required for the retrieval of remote memory for auditory cues.

PubMed

Todd, Travis P; Mehlman, Max L; Keene, Christopher S; DeAngeli, Nicole E; Bucci, David J

2016-06-01

The restrosplenial cortex (RSC) has a well-established role in contextual and spatial learning and memory, consistent with its known connectivity with visuo-spatial association areas. In contrast, RSC appears to have little involvement with delay fear conditioning to an auditory cue. However, all previous studies have examined the contribution of the RSC to recently acquired auditory fear memories. Since neocortical regions have been implicated in the permanent storage of remote memories, we examined the contribution of the RSC to remotely acquired auditory fear memories. In Experiment 1, retrieval of a remotely acquired auditory fear memory was impaired when permanent lesions (either electrolytic or neurotoxic) were made several weeks after initial conditioning. In Experiment 2, using a chemogenetic approach, we observed impairments in the retrieval of remote memory for an auditory cue when the RSC was temporarily inactivated during testing. In Experiment 3, after injection of a retrograde tracer into the RSC, we observed labeled cells in primary and secondary auditory cortices, as well as the claustrum, indicating that the RSC receives direct projections from auditory regions. Overall our results indicate the RSC has a critical role in the retrieval of remotely acquired auditory fear memories, and we suggest this is related to the quality of the memory, with less precise memories being RSC dependent. © 2016 Todd et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Spectral integration in primary auditory cortex attributable to temporally precise convergence of thalamocortical and intracortical input.

PubMed

Happel, Max F K; Jeschke, Marcus; Ohl, Frank W

2010-08-18

Primary sensory cortex integrates sensory information from afferent feedforward thalamocortical projection systems and convergent intracortical microcircuits. Both input systems have been demonstrated to provide different aspects of sensory information. Here we have used high-density recordings of laminar current source density (CSD) distributions in primary auditory cortex of Mongolian gerbils in combination with pharmacological silencing of cortical activity and analysis of the residual CSD, to dissociate the feedforward thalamocortical contribution and the intracortical contribution to spectral integration. We found a temporally highly precise integration of both types of inputs when the stimulation frequency was in close spectral neighborhood of the best frequency of the measurement site, in which the overlap between both inputs is maximal. Local intracortical connections provide both directly feedforward excitatory and modulatory input from adjacent cortical sites, which determine how concurrent afferent inputs are integrated. Through separate excitatory horizontal projections, terminating in cortical layers II/III, information about stimulus energy in greater spectral distance is provided even over long cortical distances. These projections effectively broaden spectral tuning width. Based on these data, we suggest a mechanism of spectral integration in primary auditory cortex that is based on temporally precise interactions of afferent thalamocortical inputs and different short- and long-range intracortical networks. The proposed conceptual framework allows integration of different and partly controversial anatomical and physiological models of spectral integration in the literature.

Incorporation of feedback during beat synchronization is an index of neural maturation and reading skills.

PubMed

Woodruff Carr, Kali; Fitzroy, Ahren B; Tierney, Adam; White-Schwoch, Travis; Kraus, Nina

2017-01-01

Speech communication involves integration and coordination of sensory perception and motor production, requiring precise temporal coupling. Beat synchronization, the coordination of movement with a pacing sound, can be used as an index of this sensorimotor timing. We assessed adolescents' synchronization and capacity to correct asynchronies when given online visual feedback. Variability of synchronization while receiving feedback predicted phonological memory and reading sub-skills, as well as maturation of cortical auditory processing; less variable synchronization during the presence of feedback tracked with maturation of cortical processing of sound onsets and resting gamma activity. We suggest the ability to incorporate feedback during synchronization is an index of intentional, multimodal timing-based integration in the maturing adolescent brain. Precision of temporal coding across modalities is important for speech processing and literacy skills that rely on dynamic interactions with sound. Synchronization employing feedback may prove useful as a remedial strategy for individuals who struggle with timing-based language learning impairments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Noise-induced hearing loss increases the temporal precision of complex envelope coding by auditory-nerve fibers

PubMed Central

Henry, Kenneth S.; Kale, Sushrut; Heinz, Michael G.

2014-01-01

While changes in cochlear frequency tuning are thought to play an important role in the perceptual difficulties of people with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), the possible role of temporal processing deficits remains less clear. Our knowledge of temporal envelope coding in the impaired cochlea is limited to two studies that examined auditory-nerve fiber responses to narrowband amplitude modulated stimuli. In the present study, we used Wiener-kernel analyses of auditory-nerve fiber responses to broadband Gaussian noise in anesthetized chinchillas to quantify changes in temporal envelope coding with noise-induced SNHL. Temporal modulation transfer functions (TMTFs) and temporal windows of sensitivity to acoustic stimulation were computed from 2nd-order Wiener kernels and analyzed to estimate the temporal precision, amplitude, and latency of envelope coding. Noise overexposure was associated with slower (less negative) TMTF roll-off with increasing modulation frequency and reduced temporal window duration. The results show that at equal stimulus sensation level, SNHL increases the temporal precision of envelope coding by 20–30%. Furthermore, SNHL increased the amplitude of envelope coding by 50% in fibers with CFs from 1–2 kHz and decreased mean response latency by 0.4 ms. While a previous study of envelope coding demonstrated a similar increase in response amplitude, the present study is the first to show enhanced temporal precision. This new finding may relate to the use of a more complex stimulus with broad frequency bandwidth and a dynamic temporal envelope. Exaggerated neural coding of fast envelope modulations may contribute to perceptual difficulties in people with SNHL by acting as a distraction from more relevant acoustic cues, especially in fluctuating background noise. Finally, the results underscore the value of studying sensory systems with more natural, real-world stimuli. PMID:24596545

What drives the perceptual change resulting from speech motor adaptation? Evaluation of hypotheses in a Bayesian modeling framework

PubMed Central

Perrier, Pascal; Schwartz, Jean-Luc; Diard, Julien

2018-01-01

Shifts in perceptual boundaries resulting from speech motor learning induced by perturbations of the auditory feedback were taken as evidence for the involvement of motor functions in auditory speech perception. Beyond this general statement, the precise mechanisms underlying this involvement are not yet fully understood. In this paper we propose a quantitative evaluation of some hypotheses concerning the motor and auditory updates that could result from motor learning, in the context of various assumptions about the roles of the auditory and somatosensory pathways in speech perception. This analysis was made possible thanks to the use of a Bayesian model that implements these hypotheses by expressing the relationships between speech production and speech perception in a joint probability distribution. The evaluation focuses on how the hypotheses can (1) predict the location of perceptual boundary shifts once the perturbation has been removed, (2) account for the magnitude of the compensation in presence of the perturbation, and (3) describe the correlation between these two behavioral characteristics. Experimental findings about changes in speech perception following adaptation to auditory feedback perturbations serve as reference. Simulations suggest that they are compatible with a framework in which motor adaptation updates both the auditory-motor internal model and the auditory characterization of the perturbed phoneme, and where perception involves both auditory and somatosensory pathways. PMID:29357357

An anatomical and functional topography of human auditory cortical areas

PubMed Central

Moerel, Michelle; De Martino, Federico; Formisano, Elia

2014-01-01

While advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) throughout the last decades have enabled the detailed anatomical and functional inspection of the human brain non-invasively, to date there is no consensus regarding the precise subdivision and topography of the areas forming the human auditory cortex. Here, we propose a topography of the human auditory areas based on insights on the anatomical and functional properties of human auditory areas as revealed by studies of cyto- and myelo-architecture and fMRI investigations at ultra-high magnetic field (7 Tesla). Importantly, we illustrate that—whereas a group-based approach to analyze functional (tonotopic) maps is appropriate to highlight the main tonotopic axis—the examination of tonotopic maps at single subject level is required to detail the topography of primary and non-primary areas that may be more variable across subjects. Furthermore, we show that considering multiple maps indicative of anatomical (i.e., myelination) as well as of functional properties (e.g., broadness of frequency tuning) is helpful in identifying auditory cortical areas in individual human brains. We propose and discuss a topography of areas that is consistent with old and recent anatomical post-mortem characterizations of the human auditory cortex and that may serve as a working model for neuroscience studies of auditory functions. PMID:25120426

Comparison of Congruence Judgment and Auditory Localization Tasks for Assessing the Spatial Limits of Visual Capture

PubMed Central

Bosen, Adam K.; Fleming, Justin T.; Brown, Sarah E.; Allen, Paul D.; O'Neill, William E.; Paige, Gary D.

2016-01-01

Vision typically has better spatial accuracy and precision than audition, and as a result often captures auditory spatial perception when visual and auditory cues are presented together. One determinant of visual capture is the amount of spatial disparity between auditory and visual cues: when disparity is small visual capture is likely to occur, and when disparity is large visual capture is unlikely. Previous experiments have used two methods to probe how visual capture varies with spatial disparity. First, congruence judgment assesses perceived unity between cues by having subjects report whether or not auditory and visual targets came from the same location. Second, auditory localization assesses the graded influence of vision on auditory spatial perception by having subjects point to the remembered location of an auditory target presented with a visual target. Previous research has shown that when both tasks are performed concurrently they produce similar measures of visual capture, but this may not hold when tasks are performed independently. Here, subjects alternated between tasks independently across three sessions. A Bayesian inference model of visual capture was used to estimate perceptual parameters for each session, which were compared across tasks. Results demonstrated that the range of audio-visual disparities over which visual capture was likely to occur were narrower in auditory localization than in congruence judgment, which the model indicates was caused by subjects adjusting their prior expectation that targets originated from the same location in a task-dependent manner. PMID:27815630

Control of Phasic Firing by a Background Leak Current in Avian Forebrain Auditory Neurons

PubMed Central

Dagostin, André A.; Lovell, Peter V.; Hilscher, Markus M.; Mello, Claudio V.; Leão, Ricardo M.

2015-01-01

Central neurons express a variety of neuronal types and ion channels that promote firing heterogeneity among their distinct neuronal populations. Action potential (AP) phasic firing, produced by low-threshold voltage-activated potassium currents (VAKCs), is commonly observed in mammalian brainstem neurons involved in the processing of temporal properties of the acoustic information. The avian caudomedial nidopallium (NCM) is an auditory area analogous to portions of the mammalian auditory cortex that is involved in the perceptual discrimination and memorization of birdsong and shows complex responses to auditory stimuli We performed in vitro whole-cell patch-clamp recordings in brain slices from adult zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and observed that half of NCM neurons fire APs phasically in response to membrane depolarizations, while the rest fire transiently or tonically. Phasic neurons fired APs faster and with more temporal precision than tonic and transient neurons. These neurons had similar membrane resting potentials, but phasic neurons had lower membrane input resistance and time constant. Surprisingly phasic neurons did not express low-threshold VAKCs, which curtailed firing in phasic mammalian brainstem neurons, having similar VAKCs to other NCM neurons. The phasic firing was determined not by VAKCs, but by the potassium background leak conductances, which was more prominently expressed in phasic neurons, a result corroborated by pharmacological, dynamic-clamp, and modeling experiments. These results reveal a new role for leak currents in generating firing diversity in central neurons. PMID:26696830

Is auditory perceptual timing a core deficit of developmental coordination disorder?

PubMed

Trainor, Laurel J; Chang, Andrew; Cairney, John; Li, Yao-Chuen

2018-05-09

Time is an essential dimension for perceiving and processing auditory events, and for planning and producing motor behaviors. Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting 5-6% of children that is characterized by deficits in motor skills. Studies show that children with DCD have motor timing and sensorimotor timing deficits. We suggest that auditory perceptual timing deficits may also be core characteristics of DCD. This idea is consistent with evidence from several domains, (1) motor-related brain regions are often involved in auditory timing process; (2) DCD has high comorbidity with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity, which are known to be associated with auditory timing deficits; (3) a few studies report deficits in auditory-motor timing among children with DCD; and (4) our preliminary behavioral and neuroimaging results show that children with DCD at age 6 and 7 have deficits in auditory time discrimination compared to typically developing children. We propose directions for investigating auditory perceptual timing processing in DCD that use various behavioral and neuroimaging approaches. From a clinical perspective, research findings can potentially benefit our understanding of the etiology of DCD, identify early biomarkers of DCD, and can be used to develop evidence-based interventions for DCD involving auditory-motor training. © 2018 The Authors. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The New York Academy of Sciences.

Extraction of Inter-Aural Time Differences Using a Spiking Neuron Network Model of the Medial Superior Olive.

PubMed

Encke, Jörg; Hemmert, Werner

2018-01-01

The mammalian auditory system is able to extract temporal and spectral features from sound signals at the two ears. One important cue for localization of low-frequency sound sources in the horizontal plane are inter-aural time differences (ITDs) which are first analyzed in the medial superior olive (MSO) in the brainstem. Neural recordings of ITD tuning curves at various stages along the auditory pathway suggest that ITDs in the mammalian brainstem are not represented in form of a Jeffress-type place code. An alternative is the hemispheric opponent-channel code, according to which ITDs are encoded as the difference in the responses of the MSO nuclei in the two hemispheres. In this study, we present a physiologically-plausible, spiking neuron network model of the mammalian MSO circuit and apply two different methods of extracting ITDs from arbitrary sound signals. The network model is driven by a functional model of the auditory periphery and physiological models of the cochlear nucleus and the MSO. Using a linear opponent-channel decoder, we show that the network is able to detect changes in ITD with a precision down to 10 μs and that the sensitivity of the decoder depends on the slope of the ITD-rate functions. A second approach uses an artificial neuronal network to predict ITDs directly from the spiking output of the MSO and ANF model. Using this predictor, we show that the MSO-network is able to reliably encode static and time-dependent ITDs over a large frequency range, also for complex signals like speech.

Auditory Force Feedback Substitution Improves Surgical Precision during Simulated Ophthalmic Surgery

PubMed Central

Cutler, Nathan; Balicki, Marcin; Finkelstein, Mark; Wang, Jiangxia; Gehlbach, Peter; McGready, John; Iordachita, Iulian; Taylor, Russell; Handa, James T.

2013-01-01

Purpose. To determine the extent that auditory force feedback (AFF) substitution improves performance during a simulated ophthalmic peeling procedure. Methods. A 25-gauge force-sensing microforceps was linked to two AFF modes. The “alarm” AFF mode sounded when the force reached 9 mN. The “warning” AFF mode made beeps with a frequency proportional to the generated force. Participants with different surgical experience levels were asked to peel a series of bandage strips off a platform as quickly as possible without exceeding 9 mN of force. In study arm A, participants peeled with alarm and warning AFF modes, the order randomized within the experience level. In study arm B, participants first peeled without AFF, then alarm or warning AFF (order randomized within the experience level), and finally without AFF. Results. Of the 28 “surgeon” participants, AFF improved membrane peeling performance, reducing average force generated (P < 0.01), SD of forces (P < 0.05), and force × time above 9 mN (P < 0.01). Short training periods with AFF improved subsequent peeling performance when AFF was turned off, with reductions in average force, SD of force, maximum force, time spent above 9 mN, and force × time above 9 mN (all P < 0.001). Except for maximum force, peeling with AFF reduced all force parameters (P < 0.05) more than peeling without AFF after completing a training session. Conclusions. AFF enables the surgeon to reduce the forces generated with improved precision during phantom membrane peeling, regardless of surgical experience. New force-sensing surgical tools combined with AFF offer the potential to enhance surgical training and improve surgical performance. PMID:23329663

Real-time data acquisition and control system for the measurement of motor and neural data

PubMed Central

Bryant, Christopher L.; Gandhi, Neeraj J.

2013-01-01

This paper outlines a powerful, yet flexible real-time data acquisition and control system for use in the triggering and measurement of both analog and digital events. Built using the LabVIEW development architecture (version 7.1) and freely available, this system provides precisely timed auditory and visual stimuli to a subject while recording analog data and timestamps of neural activity retrieved from a window discriminator. The system utilizes the most recent real-time (RT) technology in order to provide not only a guaranteed data acquisition rate of 1 kHz, but a much more difficult to achieve guaranteed system response time of 1 ms. The system interface is windows-based and easy to use, providing a host of configurable options for end-user customization. PMID:15698659

The role of auditory cortex in retention of rhythmic patterns as studied in patients with temporal lobe removals including Heschl's gyrus.

PubMed

Penhune, V B; Zatorre, R J; Feindel, W H

1999-03-01

This experiment examined the participation of the auditory cortex of the temporal lobe in the perception and retention of rhythmic patterns. Four patient groups were tested on a paradigm contrasting reproduction of auditory and visual rhythms: those with right or left anterior temporal lobe removals which included Heschl's gyrus (HG), the region of primary auditory cortex (RT-A and LT-A); and patients with right or left anterior temporal lobe removals which did not include HG (RT-a and LT-a). Estimation of lesion extent in HG using an MRI-based probabilistic map indicated that, in the majority of subjects, the lesion was confined to the anterior secondary auditory cortex located on the anterior-lateral extent of HG. On the rhythm reproduction task, RT-A patients were impaired in retention of auditory but not visual rhythms, particularly when accurate reproduction of stimulus durations was required. In contrast, LT-A patients as well as both RT-a and LT-a patients were relatively unimpaired on this task. None of the patient groups was impaired in the ability to make an adequate motor response. Further, they were unimpaired when using a dichotomous response mode, indicating that they were able to adequately differentiate the stimulus durations and, when given an alternative method of encoding, to retain them. Taken together, these results point to a specific role for the right anterior secondary auditory cortex in the retention of a precise analogue representation of auditory tonal patterns.

Sensory Coding and Sensitivity to Local Estrogens Shift during Critical Period Milestones in the Auditory Cortex of Male Songbirds.

PubMed

Vahaba, Daniel M; Macedo-Lima, Matheus; Remage-Healey, Luke

2017-01-01

Vocal learning occurs during an experience-dependent, age-limited critical period early in development. In songbirds, vocal learning begins when presinging birds acquire an auditory memory of their tutor's song (sensory phase) followed by the onset of vocal production and refinement (sensorimotor phase). Hearing is necessary throughout the vocal learning critical period. One key brain area for songbird auditory processing is the caudomedial nidopallium (NCM), a telencephalic region analogous to mammalian auditory cortex. Despite NCM's established role in auditory processing, it is unclear how the response properties of NCM neurons may shift across development. Moreover, communication processing in NCM is rapidly enhanced by local 17β-estradiol (E2) administration in adult songbirds; however, the function of dynamically fluctuating E 2 in NCM during development is unknown. We collected bilateral extracellular recordings in NCM coupled with reverse microdialysis delivery in juvenile male zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata ) across the vocal learning critical period. We found that auditory-evoked activity and coding accuracy were substantially higher in the NCM of sensory-aged animals compared to sensorimotor-aged animals. Further, we observed both age-dependent and lateralized effects of local E 2 administration on sensory processing. In sensory-aged subjects, E 2 decreased auditory responsiveness across both hemispheres; however, a similar trend was observed in age-matched control subjects. In sensorimotor-aged subjects, E 2 dampened auditory responsiveness in left NCM but enhanced auditory responsiveness in right NCM. Our results reveal an age-dependent physiological shift in auditory processing and lateralized E 2 sensitivity that each precisely track a key neural "switch point" from purely sensory (pre-singing) to sensorimotor (singing) in developing songbirds.

Sensory Coding and Sensitivity to Local Estrogens Shift during Critical Period Milestones in the Auditory Cortex of Male Songbirds

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Abstract Vocal learning occurs during an experience-dependent, age-limited critical period early in development. In songbirds, vocal learning begins when presinging birds acquire an auditory memory of their tutor’s song (sensory phase) followed by the onset of vocal production and refinement (sensorimotor phase). Hearing is necessary throughout the vocal learning critical period. One key brain area for songbird auditory processing is the caudomedial nidopallium (NCM), a telencephalic region analogous to mammalian auditory cortex. Despite NCM’s established role in auditory processing, it is unclear how the response properties of NCM neurons may shift across development. Moreover, communication processing in NCM is rapidly enhanced by local 17β-estradiol (E2) administration in adult songbirds; however, the function of dynamically fluctuating E2 in NCM during development is unknown. We collected bilateral extracellular recordings in NCM coupled with reverse microdialysis delivery in juvenile male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) across the vocal learning critical period. We found that auditory-evoked activity and coding accuracy were substantially higher in the NCM of sensory-aged animals compared to sensorimotor-aged animals. Further, we observed both age-dependent and lateralized effects of local E2 administration on sensory processing. In sensory-aged subjects, E2 decreased auditory responsiveness across both hemispheres; however, a similar trend was observed in age-matched control subjects. In sensorimotor-aged subjects, E2 dampened auditory responsiveness in left NCM but enhanced auditory responsiveness in right NCM. Our results reveal an age-dependent physiological shift in auditory processing and lateralized E2 sensitivity that each precisely track a key neural “switch point” from purely sensory (pre-singing) to sensorimotor (singing) in developing songbirds. PMID:29255797

Auditory reafferences: the influence of real-time feedback on movement control.

PubMed

Kennel, Christian; Streese, Lukas; Pizzera, Alexandra; Justen, Christoph; Hohmann, Tanja; Raab, Markus

2015-01-01

Auditory reafferences are real-time auditory products created by a person's own movements. Whereas the interdependency of action and perception is generally well studied, the auditory feedback channel and the influence of perceptual processes during movement execution remain largely unconsidered. We argue that movements have a rhythmic character that is closely connected to sound, making it possible to manipulate auditory reafferences online to understand their role in motor control. We examined if step sounds, occurring as a by-product of running, have an influence on the performance of a complex movement task. Twenty participants completed a hurdling task in three auditory feedback conditions: a control condition with normal auditory feedback, a white noise condition in which sound was masked, and a delayed auditory feedback condition. Overall time and kinematic data were collected. Results show that delayed auditory feedback led to a significantly slower overall time and changed kinematic parameters. Our findings complement previous investigations in a natural movement situation with non-artificial auditory cues. Our results support the existing theoretical understanding of action-perception coupling and hold potential for applied work, where naturally occurring movement sounds can be implemented in the motor learning processes.

Sensorimotor synchronization with tempo-changing auditory sequences: Modeling temporal adaptation and anticipation.

PubMed

van der Steen, M C Marieke; Jacoby, Nori; Fairhurst, Merle T; Keller, Peter E

2015-11-11

The current study investigated the human ability to synchronize movements with event sequences containing continuous tempo changes. This capacity is evident, for example, in ensemble musicians who maintain precise interpersonal coordination while modulating the performance tempo for expressive purposes. Here we tested an ADaptation and Anticipation Model (ADAM) that was developed to account for such behavior by combining error correction processes (adaptation) with a predictive temporal extrapolation process (anticipation). While previous computational models of synchronization incorporate error correction, they do not account for prediction during tempo-changing behavior. The fit between behavioral data and computer simulations based on four versions of ADAM was assessed. These versions included a model with adaptation only, one in which adaptation and anticipation act in combination (error correction is applied on the basis of predicted tempo changes), and two models in which adaptation and anticipation were linked in a joint module that corrects for predicted discrepancies between the outcomes of adaptive and anticipatory processes. The behavioral experiment required participants to tap their finger in time with three auditory pacing sequences containing tempo changes that differed in the rate of change and the number of turning points. Behavioral results indicated that sensorimotor synchronization accuracy and precision, while generally high, decreased with increases in the rate of tempo change and number of turning points. Simulations and model-based parameter estimates showed that adaptation mechanisms alone could not fully explain the observed precision of sensorimotor synchronization. Including anticipation in the model increased the precision of simulated sensorimotor synchronization and improved the fit of model to behavioral data, especially when adaptation and anticipation mechanisms were linked via a joint module based on the notion of joint internal models. Overall results suggest that adaptation and anticipation mechanisms both play an important role during sensorimotor synchronization with tempo-changing sequences. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Prediction and Attention. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modification of computational auditory scene analysis (CASA) for noise-robust acoustic feature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwon, Minseok

While there have been many attempts to mitigate interferences of background noise, the performance of automatic speech recognition (ASR) still can be deteriorated by various factors with ease. However, normal hearing listeners can accurately perceive sounds of their interests, which is believed to be a result of Auditory Scene Analysis (ASA). As a first attempt, the simulation of the human auditory processing, called computational auditory scene analysis (CASA), was fulfilled through physiological and psychological investigations of ASA. CASA comprised of Zilany-Bruce auditory model, followed by tracking fundamental frequency for voice segmentation and detecting pairs of onset/offset at each characteristic frequency (CF) for unvoiced segmentation. The resulting Time-Frequency (T-F) representation of acoustic stimulation was converted into acoustic feature, gammachirp-tone frequency cepstral coefficients (GFCC). 11 keywords with various environmental conditions are used and the robustness of GFCC was evaluated by spectral distance (SD) and dynamic time warping distance (DTW). In "clean" and "noisy" conditions, the application of CASA generally improved noise robustness of the acoustic feature compared to a conventional method with or without noise suppression using MMSE estimator. The intial study, however, not only showed the noise-type dependency at low SNR, but also called the evaluation methods in question. Some modifications were made to capture better spectral continuity from an acoustic feature matrix, to obtain faster processing speed, and to describe the human auditory system more precisely. The proposed framework includes: 1) multi-scale integration to capture more accurate continuity in feature extraction, 2) contrast enhancement (CE) of each CF by competition with neighboring frequency bands, and 3) auditory model modifications. The model modifications contain the introduction of higher Q factor, middle ear filter more analogous to human auditory system, the regulation of time constant update for filters in signal/control path as well as level-independent frequency glides with fixed frequency modulation. First, we scrutinized performance development in keyword recognition using the proposed methods in quiet and noise-corrupted environments. The results argue that multi-scale integration should be used along with CE in order to avoid ambiguous continuity in unvoiced segments. Moreover, the inclusion of the all modifications was observed to guarantee the noise-type-independent robustness particularly with severe interference. Moreover, the CASA with the auditory model was implemented into a single/dual-channel ASR using reference TIMIT corpus so as to get more general result. Hidden Markov model (HTK) toolkit was used for phone recognition in various environmental conditions. In a single-channel ASR, the results argue that unmasked acoustic features (unmasked GFCC) should combine with target estimates from the mask to compensate for missing information. From the observation of a dual-channel ASR, the combined GFCC guarantees the highest performance regardless of interferences within speech. Moreover, consistent improvement of noise robustness by GFCC (unmasked or combined) shows the validity of our proposed CASA implementation in dual microphone system. In conclusion, the proposed framework proves the robustness of the acoustic features in various background interferences via both direct distance evaluation and statistical assessment. In addition, the introduction of dual microphone system using the framework in this study shows the potential of the effective implementation of the auditory model-based CASA in ASR.

Neural preservation underlies speech improvement from auditory deprivation in young cochlear implant recipients.

PubMed

Feng, Gangyi; Ingvalson, Erin M; Grieco-Calub, Tina M; Roberts, Megan Y; Ryan, Maura E; Birmingham, Patrick; Burrowes, Delilah; Young, Nancy M; Wong, Patrick C M

2018-01-30

Although cochlear implantation enables some children to attain age-appropriate speech and language development, communicative delays persist in others, and outcomes are quite variable and difficult to predict, even for children implanted early in life. To understand the neurobiological basis of this variability, we used presurgical neural morphological data obtained from MRI of individual pediatric cochlear implant (CI) candidates implanted younger than 3.5 years to predict variability of their speech-perception improvement after surgery. We first compared neuroanatomical density and spatial pattern similarity of CI candidates to that of age-matched children with normal hearing, which allowed us to detail neuroanatomical networks that were either affected or unaffected by auditory deprivation. This information enables us to build machine-learning models to predict the individual children's speech development following CI. We found that regions of the brain that were unaffected by auditory deprivation, in particular the auditory association and cognitive brain regions, produced the highest accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity in patient classification and the most precise prediction results. These findings suggest that brain areas unaffected by auditory deprivation are critical to developing closer to typical speech outcomes. Moreover, the findings suggest that determination of the type of neural reorganization caused by auditory deprivation before implantation is valuable for predicting post-CI language outcomes for young children.

Evaluating the Precision of Auditory Sensory Memory as an Index of Intrusion in Tinnitus.

PubMed

Barrett, Doug J K; Pilling, Michael

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of measures of auditory short-term memory (ASTM) to provide a clinical measure of intrusion in tinnitus. Response functions for six normal listeners on a delayed pitch discrimination task were contrasted in three conditions designed to manipulate attention in the presence and absence of simulated tinnitus: (1) no-tinnitus, (2) ignore-tinnitus, and (3) attend-tinnitus. Delayed pitch discrimination functions were more variable in the presence of simulated tinnitus when listeners were asked to divide attention between the primary task and the amplitude of the tinnitus tone. Changes in the variability of auditory short-term memory may provide a novel means of quantifying the level of intrusion associated with the tinnitus percept during listening.

Acoustic duetting in Drosophila virilis relies on the integration of auditory and tactile signals

PubMed Central

LaRue, Kelly M; Clemens, Jan; Berman, Gordon J; Murthy, Mala

2015-01-01

Many animal species, including insects, are capable of acoustic duetting, a complex social behavior in which males and females tightly control the rate and timing of their courtship song syllables relative to each other. The mechanisms underlying duetting remain largely unknown across model systems. Most studies of duetting focus exclusively on acoustic interactions, but the use of multisensory cues should aid in coordinating behavior between individuals. To test this hypothesis, we develop Drosophila virilis as a new model for studies of duetting. By combining sensory manipulations, quantitative behavioral assays, and statistical modeling, we show that virilis females combine precisely timed auditory and tactile cues to drive song production and duetting. Tactile cues delivered to the abdomen and genitalia play the larger role in females, as even headless females continue to coordinate song production with courting males. These data, therefore, reveal a novel, non-acoustic, mechanism for acoustic duetting. Finally, our results indicate that female-duetting circuits are not sexually differentiated, as males can also produce ‘female-like’ duets in a context-dependent manner. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07277.001 PMID:26046297

Self-Regulation of the Primary Auditory Cortex Attention Via Directed Attention Mediated By Real Time fMRI Neurofeedback

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-05-05

Directed Attention Mediated by Real -Time fMRI Neurofeedback presented at/published to 2017 Radiological Society of North America Conference in...DATE Sherwood - p.1 Self-regulation of the primary auditory cortex attention via directed attention mediated by real -time fMRI neurofeedback M S...auditory cortex hyperactivity by self-regulation of the primary auditory cortex (A 1) based on real -time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback

Conducting spoken word recognition research online: Validation and a new timing method.

PubMed

Slote, Joseph; Strand, Julia F

2016-06-01

Models of spoken word recognition typically make predictions that are then tested in the laboratory against the word recognition scores of human subjects (e.g., Luce & Pisoni Ear and Hearing, 19, 1-36, 1998). Unfortunately, laboratory collection of large sets of word recognition data can be costly and time-consuming. Due to the numerous advantages of online research in speed, cost, and participant diversity, some labs have begun to explore the use of online platforms such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk (AMT) to source participation and collect data (Buhrmester, Kwang, & Gosling Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 3-5, 2011). Many classic findings in cognitive psychology have been successfully replicated online, including the Stroop effect, task-switching costs, and Simon and flanker interference (Crump, McDonnell, & Gureckis PLoS ONE, 8, e57410, 2013). However, tasks requiring auditory stimulus delivery have not typically made use of AMT. In the present study, we evaluated the use of AMT for collecting spoken word identification and auditory lexical decision data. Although online users were faster and less accurate than participants in the lab, the results revealed strong correlations between the online and laboratory measures for both word identification accuracy and lexical decision speed. In addition, the scores obtained in the lab and online were equivalently correlated with factors that have been well established to predict word recognition, including word frequency and phonological neighborhood density. We also present and analyze a method for precise auditory reaction timing that is novel to behavioral research. Taken together, these findings suggest that AMT can be a viable alternative to the traditional laboratory setting as a source of participation for some spoken word recognition research.

Auditory agnosia as a clinical symptom of childhood adrenoleukodystrophy.

PubMed

Furushima, Wakana; Kaga, Makiko; Nakamura, Masako; Gunji, Atsuko; Inagaki, Masumi

2015-08-01

To investigate detailed auditory features in patients with auditory impairment as the first clinical symptoms of childhood adrenoleukodystrophy (CSALD). Three patients who had hearing difficulty as the first clinical signs and/or symptoms of ALD. Precise examination of the clinical characteristics of hearing and auditory function was performed, including assessments of pure tone audiometry, verbal sound discrimination, otoacoustic emission (OAE), and auditory brainstem response (ABR), as well as an environmental sound discrimination test, a sound lateralization test, and a dichotic listening test (DLT). The auditory pathway was evaluated by MRI in each patient. Poor response to calling was detected in all patients. Two patients were not aware of their hearing difficulty, and had been diagnosed with normal hearing by otolaryngologists at first. Pure-tone audiometry disclosed normal hearing in all patients. All patients showed a normal wave V ABR threshold. Three patients showed obvious difficulty in discriminating verbal sounds, environmental sounds, and sound lateralization and strong left-ear suppression in a dichotic listening test. However, once they discriminated verbal sounds, they correctly understood the meaning. Two patients showed elongation of the I-V and III-V interwave intervals in ABR, but one showed no abnormality. MRIs of these three patients revealed signal changes in auditory radiation including in other subcortical areas. The hearing features of these subjects were diagnosed as auditory agnosia and not aphasia. It should be emphasized that when patients are suspected to have hearing impairment but have no abnormalities in pure tone audiometry and/or ABR, this should not be diagnosed immediately as psychogenic response or pathomimesis, but auditory agnosia must also be considered. Copyright © 2014 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Auditory brainstem responses to stop consonants predict literacy.

PubMed

Neef, Nicole E; Schaadt, Gesa; Friederici, Angela D

2017-03-01

Precise temporal coding of speech plays a pivotal role in sound processing throughout the central auditory system, which, in turn, influences literacy acquisition. The current study tests whether an electrophysiological measure of this precision predicts literacy skills. Complex auditory brainstem responses were analysed from 62 native German-speaking children aged 11-13years. We employed the cross-phaseogram approach to compute the quality of the electrophysiological stimulus contrast [da] and [ba]. Phase shifts were expected to vary with literacy. Receiver operating curves demonstrated a feasible sensitivity and specificity of the electrophysiological measure. A multiple regression analysis resulted in a significant prediction of literacy by delta cross-phase as well as phonological awareness. A further commonality analysis separated a unique variance that was explained by the physiological measure, from a unique variance that was explained by the behavioral measure, and common effects of both. Despite multicollinearities between literacy, phonological awareness, and subcortical differentiation of stop consonants, a combined assessment of behavior and physiology strongly increases the ability to predict literacy skills. The strong link between the neurophysiological signature of sound encoding and literacy outcome suggests that the delta cross-phase could indicate the risk of dyslexia and thereby complement subjective psychometric measures for early diagnoses. Copyright © 2016 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of conductive hearing loss on central auditory function.

PubMed

Bayat, Arash; Farhadi, Mohammad; Emamdjomeh, Hesam; Saki, Nader; Mirmomeni, Golshan; Rahim, Fakher

It has been demonstrated that long-term Conductive Hearing Loss (CHL) may influence the precise detection of the temporal features of acoustic signals or Auditory Temporal Processing (ATP). It can be argued that ATP may be the underlying component of many central auditory processing capabilities such as speech comprehension or sound localization. Little is known about the consequences of CHL on temporal aspects of central auditory processing. This study was designed to assess auditory temporal processing ability in individuals with chronic CHL. During this analytical cross-sectional study, 52 patients with mild to moderate chronic CHL and 52 normal-hearing listeners (control), aged between 18 and 45 year-old, were recruited. In order to evaluate auditory temporal processing, the Gaps-in-Noise (GIN) test was used. The results obtained for each ear were analyzed based on the gap perception threshold and the percentage of correct responses. The average of GIN thresholds was significantly smaller for the control group than for the CHL group for both ears (right: p=0.004; left: p<0.001). Individuals with CHL had significantly lower correct responses than individuals with normal hearing for both sides (p<0.001). No correlation was found between GIN performance and degree of hearing loss in either group (p>0.05). The results suggest reduced auditory temporal processing ability in adults with CHL compared to normal hearing subjects. Therefore, developing a clinical protocol to evaluate auditory temporal processing in this population is recommended. Copyright © 2017 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Musically cued gait-training improves both perceptual and motor timing in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Benoit, Charles-Etienne; Dalla Bella, Simone; Farrugia, Nicolas; Obrig, Hellmuth; Mainka, Stefan; Kotz, Sonja A

2014-01-01

It is well established that auditory cueing improves gait in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD). Disease-related reductions in speed and step length can be improved by providing rhythmical auditory cues via a metronome or music. However, effects on cognitive aspects of motor control have yet to be thoroughly investigated. If synchronization of movement to an auditory cue relies on a supramodal timing system involved in perceptual, motor, and sensorimotor integration, auditory cueing can be expected to affect both motor and perceptual timing. Here, we tested this hypothesis by assessing perceptual and motor timing in 15 IPD patients before and after a 4-week music training program with rhythmic auditory cueing. Long-term effects were assessed 1 month after the end of the training. Perceptual and motor timing was evaluated with a battery for the assessment of auditory sensorimotor and timing abilities and compared to that of age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy controls. Prior to training, IPD patients exhibited impaired perceptual and motor timing. Training improved patients' performance in tasks requiring synchronization with isochronous sequences, and enhanced their ability to adapt to durational changes in a sequence in hand tapping tasks. Benefits of cueing extended to time perception (duration discrimination and detection of misaligned beats in musical excerpts). The current results demonstrate that auditory cueing leads to benefits beyond gait and support the idea that coupling gait to rhythmic auditory cues in IPD patients relies on a neuronal network engaged in both perceptual and motor timing.

A little elastic for a better performance: kinesiotaping of the motor effector modulates neural mechanisms for rhythmic movements.

PubMed

Bravi, Riccardo; Quarta, Eros; Cohen, Erez J; Gottard, Anna; Minciacchi, Diego

2014-01-01

A rhythmic motor performance is brought about by an integration of timing information with movements. Investigations on the millisecond time scale distinguish two forms of time control, event-based timing and emergent timing. While event-based timing asserts the existence of a central internal timekeeper for the control of repetitive movements, the emergent timing perspective claims that timing emerges from dynamic control of nontemporal movements parameters. We have recently demonstrated that the precision of an isochronous performance, defined as performance of repeated movements having a uniform duration, was insensible to auditory stimuli of various characteristics (Bravi et al., 2014). Such finding has led us to investigate whether the application of an elastic therapeutic tape (Kinesio® Tex taping; KTT) used for treating athletic injuries and a variety of physical disorders, is able to reduce the timing variability of repetitive rhythmic movement. Young healthy subjects, tested with and without KTT, have participated in sessions in which sets of repeated isochronous wrist's flexion-extensions (IWFEs) were performed under various auditory conditions and during their recall. Kinematics was recorded and temporal parameters were extracted and analyzed. Our results show that the application of KTT decreases the variability of rhythmic movements by a 2-fold effect: on the one hand KTT provides extra proprioceptive information activating cutaneous mechanoreceptors, on the other KTT biases toward the emergent timing thus modulating the processes for rhythmic movements. Therefore, KTT appears able to render movements less audio dependent by relieving, at least partially, the central structures from time control and making available more resources for an augmented performance.

Incorporating Auditory Models in Speech/Audio Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krishnamoorthi, Harish

2011-12-01

Following the success in incorporating perceptual models in audio coding algorithms, their application in other speech/audio processing systems is expanding. In general, all perceptual speech/audio processing algorithms involve minimization of an objective function that directly/indirectly incorporates properties of human perception. This dissertation primarily investigates the problems associated with directly embedding an auditory model in the objective function formulation and proposes possible solutions to overcome high complexity issues for use in real-time speech/audio algorithms. Specific problems addressed in this dissertation include: 1) the development of approximate but computationally efficient auditory model implementations that are consistent with the principles of psychoacoustics, 2) the development of a mapping scheme that allows synthesizing a time/frequency domain representation from its equivalent auditory model output. The first problem is aimed at addressing the high computational complexity involved in solving perceptual objective functions that require repeated application of auditory model for evaluation of different candidate solutions. In this dissertation, a frequency pruning and a detector pruning algorithm is developed that efficiently implements the various auditory model stages. The performance of the pruned model is compared to that of the original auditory model for different types of test signals in the SQAM database. Experimental results indicate only a 4-7% relative error in loudness while attaining up to 80-90 % reduction in computational complexity. Similarly, a hybrid algorithm is developed specifically for use with sinusoidal signals and employs the proposed auditory pattern combining technique together with a look-up table to store representative auditory patterns. The second problem obtains an estimate of the auditory representation that minimizes a perceptual objective function and transforms the auditory pattern back to its equivalent time/frequency representation. This avoids the repeated application of auditory model stages to test different candidate time/frequency vectors in minimizing perceptual objective functions. In this dissertation, a constrained mapping scheme is developed by linearizing certain auditory model stages that ensures obtaining a time/frequency mapping corresponding to the estimated auditory representation. This paradigm was successfully incorporated in a perceptual speech enhancement algorithm and a sinusoidal component selection task.

Glycinergic inhibition tunes coincidence detection in the auditory brainstem

PubMed Central

Myoga, Michael H.; Lehnert, Simon; Leibold, Christian; Felmy, Felix; Grothe, Benedikt

2014-01-01

Neurons in the medial superior olive (MSO) detect microsecond differences in the arrival time of sounds between the ears (interaural time differences or ITDs), a crucial binaural cue for sound localization. Synaptic inhibition has been implicated in tuning ITD sensitivity, but the cellular mechanisms underlying its influence on coincidence detection are debated. Here we determine the impact of inhibition on coincidence detection in adult Mongolian gerbil MSO brain slices by testing precise temporal integration of measured synaptic responses using conductance-clamp. We find that inhibition dynamically shifts the peak timing of excitation, depending on its relative arrival time, which in turn modulates the timing of best coincidence detection. Inhibitory control of coincidence detection timing is consistent with the diversity of ITD functions observed in vivo and is robust under physiologically relevant conditions. Our results provide strong evidence that temporal interactions between excitation and inhibition on microsecond timescales are critical for binaural processing. PMID:24804642

The Coupling between Ca2+ Channels and the Exocytotic Ca2+ Sensor at Hair Cell Ribbon Synapses Varies Tonotopically along the Mature Cochlea

PubMed Central

Cho, Soyoun

2017-01-01

The cochlea processes auditory signals over a wide range of frequencies and intensities. However, the transfer characteristics at hair cell ribbon synapses are still poorly understood at different frequency locations along the cochlea. Using recordings from mature gerbils, we report here a surprisingly strong block of exocytosis by the slow Ca2+ buffer EGTA (10 mM) in basal hair cells tuned to high frequencies (∼30 kHz). In addition, using recordings from gerbil, mouse, and bullfrog auditory organs, we find that the spatial coupling between Ca2+ influx and exocytosis changes from nanodomain in low-frequency tuned hair cells (∼<2 kHz) to progressively more microdomain in high-frequency cells (∼>2 kHz). Hair cell synapses have thus developed remarkable frequency-dependent tuning of exocytosis: accurate low-latency encoding of onset and offset of sound intensity in the cochlea's base and submillisecond encoding of membrane receptor potential fluctuations in the apex for precise phase-locking to sound signals. We also found that synaptic vesicle pool recovery from depletion was sensitive to high concentrations of EGTA, suggesting that intracellular Ca2+ buffers play an important role in vesicle recruitment in both low- and high-frequency hair cells. In conclusion, our results indicate that microdomain coupling is important for exocytosis in high-frequency hair cells, suggesting a novel hypothesis for why these cells are more susceptible to sound-induced damage than low-frequency cells; high-frequency inner hair cells must have a low Ca2+ buffer capacity to sustain exocytosis, thus making them more prone to Ca2+-induced cytotoxicity. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In the inner ear, sensory hair cells signal reception of sound. They do this by converting the sound-induced movement of their hair bundles present at the top of these cells, into an electrical current. This current depolarizes the hair cell and triggers the calcium-induced release of the neurotransmitter glutamate that activates the postsynaptic auditory fibers. The speed and precision of this process enables the brain to perceive the vital components of sound, such as frequency and intensity. We show that the coupling strength between calcium channels and the exocytosis calcium sensor at inner hair cell synapses changes along the mammalian cochlea such that the timing and/or intensity of sound is encoded with high precision. PMID:28154149

Auditory Proprioceptive Integration: Effects of Real-Time Kinematic Auditory Feedback on Knee Proprioception

PubMed Central

Ghai, Shashank; Schmitz, Gerd; Hwang, Tong-Hun; Effenberg, Alfred O.

2018-01-01

The purpose of the study was to assess the influence of real-time auditory feedback on knee proprioception. Thirty healthy participants were randomly allocated to control (n = 15), and experimental group I (15). The participants performed an active knee-repositioning task using their dominant leg, with/without additional real-time auditory feedback where the frequency was mapped in a convergent manner to two different target angles (40 and 75°). Statistical analysis revealed significant enhancement in knee re-positioning accuracy for the constant and absolute error with real-time auditory feedback, within and across the groups. Besides this convergent condition, we established a second divergent condition. Here, a step-wise transposition of frequency was performed to explore whether a systematic tuning between auditory-proprioceptive repositioning exists. No significant effects were identified in this divergent auditory feedback condition. An additional experimental group II (n = 20) was further included. Here, we investigated the influence of a larger magnitude and directional change of step-wise transposition of the frequency. In a first step, results confirm the findings of experiment I. Moreover, significant effects on knee auditory-proprioception repositioning were evident when divergent auditory feedback was applied. During the step-wise transposition participants showed systematic modulation of knee movements in the opposite direction of transposition. We confirm that knee re-positioning accuracy can be enhanced with concurrent application of real-time auditory feedback and that knee re-positioning can modulated in a goal-directed manner with step-wise transposition of frequency. Clinical implications are discussed with respect to joint position sense in rehabilitation settings. PMID:29568259

Distortions of Subjective Time Perception Within and Across Senses

PubMed Central

van Wassenhove, Virginie; Buonomano, Dean V.; Shimojo, Shinsuke; Shams, Ladan

2008-01-01

Background The ability to estimate the passage of time is of fundamental importance for perceptual and cognitive processes. One experience of time is the perception of duration, which is not isomorphic to physical duration and can be distorted by a number of factors. Yet, the critical features generating these perceptual shifts in subjective duration are not understood. Methodology/Findings We used prospective duration judgments within and across sensory modalities to examine the effect of stimulus predictability and feature change on the perception of duration. First, we found robust distortions of perceived duration in auditory, visual and auditory-visual presentations despite the predictability of the feature changes in the stimuli. For example, a looming disc embedded in a series of steady discs led to time dilation, whereas a steady disc embedded in a series of looming discs led to time compression. Second, we addressed whether visual (auditory) inputs could alter the perception of duration of auditory (visual) inputs. When participants were presented with incongruent audio-visual stimuli, the perceived duration of auditory events could be shortened or lengthened by the presence of conflicting visual information; however, the perceived duration of visual events was seldom distorted by the presence of auditory information and was never perceived shorter than their actual durations. Conclusions/Significance These results support the existence of multisensory interactions in the perception of duration and, importantly, suggest that vision can modify auditory temporal perception in a pure timing task. Insofar as distortions in subjective duration can neither be accounted for by the unpredictability of an auditory, visual or auditory-visual event, we propose that it is the intrinsic features of the stimulus that critically affect subjective time distortions. PMID:18197248

Evaluation of an imputed pitch velocity model of the auditory tau effect.

PubMed

Henry, Molly J; McAuley, J Devin; Zaleha, Marta

2009-08-01

This article extends an imputed pitch velocity model of the auditory kappa effect proposed by Henry and McAuley (2009a) to the auditory tau effect. Two experiments were conducted using an AXB design in which listeners judged the relative pitch of a middle target tone (X) in ascending and descending three-tone sequences. In Experiment 1, sequences were isochronous, establishing constant fast, medium, and slow velocity conditions. No systematic distortions in perceived target pitch were observed, and thresholds were similar across velocity conditions. Experiment 2 introduced to-be-ignored variations in target timing. Variations in target timing that deviated from constant velocity conditions introduced systematic distortions in perceived target pitch, indicative of a robust auditory tau effect. Consistent with an auditory motion hypothesis, the magnitude of the tau effect was larger at faster velocities. In addition, the tau effect was generally stronger for descending sequences than for ascending sequences. Combined with previous work on the auditory kappa effect, the imputed velocity model and associated auditory motion hypothesis provide a unified quantitative account of both auditory tau and kappa effects. In broader terms, these findings add support to the view that pitch and time relations in auditory patterns are fundamentally interdependent.

Focused and shifting attention in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure.

PubMed

Mattson, Sarah N; Calarco, Katherine E; Lang, Aimée R

2006-05-01

Attention deficits are a hallmark of the teratogenic effects of alcohol. However, characterization of these deficits remains inconclusive. Children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure and nonexposed controls were evaluated using a paradigm consisting of three conditions: visual focus, auditory focus, and auditory-visual shift of attention. For the focus conditions, participants responded manually to visual or auditory targets. For the shift condition, participants alternated responses between visual targets and auditory targets. For the visual focus condition, alcohol-exposed children had lower accuracy and slower reaction time for all intertarget intervals (ITIs), while on the auditory focus condition, alcohol-exposed children were less accurate but displayed slower reaction time only on the longest ITI. Finally, for the shift condition, the alcohol-exposed group was accurate but had slowed reaction times. These results indicate that children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure have pervasive deficits in visual focused attention and deficits in maintaining auditory attention over time. However, no deficits were noted in the ability to disengage and reengage attention when required to shift attention between visual and auditory stimuli, although reaction times to shift were slower. Copyright (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved.

Otoancorin Knockout Mice Reveal Inertia is the Force for Hearing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weddell, Thomas; Legan, P. Kevin; Lukashkina, Victoria A.; Goodyear, Richard J.; Welstead, Lindsy; Petit, Chistine; Russell, Ian J.; Lukashkin, Andrei N.; Richardson, Guy P.

2011-11-01

We demonstrate that in Otoa-/- mice, in which the inner-ear-specific protein otoancorin is absent, excitation of the outer hair cells and cochlear amplification is normal. This finding is remarkable because the tectorial membrane (TM), although remaining functionally attached to the outer hair cell bundles, is completely detached from the spiral limbus. Therefore, as in ancestral vertebrate auditory organs, where inertia provides the excitatory force to the hair cells, it is the inertia of the TM that must be important for exciting the outer hair cells, setting the sensitivity of their transducer conductance, and determining the precise timing of cochlear amplification.

Utility of an airframe referenced spatial auditory display for general aviation operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naqvi, M. Hassan; Wigdahl, Alan J.; Ranaudo, Richard J.

2009-05-01

The University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) completed flight testing with an airframe-referenced localized audio cueing display. The purpose was to assess its affect on pilot performance, workload, and situational awareness in two scenarios simulating single-pilot general aviation operations under instrument meteorological conditions. Each scenario consisted of 12 test procedures conducted under simulated instrument meteorological conditions, half with the cue off, and half with the cue on. Simulated aircraft malfunctions were strategically inserted at critical times during each test procedure. Ten pilots participated in the study; half flew a moderate workload scenario consisting of point to point navigation and holding pattern operations and half flew a high workload scenario consisting of non precision approaches and missed approach procedures. Flight data consisted of aircraft and navigation state parameters, NASA Task Load Index (TLX) assessments, and post-flight questionnaires. With localized cues there was slightly better pilot technical performance, a reduction in workload, and a perceived improvement in situational awareness. Results indicate that an airframe-referenced auditory display has utility and pilot acceptance in general aviation operations.

Quantifying auditory temporal stability in a large database of recorded music.

PubMed

Ellis, Robert J; Duan, Zhiyan; Wang, Ye

2014-01-01

"Moving to the beat" is both one of the most basic and one of the most profound means by which humans (and a few other species) interact with music. Computer algorithms that detect the precise temporal location of beats (i.e., pulses of musical "energy") in recorded music have important practical applications, such as the creation of playlists with a particular tempo for rehabilitation (e.g., rhythmic gait training), exercise (e.g., jogging), or entertainment (e.g., continuous dance mixes). Although several such algorithms return simple point estimates of an audio file's temporal structure (e.g., "average tempo", "time signature"), none has sought to quantify the temporal stability of a series of detected beats. Such a method--a "Balanced Evaluation of Auditory Temporal Stability" (BEATS)--is proposed here, and is illustrated using the Million Song Dataset (a collection of audio features and music metadata for nearly one million audio files). A publically accessible web interface is also presented, which combines the thresholdable statistics of BEATS with queryable metadata terms, fostering potential avenues of research and facilitating the creation of highly personalized music playlists for clinical or recreational applications.

Spatiotemporal activity patterns detected from single cell measurements from behaving animals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Villa, Alessandro E. P.; Tetko, Igor V.

1999-03-01

Precise temporal patterning of activity within and between neurons has been predicted on theoretical grounds, and found in the spike trains of neurons recorded from anesthetized and conscious animals, in association with sensor stimuli and particular phases of task performance. However, the functional significance of such patterning in the generation of behavior has not been confirmed. We recorded from multiple single neurons in regions of rat auditory cortex during the waiting period of a Go/NoGo task. During this time the animal waited for an auditory signal with high cognitive load. Of note is the fact that neural activity during the period analyzed was essentially stationary, with no event related variability in firing. Detected patterns therefore provide a measure of brain state that could not be addressed by standard methods relying on analysis of changes in mean discharge rate. The possibility is discussed that some patterns might reflect a preset bias to a particular response, formed in the waiting period. Others patterns might reflect a state of prior preparation of appropriate neural assemblies for analyzing a signal that is expected but of unknown behavioral valence.

Different auditory feedback control for echolocation and communication in horseshoe bats.

PubMed

Liu, Ying; Feng, Jiang; Metzner, Walter

2013-01-01

Auditory feedback from the animal's own voice is essential during bat echolocation: to optimize signal detection, bats continuously adjust various call parameters in response to changing echo signals. Auditory feedback seems also necessary for controlling many bat communication calls, although it remains unclear how auditory feedback control differs in echolocation and communication. We tackled this question by analyzing echolocation and communication in greater horseshoe bats, whose echolocation pulses are dominated by a constant frequency component that matches the frequency range they hear best. To maintain echoes within this "auditory fovea", horseshoe bats constantly adjust their echolocation call frequency depending on the frequency of the returning echo signal. This Doppler-shift compensation (DSC) behavior represents one of the most precise forms of sensory-motor feedback known. We examined the variability of echolocation pulses emitted at rest (resting frequencies, RFs) and one type of communication signal which resembles an echolocation pulse but is much shorter (short constant frequency communication calls, SCFs) and produced only during social interactions. We found that while RFs varied from day to day, corroborating earlier studies in other constant frequency bats, SCF-frequencies remained unchanged. In addition, RFs overlapped for some bats whereas SCF-frequencies were always distinctly different. This indicates that auditory feedback during echolocation changed with varying RFs but remained constant or may have been absent during emission of SCF calls for communication. This fundamentally different feedback mechanism for echolocation and communication may have enabled these bats to use SCF calls for individual recognition whereas they adjusted RF calls to accommodate the daily shifts of their auditory fovea.

Different Auditory Feedback Control for Echolocation and Communication in Horseshoe Bats

PubMed Central

Liu, Ying; Feng, Jiang; Metzner, Walter

2013-01-01

Auditory feedback from the animal's own voice is essential during bat echolocation: to optimize signal detection, bats continuously adjust various call parameters in response to changing echo signals. Auditory feedback seems also necessary for controlling many bat communication calls, although it remains unclear how auditory feedback control differs in echolocation and communication. We tackled this question by analyzing echolocation and communication in greater horseshoe bats, whose echolocation pulses are dominated by a constant frequency component that matches the frequency range they hear best. To maintain echoes within this “auditory fovea”, horseshoe bats constantly adjust their echolocation call frequency depending on the frequency of the returning echo signal. This Doppler-shift compensation (DSC) behavior represents one of the most precise forms of sensory-motor feedback known. We examined the variability of echolocation pulses emitted at rest (resting frequencies, RFs) and one type of communication signal which resembles an echolocation pulse but is much shorter (short constant frequency communication calls, SCFs) and produced only during social interactions. We found that while RFs varied from day to day, corroborating earlier studies in other constant frequency bats, SCF-frequencies remained unchanged. In addition, RFs overlapped for some bats whereas SCF-frequencies were always distinctly different. This indicates that auditory feedback during echolocation changed with varying RFs but remained constant or may have been absent during emission of SCF calls for communication. This fundamentally different feedback mechanism for echolocation and communication may have enabled these bats to use SCF calls for individual recognition whereas they adjusted RF calls to accommodate the daily shifts of their auditory fovea. PMID:23638137

Source Space Estimation of Oscillatory Power and Brain Connectivity in Tinnitus

PubMed Central

Zobay, Oliver; Palmer, Alan R.; Hall, Deborah A.; Sereda, Magdalena; Adjamian, Peyman

2015-01-01

Tinnitus is the perception of an internally generated sound that is postulated to emerge as a result of structural and functional changes in the brain. However, the precise pathophysiology of tinnitus remains unknown. Llinas’ thalamocortical dysrhythmia model suggests that neural deafferentation due to hearing loss causes a dysregulation of coherent activity between thalamus and auditory cortex. This leads to a pathological coupling of theta and gamma oscillatory activity in the resting state, localised to the auditory cortex where normally alpha oscillations should occur. Numerous studies also suggest that tinnitus perception relies on the interplay between auditory and non-auditory brain areas. According to the Global Brain Model, a network of global fronto—parietal—cingulate areas is important in the generation and maintenance of the conscious perception of tinnitus. Thus, the distress experienced by many individuals with tinnitus is related to the top—down influence of this global network on auditory areas. In this magnetoencephalographic study, we compare resting-state oscillatory activity of tinnitus participants and normal-hearing controls to examine effects on spectral power as well as functional and effective connectivity. The analysis is based on beamformer source projection and an atlas-based region-of-interest approach. We find increased functional connectivity within the auditory cortices in the alpha band. A significant increase is also found for the effective connectivity from a global brain network to the auditory cortices in the alpha and beta bands. We do not find evidence of effects on spectral power. Overall, our results provide only limited support for the thalamocortical dysrhythmia and Global Brain models of tinnitus. PMID:25799178

Stuttering adults' lack of pre-speech auditory modulation normalizes when speaking with delayed auditory feedback.

PubMed

Daliri, Ayoub; Max, Ludo

2018-02-01

Auditory modulation during speech movement planning is limited in adults who stutter (AWS), but the functional relevance of the phenomenon itself remains unknown. We investigated for AWS and adults who do not stutter (AWNS) (a) a potential relationship between pre-speech auditory modulation and auditory feedback contributions to speech motor learning and (b) the effect on pre-speech auditory modulation of real-time versus delayed auditory feedback. Experiment I used a sensorimotor adaptation paradigm to estimate auditory-motor speech learning. Using acoustic speech recordings, we quantified subjects' formant frequency adjustments across trials when continually exposed to formant-shifted auditory feedback. In Experiment II, we used electroencephalography to determine the same subjects' extent of pre-speech auditory modulation (reductions in auditory evoked potential N1 amplitude) when probe tones were delivered prior to speaking versus not speaking. To manipulate subjects' ability to monitor real-time feedback, we included speaking conditions with non-altered auditory feedback (NAF) and delayed auditory feedback (DAF). Experiment I showed that auditory-motor learning was limited for AWS versus AWNS, and the extent of learning was negatively correlated with stuttering frequency. Experiment II yielded several key findings: (a) our prior finding of limited pre-speech auditory modulation in AWS was replicated; (b) DAF caused a decrease in auditory modulation for most AWNS but an increase for most AWS; and (c) for AWS, the amount of auditory modulation when speaking with DAF was positively correlated with stuttering frequency. Lastly, AWNS showed no correlation between pre-speech auditory modulation (Experiment II) and extent of auditory-motor learning (Experiment I) whereas AWS showed a negative correlation between these measures. Thus, findings suggest that AWS show deficits in both pre-speech auditory modulation and auditory-motor learning; however, limited pre-speech modulation is not directly related to limited auditory-motor adaptation; and in AWS, DAF paradoxically tends to normalize their otherwise limited pre-speech auditory modulation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Auditory presentation and synchronization in Adobe Flash and HTML5/JavaScript Web experiments.

PubMed

Reimers, Stian; Stewart, Neil

2016-09-01

Substantial recent research has examined the accuracy of presentation durations and response time measurements for visually presented stimuli in Web-based experiments, with a general conclusion that accuracy is acceptable for most kinds of experiments. However, many areas of behavioral research use auditory stimuli instead of, or in addition to, visual stimuli. Much less is known about auditory accuracy using standard Web-based testing procedures. We used a millisecond-accurate Black Box Toolkit to measure the actual durations of auditory stimuli and the synchronization of auditory and visual presentation onsets. We examined the distribution of timings for 100 presentations of auditory and visual stimuli across two computers with difference specs, three commonly used browsers, and code written in either Adobe Flash or JavaScript. We also examined different coding options for attempting to synchronize the auditory and visual onsets. Overall, we found that auditory durations were very consistent, but that the lags between visual and auditory onsets varied substantially across browsers and computer systems.

Dynamic sound localization in cats

PubMed Central

Ruhland, Janet L.; Jones, Amy E.

2015-01-01

Sound localization in cats and humans relies on head-centered acoustic cues. Studies have shown that humans are able to localize sounds during rapid head movements that are directed toward the target or other objects of interest. We studied whether cats are able to utilize similar dynamic acoustic cues to localize acoustic targets delivered during rapid eye-head gaze shifts. We trained cats with visual-auditory two-step tasks in which we presented a brief sound burst during saccadic eye-head gaze shifts toward a prior visual target. No consistent or significant differences in accuracy or precision were found between this dynamic task (2-step saccade) and the comparable static task (single saccade when the head is stable) in either horizontal or vertical direction. Cats appear to be able to process dynamic auditory cues and execute complex motor adjustments to accurately localize auditory targets during rapid eye-head gaze shifts. PMID:26063772

Audio-visual temporal perception in children with restored hearing.

PubMed

Gori, Monica; Chilosi, Anna; Forli, Francesca; Burr, David

2017-05-01

It is not clear how audio-visual temporal perception develops in children with restored hearing. In this study we measured temporal discrimination thresholds with an audio-visual temporal bisection task in 9 deaf children with restored audition, and 22 typically hearing children. In typically hearing children, audition was more precise than vision, with no gain in multisensory conditions (as previously reported in Gori et al. (2012b)). However, deaf children with restored audition showed similar thresholds for audio and visual thresholds and some evidence of gain in audio-visual temporal multisensory conditions. Interestingly, we found a strong correlation between auditory weighting of multisensory signals and quality of language: patients who gave more weight to audition had better language skills. Similarly, auditory thresholds for the temporal bisection task were also a good predictor of language skills. This result supports the idea that the temporal auditory processing is associated with language development. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Audio Watermark Embedding Technique Applying Auditory Stream Segregation: "G-encoder Mark" Able to Be Extracted by Mobile Phone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Modegi, Toshio

We are developing audio watermarking techniques which enable extraction of embedded data by cell phones. For that we have to embed data onto frequency ranges, where our auditory response is prominent, therefore data embedding will cause much auditory noises. Previously we have proposed applying a two-channel stereo play-back feature, where noises generated by a data embedded left-channel signal will be reduced by the other right-channel signal. However, this proposal has practical problems of restricting extracting terminal location. In this paper, we propose synthesizing the noise reducing right-channel signal with the left-signal and reduces noises completely by generating an auditory stream segregation phenomenon to users. This newly proposed makes the noise reducing right-channel signal unnecessary and supports monaural play-back operations. Moreover, we propose a wide-band embedding method causing dual auditory stream segregation phenomena, which enables data embedding on whole public phone frequency ranges and stable extractions with 3-G mobile phones. From these proposals, extraction precisions become higher than those by the previously proposed method whereas the quality damages of embedded signals become smaller. In this paper we present an abstract of our newly proposed method and experimental results comparing with those by the previously proposed method.

Do you see what I hear? Vantage point preference and visual dominance in a time-space synaesthete.

PubMed

Jarick, Michelle; Stewart, Mark T; Smilek, Daniel; Dixon, Michael J

2013-01-01

Time-space synaesthetes "see" time units organized in a spatial form. While the structure might be invariant for most synaesthetes, the perspective by which some view their calendar is somewhat flexible. One well-studied synaesthete L adopts different viewpoints for months seen vs. heard. Interestingly, L claims to prefer her auditory perspective, even though the month names are represented visually upside down. To verify this, we used a spatial-cueing task that included audiovisual month cues. These cues were either congruent with L's preferred "auditory" viewpoint (auditory-only and auditory + month inverted) or incongruent (upright visual-only and auditory + month upright). Our prediction was that L would show enhanced cueing effects (larger response time difference between valid and invalid targets) following the audiovisual congruent cues since both elicit the "preferred" auditory perspective. Also, when faced with conflicting cues, we predicted L would choose the preferred auditory perspective over the visual perspective. As we expected, L did show enhanced cueing effects following the audiovisual congruent cues that corresponded with her preferred auditory perspective, but that the visual perspective dominated when L was faced with both viewpoints simultaneously. The results are discussed with relation to the reification hypothesis of sequence space synaesthesia (Eagleman, 2009).

Single-trial Phase Entrainment of Theta Oscillations in Sensory Regions Predicts Human Associative Memory Performance.

PubMed

Wang, Danying; Clouter, Andrew; Chen, Qiaoyu; Shapiro, Kimron L; Hanslmayr, Simon

2018-06-13

Episodic memories are rich in sensory information and often contain integrated information from different sensory modalities. For instance, we can store memories of a recent concert with visual and auditory impressions being integrated in one episode. Theta oscillations have recently been implicated in playing a causal role synchronizing and effectively binding the different modalities together in memory. However, an open question is whether momentary fluctuations in theta synchronization predict the likelihood of associative memory formation for multisensory events. To address this question we entrained the visual and auditory cortex at theta frequency (4 Hz) and in a synchronous or asynchronous manner by modulating the luminance and volume of movies and sounds at 4 Hz, with a phase offset at 0° or 180°. EEG activity from human subjects (both sexes) was recorded while they memorized the association between a movie and a sound. Associative memory performance was significantly enhanced in the 0° compared to the 180° condition. Source-level analysis demonstrated that the physical stimuli effectively entrained their respective cortical areas with a corresponding phase offset. The findings suggested a successful replication of a previous study (Clouter et al., 2017). Importantly, the strength of entrainment during encoding correlated with the efficacy of associative memory such that small phase differences between visual and auditory cortex predicted a high likelihood of correct retrieval in a later recall test. These findings suggest that theta oscillations serve a specific function in the episodic memory system: Binding the contents of different modalities into coherent memory episodes. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT How multi-sensory experiences are bound to form a coherent episodic memory representation is one of the fundamental questions in human episodic memory research. Evidence from animal literature suggests that the relative timing between an input and theta oscillations in the hippocampus is crucial for memory formation. We precisely controlled the timing between visual and auditory stimuli and the neural oscillations at 4 Hz using a multisensory entrainment paradigm. Human associative memory formation depends on coincident timing between sensory streams processed by the corresponding brain regions. We provide evidence for a significant role of relative timing of neural theta activity in human episodic memory on a single trial level, which reveals a crucial mechanism underlying human episodic memory. Copyright © 2018 the authors.

Clapping in time parallels literacy and calls upon overlapping neural mechanisms in early readers.

PubMed

Bonacina, Silvia; Krizman, Jennifer; White-Schwoch, Travis; Kraus, Nina

2018-05-12

The auditory system is extremely precise in processing the temporal information of perceptual events and using these cues to coordinate action. Synchronizing movement to a steady beat relies on this bidirectional connection between sensory and motor systems, and activates many of the auditory and cognitive processes used when reading. Here, we use Interactive Metronome, a clinical intervention technology requiring an individual to clap her hands in time with a steady beat, to investigate whether the links between literacy and synchronization skills, previously established in older children, are also evident in children who are learning to read. We tested 64 typically developing children (ages 5-7 years) on their synchronization abilities, neurophysiological responses to speech in noise, and literacy skills. We found that children who have lower variability in synchronizing have higher phase consistency, higher stability, and more accurate envelope encoding-all neurophysiological response components linked to language skills. Moreover, performing the same task with visual feedback reveals links with literacy skills, notably processing speed, phonological processing, word reading, spelling, morphology, and syntax. These results suggest that rhythm skills and literacy call on overlapping neural mechanisms, supporting the idea that rhythm training may boost literacy in part by engaging sensory-motor systems. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

Selective Control of Fear Expression by Optogenetic Manipulation of Infralimbic Cortex after Extinction

PubMed Central

Kim, Hyung-Su; Cho, Hye-Yeon; Augustine, George J; Han, Jin-Hee

2016-01-01

Evidence from rodent and human studies has identified the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, specifically the infralimbic cortex (IL), as a critical brain structure in the extinction of conditioned fear. However, how IL activity controls fear expression at the time of extinction memory retrieval is unclear and controversial. To address this issue, we used optogenetics to precisely manipulate the activity of genetically targeted cells and to examine the real-time contribution of IL activity to expression of auditory-conditioned fear extinction in mice. We found that inactivation of IL, but not prelimbic cortex, impaired extinction retrieval. Conversely, photostimulation of IL excitatory neurons robustly enhanced the inhibition of fear expression after extinction, but not before extinction. Moreover, this effect was specific to the conditioned stimulus (CS): IL activity had no effect on expression of fear in response to the conditioned context after auditory fear extinction. Thus, in contrast to the expectation from a generally held view, artificial activation of IL produced no significant effect on expression of non-extinguished conditioned fear. Therefore, our data provide compelling evidence that IL activity is critical for expression of fear extinction and establish a causal role for IL activity in controlling fear expression in a CS-specific manner after extinction. PMID:26354044

Persistent Thalamic Sound Processing Despite Profound Cochlear Denervation.

PubMed

Chambers, Anna R; Salazar, Juan J; Polley, Daniel B

2016-01-01

Neurons at higher stages of sensory processing can partially compensate for a sudden drop in peripheral input through a homeostatic plasticity process that increases the gain on weak afferent inputs. Even after a profound unilateral auditory neuropathy where >95% of afferent synapses between auditory nerve fibers and inner hair cells have been eliminated with ouabain, central gain can restore cortical processing and perceptual detection of basic sounds delivered to the denervated ear. In this model of profound auditory neuropathy, auditory cortex (ACtx) processing and perception recover despite the absence of an auditory brainstem response (ABR) or brainstem acoustic reflexes, and only a partial recovery of sound processing at the level of the inferior colliculus (IC), an auditory midbrain nucleus. In this study, we induced a profound cochlear neuropathy with ouabain and asked whether central gain enabled a compensatory plasticity in the auditory thalamus comparable to the full recovery of function previously observed in the ACtx, the partial recovery observed in the IC, or something different entirely. Unilateral ouabain treatment in adult mice effectively eliminated the ABR, yet robust sound-evoked activity persisted in a minority of units recorded from the contralateral medial geniculate body (MGB) of awake mice. Sound driven MGB units could decode moderate and high-intensity sounds with accuracies comparable to sham-treated control mice, but low-intensity classification was near chance. Pure tone receptive fields and synchronization to broadband pulse trains also persisted, albeit with significantly reduced quality and precision, respectively. MGB decoding of temporally modulated pulse trains and speech tokens were both greatly impaired in ouabain-treated mice. Taken together, the absence of an ABR belied a persistent auditory processing at the level of the MGB that was likely enabled through increased central gain. Compensatory plasticity at the level of the auditory thalamus was less robust overall than previous observations in cortex or midbrain. Hierarchical differences in compensatory plasticity following sensorineural hearing loss may reflect differences in GABA circuit organization within the MGB, as compared to the ACtx or IC.

Synchronisation signatures in the listening brain: a perspective from non-invasive neuroelectrophysiology.

PubMed

Weisz, Nathan; Obleser, Jonas

2014-01-01

Human magneto- and electroencephalography (M/EEG) are capable of tracking brain activity at millisecond temporal resolution in an entirely non-invasive manner, a feature that offers unique opportunities to uncover the spatiotemporal dynamics of the hearing brain. In general, precise synchronisation of neural activity within as well as across distributed regions is likely to subserve any cognitive process, with auditory cognition being no exception. Brain oscillations, in a range of frequencies, are a putative hallmark of this synchronisation process. Embedded in a larger effort to relate human cognition to brain oscillations, a field of research is emerging on how synchronisation within, as well as between, brain regions may shape auditory cognition. Combined with much improved source localisation and connectivity techniques, it has become possible to study directly the neural activity of auditory cortex with unprecedented spatio-temporal fidelity and to uncover frequency-specific long-range connectivities across the human cerebral cortex. In the present review, we will summarise recent contributions mainly of our laboratories to this emerging domain. We present (1) a more general introduction on how to study local as well as interareal synchronisation in human M/EEG; (2) how these networks may subserve and influence illusory auditory perception (clinical and non-clinical) and (3) auditory selective attention; and (4) how oscillatory networks further reflect and impact on speech comprehension. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Human Auditory Neuroimaging. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A little elastic for a better performance: kinesiotaping of the motor effector modulates neural mechanisms for rhythmic movements

PubMed Central

Bravi, Riccardo; Quarta, Eros; Cohen, Erez J.; Gottard, Anna; Minciacchi, Diego

2014-01-01

A rhythmic motor performance is brought about by an integration of timing information with movements. Investigations on the millisecond time scale distinguish two forms of time control, event-based timing and emergent timing. While event-based timing asserts the existence of a central internal timekeeper for the control of repetitive movements, the emergent timing perspective claims that timing emerges from dynamic control of nontemporal movements parameters. We have recently demonstrated that the precision of an isochronous performance, defined as performance of repeated movements having a uniform duration, was insensible to auditory stimuli of various characteristics (Bravi et al., 2014). Such finding has led us to investigate whether the application of an elastic therapeutic tape (Kinesio® Tex taping; KTT) used for treating athletic injuries and a variety of physical disorders, is able to reduce the timing variability of repetitive rhythmic movement. Young healthy subjects, tested with and without KTT, have participated in sessions in which sets of repeated isochronous wrist's flexion-extensions (IWFEs) were performed under various auditory conditions and during their recall. Kinematics was recorded and temporal parameters were extracted and analyzed. Our results show that the application of KTT decreases the variability of rhythmic movements by a 2-fold effect: on the one hand KTT provides extra proprioceptive information activating cutaneous mechanoreceptors, on the other KTT biases toward the emergent timing thus modulating the processes for rhythmic movements. Therefore, KTT appears able to render movements less audio dependent by relieving, at least partially, the central structures from time control and making available more resources for an augmented performance. PMID:25309355

Tone series and the nature of working memory capacity development.

PubMed

Clark, Katherine M; Hardman, Kyle O; Schachtman, Todd R; Saults, J Scott; Glass, Bret A; Cowan, Nelson

2018-04-01

Recent advances in understanding visual working memory, the limited information held in mind for use in ongoing processing, are extended here to examine auditory working memory development. Research with arrays of visual objects has shown how to distinguish the capacity, in terms of the number of objects retained, from the precision of the object representations. We adapt the technique to sequences of nonmusical tones, in an investigation including children (6-13 years, N = 84) and adults (26-50 years, N = 31). For each series of 1 to 4 tones, the participant responded by using an 80-choice scale to try to reproduce the tone at a queried serial position. Despite the much longer-lasting usefulness of sensory memory for tones compared with visual objects, the observed tone capacity was similar to previous findings for visual capacity. The results also constrain theories of childhood working memory development, indicating increases with age in both the capacity and the precision of the tone representations, similar to the visual studies, rather than age differences in time-based memory decay. The findings, including patterns of correlations between capacity, precision, and some auxiliary tasks and questionnaires, establish capacity and precision as dissociable processes and place important constraints on various hypotheses of working memory development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Auditory sequence analysis and phonological skill

PubMed Central

Grube, Manon; Kumar, Sukhbinder; Cooper, Freya E.; Turton, Stuart; Griffiths, Timothy D.

2012-01-01

This work tests the relationship between auditory and phonological skill in a non-selected cohort of 238 school students (age 11) with the specific hypothesis that sound-sequence analysis would be more relevant to phonological skill than the analysis of basic, single sounds. Auditory processing was assessed across the domains of pitch, time and timbre; a combination of six standard tests of literacy and language ability was used to assess phonological skill. A significant correlation between general auditory and phonological skill was demonstrated, plus a significant, specific correlation between measures of phonological skill and the auditory analysis of short sequences in pitch and time. The data support a limited but significant link between auditory and phonological ability with a specific role for sound-sequence analysis, and provide a possible new focus for auditory training strategies to aid language development in early adolescence. PMID:22951739

Cerebellar contributions to motor timing: a PET study of auditory and visual rhythm reproduction.

PubMed

Penhune, V B; Zattore, R J; Evans, A C

1998-11-01

The perception and production of temporal patterns, or rhythms, is important for both music and speech. However, the way in which the human brain achieves accurate timing of perceptual input and motor output is as yet little understood. Central control of both motor timing and perceptual timing across modalities has been linked to both the cerebellum and the basal ganglia (BG). The present study was designed to test the hypothesized central control of temporal processing and to examine the roles of the cerebellum, BG, and sensory association areas. In this positron emission tomography (PET) activation paradigm, subjects reproduced rhythms of increasing temporal complexity that were presented separately in the auditory and visual modalities. The results provide support for a supramodal contribution of the lateral cerebellar cortex and cerebellar vermis to the production of a timed motor response, particularly when it is complex and/or novel. The results also give partial support to the involvement of BG structures in motor timing, although this may be more directly related to implementation of the motor response than to timing per se. Finally, sensory association areas and the ventrolateral frontal cortex were found to be involved in modality-specific encoding and retrieval of the temporal stimuli. Taken together, these results point to the participation of a number of neural structures in the production of a timed motor response from an external stimulus. The role of the cerebellum in timing is conceptualized not as a clock or counter but simply as the structure that provides the necessary circuitry for the sensory system to extract temporal information and for the motor system to learn to produce a precisely timed response.

Transient human auditory cortex activation during volitional attention shifting

PubMed Central

Uhlig, Christian Harm; Gutschalk, Alexander

2017-01-01

While strong activation of auditory cortex is generally found for exogenous orienting of attention, endogenous, intra-modal shifting of auditory attention has not yet been demonstrated to evoke transient activation of the auditory cortex. Here, we used fMRI to test if endogenous shifting of attention is also associated with transient activation of the auditory cortex. In contrast to previous studies, attention shifts were completely self-initiated and not cued by transient auditory or visual stimuli. Stimuli were two dichotic, continuous streams of tones, whose perceptual grouping was not ambiguous. Participants were instructed to continuously focus on one of the streams and switch between the two after a while, indicating the time and direction of each attentional shift by pressing one of two response buttons. The BOLD response around the time of the button presses revealed robust activation of the auditory cortex, along with activation of a distributed task network. To test if the transient auditory cortex activation was specifically related to auditory orienting, a self-paced motor task was added, where participants were instructed to ignore the auditory stimulation while they pressed the response buttons in alternation and at a similar pace. Results showed that attentional orienting produced stronger activity in auditory cortex, but auditory cortex activation was also observed for button presses without focused attention to the auditory stimulus. The response related to attention shifting was stronger contralateral to the side where attention was shifted to. Contralateral-dominant activation was also observed in dorsal parietal cortex areas, confirming previous observations for auditory attention shifting in studies that used auditory cues. PMID:28273110

Visual form predictions facilitate auditory processing at the N1.

PubMed

Paris, Tim; Kim, Jeesun; Davis, Chris

2017-02-20

Auditory-visual (AV) events often involve a leading visual cue (e.g. auditory-visual speech) that allows the perceiver to generate predictions about the upcoming auditory event. Electrophysiological evidence suggests that when an auditory event is predicted, processing is sped up, i.e., the N1 component of the ERP occurs earlier (N1 facilitation). However, it is not clear (1) whether N1 facilitation is based specifically on predictive rather than multisensory integration and (2) which particular properties of the visual cue it is based on. The current experiment used artificial AV stimuli in which visual cues predicted but did not co-occur with auditory cues. Visual form cues (high and low salience) and the auditory-visual pairing were manipulated so that auditory predictions could be based on form and timing or on timing only. The results showed that N1 facilitation occurred only for combined form and temporal predictions. These results suggest that faster auditory processing (as indicated by N1 facilitation) is based on predictive processing generated by a visual cue that clearly predicts both what and when the auditory stimulus will occur. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Feeling the beat: premotor and striatal interactions in musicians and non-musicians during beat perception

PubMed Central

Grahn, Jessica A.; Rowe, James B.

2009-01-01

Little is known about the underlying neurobiology of rhythm and beat perception, despite its universal cultural importance. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study rhythm perception in musicians and non-musicians. Three conditions varied in the degree to which external reinforcement versus internal generation of the beat was required. The ‘Volume’ condition strongly externally marked the beat with volume changes, the ‘Duration’ condition marked the beat with weaker accents arising from duration changes, and the ‘Unaccented’ condition required the beat to be entirely internally generated. In all conditions, beat rhythms compared to nonbeat control rhythms revealed putamen activity. The presence of a beat was also associated with greater connectivity between the putamen and the supplementary motor area (SMA), the premotor cortex (PMC) and auditory cortex. In contrast, the type of accent within the beat conditions modulated the coupling between premotor and auditory cortex, with greater modulation for musicians than non-musicians. Importantly, the putamen's response to beat conditions was not due to differences in temporal complexity between the three rhythm conditions. We propose that a cortico-subcortical network including the putamen, SMA, and PMC is engaged for the analysis of temporal sequences and prediction or generation of putative beats, especially under conditions that may require internal generation of the beat. The importance of this system for auditory-motor interaction and development of precisely timed movement is suggested here by its facilitation in musicians. PMID:19515922

Feeling the beat: premotor and striatal interactions in musicians and nonmusicians during beat perception.

PubMed

Grahn, Jessica A; Rowe, James B

2009-06-10

Little is known about the underlying neurobiology of rhythm and beat perception, despite its universal cultural importance. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study rhythm perception in musicians and nonmusicians. Three conditions varied in the degree to which external reinforcement versus internal generation of the beat was required. The "volume" condition strongly externally marked the beat with volume changes, the "duration" condition marked the beat with weaker accents arising from duration changes, and the "unaccented" condition required the beat to be entirely internally generated. In all conditions, beat rhythms compared with nonbeat control rhythms revealed putamen activity. The presence of a beat was also associated with greater connectivity between the putamen and the supplementary motor area (SMA), the premotor cortex (PMC), and auditory cortex. In contrast, the type of accent within the beat conditions modulated the coupling between premotor and auditory cortex, with greater modulation for musicians than nonmusicians. Importantly, the response of the putamen to beat conditions was not attributable to differences in temporal complexity between the three rhythm conditions. We propose that a cortico-subcortical network including the putamen, SMA, and PMC is engaged for the analysis of temporal sequences and prediction or generation of putative beats, especially under conditions that may require internal generation of the beat. The importance of this system for auditory-motor interaction and development of precisely timed movement is suggested here by its facilitation in musicians.

Auditory and visual interhemispheric communication in musicians and non-musicians.

PubMed

Woelfle, Rebecca; Grahn, Jessica A

2013-01-01

The corpus callosum (CC) is a brain structure composed of axon fibres linking the right and left hemispheres. Musical training is associated with larger midsagittal cross-sectional area of the CC, suggesting that interhemispheric communication may be faster in musicians. Here we compared interhemispheric transmission times (ITTs) for musicians and non-musicians. ITT was measured by comparing simple reaction times to stimuli presented to the same hemisphere that controlled a button-press response (uncrossed reaction time), or to the contralateral hemisphere (crossed reaction time). Both visual and auditory stimuli were tested. We predicted that the crossed-uncrossed difference (CUD) for musicians would be smaller than for non-musicians as a result of faster interhemispheric transfer times. We did not expect a difference in CUDs between the visual and auditory modalities for either musicians or non-musicians, as previous work indicates that interhemispheric transfer may happen through the genu of the CC, which contains motor fibres rather than sensory fibres. There were no significant differences in CUDs between musicians and non-musicians. However, auditory CUDs were significantly smaller than visual CUDs. Although this auditory-visual difference was larger in musicians than non-musicians, the interaction between modality and musical training was not significant. Therefore, although musical training does not significantly affect ITT, the crossing of auditory information between hemispheres appears to be faster than visual information, perhaps because subcortical pathways play a greater role for auditory interhemispheric transfer.

Auditory priming improves neural synchronization in auditory-motor entrainment.

PubMed

Crasta, Jewel E; Thaut, Michael H; Anderson, Charles W; Davies, Patricia L; Gavin, William J

2018-05-22

Neurophysiological research has shown that auditory and motor systems interact during movement to rhythmic auditory stimuli through a process called entrainment. This study explores the neural oscillations underlying auditory-motor entrainment using electroencephalography. Forty young adults were randomly assigned to one of two control conditions, an auditory-only condition or a motor-only condition, prior to a rhythmic auditory-motor synchronization condition (referred to as combined condition). Participants assigned to the auditory-only condition auditory-first group) listened to 400 trials of auditory stimuli presented every 800 ms, while those in the motor-only condition (motor-first group) were asked to tap rhythmically every 800 ms without any external stimuli. Following their control condition, all participants completed an auditory-motor combined condition that required tapping along with auditory stimuli every 800 ms. As expected, the neural processes for the combined condition for each group were different compared to their respective control condition. Time-frequency analysis of total power at an electrode site on the left central scalp (C3) indicated that the neural oscillations elicited by auditory stimuli, especially in the beta and gamma range, drove the auditory-motor entrainment. For the combined condition, the auditory-first group had significantly lower evoked power for a region of interest representing sensorimotor processing (4-20 Hz) and less total power in a region associated with anticipation and predictive timing (13-16 Hz) than the motor-first group. Thus, the auditory-only condition served as a priming facilitator of the neural processes in the combined condition, more so than the motor-only condition. Results suggest that even brief periods of rhythmic training of the auditory system leads to neural efficiency facilitating the motor system during the process of entrainment. These findings have implications for interventions using rhythmic auditory stimulation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Feature Assignment in Perception of Auditory Figure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gregg, Melissa K.; Samuel, Arthur G.

2012-01-01

Because the environment often includes multiple sounds that overlap in time, listeners must segregate a sound of interest (the auditory figure) from other co-occurring sounds (the unattended auditory ground). We conducted a series of experiments to clarify the principles governing the extraction of auditory figures. We distinguish between auditory…

Human Engineer’s Guide to Auditory Displays. Volume 2. Elements of Signal Reception and Resolution Affecting Auditory Displays.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-08-01

90de It noce..etrv wnd identify by block numberl .’-- This work reviews the areas of monaural and binaural signal detection, auditory discrimination And...AUDITORY DISPLAYS This work reviews the areas of monaural and binaural signal detection, auditory discrimination and localization, and reaction times to...pertaining to the major areas of auditory processing in humans. The areas covered in the reviews presented here are monaural and binaural siqnal detection

Do you see what I hear? Vantage point preference and visual dominance in a time-space synaesthete

PubMed Central

Jarick, Michelle; Stewart, Mark T.; Smilek, Daniel; Dixon, Michael J.

2013-01-01

Time-space synaesthetes “see” time units organized in a spatial form. While the structure might be invariant for most synaesthetes, the perspective by which some view their calendar is somewhat flexible. One well-studied synaesthete L adopts different viewpoints for months seen vs. heard. Interestingly, L claims to prefer her auditory perspective, even though the month names are represented visually upside down. To verify this, we used a spatial-cueing task that included audiovisual month cues. These cues were either congruent with L's preferred “auditory” viewpoint (auditory-only and auditory + month inverted) or incongruent (upright visual-only and auditory + month upright). Our prediction was that L would show enhanced cueing effects (larger response time difference between valid and invalid targets) following the audiovisual congruent cues since both elicit the “preferred” auditory perspective. Also, when faced with conflicting cues, we predicted L would choose the preferred auditory perspective over the visual perspective. As we expected, L did show enhanced cueing effects following the audiovisual congruent cues that corresponded with her preferred auditory perspective, but that the visual perspective dominated when L was faced with both viewpoints simultaneously. The results are discussed with relation to the reification hypothesis of sequence space synaesthesia (Eagleman, 2009). PMID:24137140

Vocal Responses to Perturbations in Voice Auditory Feedback in Individuals with Parkinson's Disease

PubMed Central

Liu, Hanjun; Wang, Emily Q.; Metman, Leo Verhagen; Larson, Charles R.

2012-01-01

Background One of the most common symptoms of speech deficits in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) is significantly reduced vocal loudness and pitch range. The present study investigated whether abnormal vocalizations in individuals with PD are related to sensory processing of voice auditory feedback. Perturbations in loudness or pitch of voice auditory feedback are known to elicit short latency, compensatory responses in voice amplitude or fundamental frequency. Methodology/Principal Findings Twelve individuals with Parkinson's disease and 13 age- and sex- matched healthy control subjects sustained a vowel sound (/α/) and received unexpected, brief (200 ms) perturbations in voice loudness (±3 or 6 dB) or pitch (±100 cents) auditory feedback. Results showed that, while all subjects produced compensatory responses in their voice amplitude or fundamental frequency, individuals with PD exhibited larger response magnitudes than the control subjects. Furthermore, for loudness-shifted feedback, upward stimuli resulted in shorter response latencies than downward stimuli in the control subjects but not in individuals with PD. Conclusions/Significance The larger response magnitudes in individuals with PD compared with the control subjects suggest that processing of voice auditory feedback is abnormal in PD. Although the precise mechanisms of the voice feedback processing are unknown, results of this study suggest that abnormal voice control in individuals with PD may be related to dysfunctional mechanisms of error detection or correction in sensory feedback processing. PMID:22448258

Audio-tactile integration and the influence of musical training.

PubMed

Kuchenbuch, Anja; Paraskevopoulos, Evangelos; Herholz, Sibylle C; Pantev, Christo

2014-01-01

Perception of our environment is a multisensory experience; information from different sensory systems like the auditory, visual and tactile is constantly integrated. Complex tasks that require high temporal and spatial precision of multisensory integration put strong demands on the underlying networks but it is largely unknown how task experience shapes multisensory processing. Long-term musical training is an excellent model for brain plasticity because it shapes the human brain at functional and structural levels, affecting a network of brain areas. In the present study we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate how audio-tactile perception is integrated in the human brain and if musicians show enhancement of the corresponding activation compared to non-musicians. Using a paradigm that allowed the investigation of combined and separate auditory and tactile processing, we found a multisensory incongruency response, generated in frontal, cingulate and cerebellar regions, an auditory mismatch response generated mainly in the auditory cortex and a tactile mismatch response generated in frontal and cerebellar regions. The influence of musical training was seen in the audio-tactile as well as in the auditory condition, indicating enhanced higher-order processing in musicians, while the sources of the tactile MMN were not influenced by long-term musical training. Consistent with the predictive coding model, more basic, bottom-up sensory processing was relatively stable and less affected by expertise, whereas areas for top-down models of multisensory expectancies were modulated by training.

Looming auditory collision warnings for driving.

PubMed

Gray, Rob

2011-02-01

A driving simulator was used to compare the effectiveness of increasing intensity (looming) auditory warning signals with other types of auditory warnings. Auditory warnings have been shown to speed driver reaction time in rear-end collision situations; however, it is not clear which type of signal is the most effective. Although verbal and symbolic (e.g., a car horn) warnings have faster response times than abstract warnings, they often lead to more response errors. Participants (N=20) experienced four nonlooming auditory warnings (constant intensity, pulsed, ramped, and car horn), three looming auditory warnings ("veridical," "early," and "late"), and a no-warning condition. In 80% of the trials, warnings were activated when a critical response was required, and in 20% of the trials, the warnings were false alarms. For the early (late) looming warnings, the rate of change of intensity signaled a time to collision (TTC) that was shorter (longer) than the actual TTC. Veridical looming and car horn warnings had significantly faster brake reaction times (BRT) compared with the other nonlooming warnings (by 80 to 160 ms). However, the number of braking responses in false alarm conditions was significantly greater for the car horn. BRT increased significantly and systematically as the TTC signaled by the looming warning was changed from early to veridical to late. Looming auditory warnings produce the best combination of response speed and accuracy. The results indicate that looming auditory warnings can be used to effectively warn a driver about an impending collision.

Auditory perceptual simulation: Simulating speech rates or accents?

PubMed

Zhou, Peiyun; Christianson, Kiel

2016-07-01

When readers engage in Auditory Perceptual Simulation (APS) during silent reading, they mentally simulate characteristics of voices attributed to a particular speaker or a character depicted in the text. Previous research found that auditory perceptual simulation of a faster native English speaker during silent reading led to shorter reading times that auditory perceptual simulation of a slower non-native English speaker. Yet, it was uncertain whether this difference was triggered by the different speech rates of the speakers, or by the difficulty of simulating an unfamiliar accent. The current study investigates this question by comparing faster Indian-English speech and slower American-English speech in the auditory perceptual simulation paradigm. Analyses of reading times of individual words and the full sentence reveal that the auditory perceptual simulation effect again modulated reading rate, and auditory perceptual simulation of the faster Indian-English speech led to faster reading rates compared to auditory perceptual simulation of the slower American-English speech. The comparison between this experiment and the data from Zhou and Christianson (2016) demonstrate further that the "speakers'" speech rates, rather than the difficulty of simulating a non-native accent, is the primary mechanism underlying auditory perceptual simulation effects. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Differential sensory cortical involvement in auditory and visual sensorimotor temporal recalibration: Evidence from transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

PubMed

Aytemür, Ali; Almeida, Nathalia; Lee, Kwang-Hyuk

2017-02-01

Adaptation to delayed sensory feedback following an action produces a subjective time compression between the action and the feedback (temporal recalibration effect, TRE). TRE is important for sensory delay compensation to maintain a relationship between causally related events. It is unclear whether TRE is a sensory modality-specific phenomenon. In 3 experiments employing a sensorimotor synchronization task, we investigated this question using cathodal transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS). We found that cathodal tDCS over the visual cortex, and to a lesser extent over the auditory cortex, produced decreased visual TRE. However, both auditory and visual cortex tDCS did not produce any measurable effects on auditory TRE. Our study revealed different nature of TRE in auditory and visual domains. Visual-motor TRE, which is more variable than auditory TRE, is a sensory modality-specific phenomenon, modulated by the auditory cortex. The robustness of auditory-motor TRE, unaffected by tDCS, suggests the dominance of the auditory system in temporal processing, by providing a frame of reference in the realignment of sensorimotor timing signals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interaction of language, auditory and memory brain networks in auditory verbal hallucinations.

PubMed

Ćurčić-Blake, Branislava; Ford, Judith M; Hubl, Daniela; Orlov, Natasza D; Sommer, Iris E; Waters, Flavie; Allen, Paul; Jardri, Renaud; Woodruff, Peter W; David, Olivier; Mulert, Christoph; Woodward, Todd S; Aleman, André

2017-01-01

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) occur in psychotic disorders, but also as a symptom of other conditions and even in healthy people. Several current theories on the origin of AVH converge, with neuroimaging studies suggesting that the language, auditory and memory/limbic networks are of particular relevance. However, reconciliation of these theories with experimental evidence is missing. We review 50 studies investigating functional (EEG and fMRI) and anatomic (diffusion tensor imaging) connectivity in these networks, and explore the evidence supporting abnormal connectivity in these networks associated with AVH. We distinguish between functional connectivity during an actual hallucination experience (symptom capture) and functional connectivity during either the resting state or a task comparing individuals who hallucinate with those who do not (symptom association studies). Symptom capture studies clearly reveal a pattern of increased coupling among the auditory, language and striatal regions. Anatomical and symptom association functional studies suggest that the interhemispheric connectivity between posterior auditory regions may depend on the phase of illness, with increases in non-psychotic individuals and first episode patients and decreases in chronic patients. Leading hypotheses involving concepts as unstable memories, source monitoring, top-down attention, and hybrid models of hallucinations are supported in part by the published connectivity data, although several caveats and inconsistencies remain. Specifically, possible changes in fronto-temporal connectivity are still under debate. Precise hypotheses concerning the directionality of connections deduced from current theoretical approaches should be tested using experimental approaches that allow for discrimination of competing hypotheses. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Visual Timing of Structured Dance Movements Resembles Auditory Rhythm Perception

PubMed Central

Su, Yi-Huang; Salazar-López, Elvira

2016-01-01

Temporal mechanisms for processing auditory musical rhythms are well established, in which a perceived beat is beneficial for timing purposes. It is yet unknown whether such beat-based timing would also underlie visual perception of temporally structured, ecological stimuli connected to music: dance. In this study, we investigated whether observers extracted a visual beat when watching dance movements to assist visual timing of these movements. Participants watched silent videos of dance sequences and reproduced the movement duration by mental recall. We found better visual timing for limb movements with regular patterns in the trajectories than without, similar to the beat advantage for auditory rhythms. When movements involved both the arms and the legs, the benefit of a visual beat relied only on the latter. The beat-based advantage persisted despite auditory interferences that were temporally incongruent with the visual beat, arguing for the visual nature of these mechanisms. Our results suggest that visual timing principles for dance parallel their auditory counterparts for music, which may be based on common sensorimotor coupling. These processes likely yield multimodal rhythm representations in the scenario of music and dance. PMID:27313900

Visual Timing of Structured Dance Movements Resembles Auditory Rhythm Perception.

PubMed

Su, Yi-Huang; Salazar-López, Elvira

2016-01-01

Temporal mechanisms for processing auditory musical rhythms are well established, in which a perceived beat is beneficial for timing purposes. It is yet unknown whether such beat-based timing would also underlie visual perception of temporally structured, ecological stimuli connected to music: dance. In this study, we investigated whether observers extracted a visual beat when watching dance movements to assist visual timing of these movements. Participants watched silent videos of dance sequences and reproduced the movement duration by mental recall. We found better visual timing for limb movements with regular patterns in the trajectories than without, similar to the beat advantage for auditory rhythms. When movements involved both the arms and the legs, the benefit of a visual beat relied only on the latter. The beat-based advantage persisted despite auditory interferences that were temporally incongruent with the visual beat, arguing for the visual nature of these mechanisms. Our results suggest that visual timing principles for dance parallel their auditory counterparts for music, which may be based on common sensorimotor coupling. These processes likely yield multimodal rhythm representations in the scenario of music and dance.

Temporal Influence on Awareness

DTIC Science & Technology

1995-12-01

43 38. Test Setup Timing: Measured vs Expected Modal Delays (in ms) ............. 46 39. Experiment I: visual and auditory stimuli...presented simultaneously; visual- auditory delay=Oms, visual-visual delay=0ms ....... .......................... 47 40. Experiment II: visual and auditory ...stimuli presented in order; visual- auditory de- lay=Oms, visual-visual delay=variable ................................ 48 41. Experiment II: visual and

Auditory Processing of Amplitude Envelope Rise Time in Adults Diagnosed with Developmental Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pasquini, Elisabeth S.; Corriveau, Kathleen H.; Goswami, Usha

2007-01-01

Studies of basic (nonspeech) auditory processing in adults thought to have developmental dyslexia have yielded a variety of data. Yet there has been little consensus regarding the explanatory value of auditory processing in accounting for reading difficulties. Recently, however, a number of studies of basic auditory processing in children with…

Reproduction of auditory and visual standards in monochannel cochlear implant users.

PubMed

Kanabus, Magdalena; Szelag, Elzbieta; Kolodziejczyk, Iwona; Szuchnik, Joanna

2004-01-01

The temporal reproduction of standard durations ranging from 1 to 9 seconds was investigated in monochannel cochlear implant (CI) users and in normally hearing subjects for the auditory and visual modality. The results showed that the pattern of performance in patients depended on their level of auditory comprehension. Results for CI users, who displayed relatively good auditory comprehension, did not differ from that of normally hearing subjects for both modalities. Patients with poor auditory comprehension significantly overestimated shorter auditory standards (1, 1.5 and 2.5 s), compared to both patients with good comprehension and controls. For the visual modality the between-group comparisons were not significant. These deficits in the reproduction of auditory standards were explained in accordance with both the attentional-gate model and the role of working memory in prospective time judgment. The impairments described above can influence the functioning of the temporal integration mechanism that is crucial for auditory speech comprehension on the level of words and phrases. We postulate that the deficits in time reproduction of short standards may be one of the possible reasons for poor speech understanding in monochannel CI users.

The Easy-to-Hard Effect in Human (Homo sapiens) and Rat (Rattus norvegicus) Auditory Identification

PubMed Central

Liu, Estella H.; Mercado, Eduardo; Church, Barbara A.; Orduña, Itzel

2009-01-01

Training exercises can improve perceptual sensitivities. We examined whether progressively training humans and rats to perform a difficult auditory identification task led to larger improvements than extensive training with highly similar sounds (the easy-to-hard effect). Practice improved humans’ ability to distinguish sounds regardless of the training regimen. However, progressively trained participants were more accurate and showed more generalization, despite significantly less training with the stimuli that were the most difficult to distinguish. Rats showed less capacity to improve with practice, but still benefited from progressive training. These findings indicate that transitioning from an easier to a more difficult task during training can facilitate, and in some cases may be essential for, auditory perceptual learning. The results are not predicted by an explanation that assumes interaction of generalized excitation and inhibition, but are consistent with a hierarchical account of perceptual learning in which the representational precision required to distinguish stimuli determines the mechanisms engaged during learning. PMID:18489229

Homeostatic enhancement of sensory transduction

PubMed Central

Milewski, Andrew R.; Ó Maoiléidigh, Dáibhid; Salvi, Joshua D.; Hudspeth, A. J.

2017-01-01

Our sense of hearing boasts exquisite sensitivity, precise frequency discrimination, and a broad dynamic range. Experiments and modeling imply, however, that the auditory system achieves this performance for only a narrow range of parameter values. Small changes in these values could compromise hair cells’ ability to detect stimuli. We propose that, rather than exerting tight control over parameters, the auditory system uses a homeostatic mechanism that increases the robustness of its operation to variation in parameter values. To slowly adjust the response to sinusoidal stimulation, the homeostatic mechanism feeds back a rectified version of the hair bundle’s displacement to its adaptation process. When homeostasis is enforced, the range of parameter values for which the sensitivity, tuning sharpness, and dynamic range exceed specified thresholds can increase by more than an order of magnitude. Signatures in the hair cell’s behavior provide a means to determine through experiment whether such a mechanism operates in the auditory system. Robustness of function through homeostasis may be ensured in any system through mechanisms similar to those that we describe here. PMID:28760949

Auditory and Visual Interhemispheric Communication in Musicians and Non-Musicians

PubMed Central

Woelfle, Rebecca; Grahn, Jessica A.

2013-01-01

The corpus callosum (CC) is a brain structure composed of axon fibres linking the right and left hemispheres. Musical training is associated with larger midsagittal cross-sectional area of the CC, suggesting that interhemispheric communication may be faster in musicians. Here we compared interhemispheric transmission times (ITTs) for musicians and non-musicians. ITT was measured by comparing simple reaction times to stimuli presented to the same hemisphere that controlled a button-press response (uncrossed reaction time), or to the contralateral hemisphere (crossed reaction time). Both visual and auditory stimuli were tested. We predicted that the crossed-uncrossed difference (CUD) for musicians would be smaller than for non-musicians as a result of faster interhemispheric transfer times. We did not expect a difference in CUDs between the visual and auditory modalities for either musicians or non-musicians, as previous work indicates that interhemispheric transfer may happen through the genu of the CC, which contains motor fibres rather than sensory fibres. There were no significant differences in CUDs between musicians and non-musicians. However, auditory CUDs were significantly smaller than visual CUDs. Although this auditory-visual difference was larger in musicians than non-musicians, the interaction between modality and musical training was not significant. Therefore, although musical training does not significantly affect ITT, the crossing of auditory information between hemispheres appears to be faster than visual information, perhaps because subcortical pathways play a greater role for auditory interhemispheric transfer. PMID:24386382

Speech perception in individuals with auditory dys-synchrony.

PubMed

Kumar, U A; Jayaram, M

2011-03-01

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of lengthening the transition duration of selected speech segments upon the perception of those segments in individuals with auditory dys-synchrony. Thirty individuals with auditory dys-synchrony participated in the study, along with 30 age-matched normal hearing listeners. Eight consonant-vowel syllables were used as auditory stimuli. Two experiments were conducted. Experiment one measured the 'just noticeable difference' time: the smallest prolongation of the speech sound transition duration which was noticeable by the subject. In experiment two, speech sounds were modified by lengthening the transition duration by multiples of the just noticeable difference time, and subjects' speech identification scores for the modified speech sounds were assessed. Subjects with auditory dys-synchrony demonstrated poor processing of temporal auditory information. Lengthening of speech sound transition duration improved these subjects' perception of both the placement and voicing features of the speech syllables used. These results suggest that innovative speech processing strategies which enhance temporal cues may benefit individuals with auditory dys-synchrony.

The role of temporal structure in the investigation of sensory memory, auditory scene analysis, and speech perception: a healthy-aging perspective.

PubMed

Rimmele, Johanna Maria; Sussman, Elyse; Poeppel, David

2015-02-01

Listening situations with multiple talkers or background noise are common in everyday communication and are particularly demanding for older adults. Here we review current research on auditory perception in aging individuals in order to gain insights into the challenges of listening under noisy conditions. Informationally rich temporal structure in auditory signals--over a range of time scales from milliseconds to seconds--renders temporal processing central to perception in the auditory domain. We discuss the role of temporal structure in auditory processing, in particular from a perspective relevant for hearing in background noise, and focusing on sensory memory, auditory scene analysis, and speech perception. Interestingly, these auditory processes, usually studied in an independent manner, show considerable overlap of processing time scales, even though each has its own 'privileged' temporal regimes. By integrating perspectives on temporal structure processing in these three areas of investigation, we aim to highlight similarities typically not recognized. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The role of temporal structure in the investigation of sensory memory, auditory scene analysis, and speech perception: A healthy-aging perspective

PubMed Central

Rimmele, Johanna Maria; Sussman, Elyse; Poeppel, David

2014-01-01

Listening situations with multiple talkers or background noise are common in everyday communication and are particularly demanding for older adults. Here we review current research on auditory perception in aging individuals in order to gain insights into the challenges of listening under noisy conditions. Informationally rich temporal structure in auditory signals - over a range of time scales from milliseconds to seconds - renders temporal processing central to perception in the auditory domain. We discuss the role of temporal structure in auditory processing, in particular from a perspective relevant for hearing in background noise, and focusing on sensory memory, auditory scene analysis, and speech perception. Interestingly, these auditory processes, usually studied in an independent manner, show considerable overlap of processing time scales, even though each has its own ‚privileged‘ temporal regimes. By integrating perspectives on temporal structure processing in these three areas of investigation, we aim to highlight similarities typically not recognized. PMID:24956028

Rapid change in articulatory lip movement induced by preceding auditory feedback during production of bilabial plosives.

PubMed

Mochida, Takemi; Gomi, Hiroaki; Kashino, Makio

2010-11-08

There has been plentiful evidence of kinesthetically induced rapid compensation for unanticipated perturbation in speech articulatory movements. However, the role of auditory information in stabilizing articulation has been little studied except for the control of voice fundamental frequency, voice amplitude and vowel formant frequencies. Although the influence of auditory information on the articulatory control process is evident in unintended speech errors caused by delayed auditory feedback, the direct and immediate effect of auditory alteration on the movements of articulators has not been clarified. This work examined whether temporal changes in the auditory feedback of bilabial plosives immediately affects the subsequent lip movement. We conducted experiments with an auditory feedback alteration system that enabled us to replace or block speech sounds in real time. Participants were asked to produce the syllable /pa/ repeatedly at a constant rate. During the repetition, normal auditory feedback was interrupted, and one of three pre-recorded syllables /pa/, /Φa/, or /pi/, spoken by the same participant, was presented once at a different timing from the anticipated production onset, while no feedback was presented for subsequent repetitions. Comparisons of the labial distance trajectories under altered and normal feedback conditions indicated that the movement quickened during the short period immediately after the alteration onset, when /pa/ was presented 50 ms before the expected timing. Such change was not significant under other feedback conditions we tested. The earlier articulation rapidly induced by the progressive auditory input suggests that a compensatory mechanism helps to maintain a constant speech rate by detecting errors between the internally predicted and actually provided auditory information associated with self movement. The timing- and context-dependent effects of feedback alteration suggest that the sensory error detection works in a temporally asymmetric window where acoustic features of the syllable to be produced may be coded.

EEG Recording and Online Signal Processing on Android: A Multiapp Framework for Brain-Computer Interfaces on Smartphone

PubMed Central

Debener, Stefan; Emkes, Reiner; Volkening, Nils; Fudickar, Sebastian; Bleichner, Martin G.

2017-01-01

Objective Our aim was the development and validation of a modular signal processing and classification application enabling online electroencephalography (EEG) signal processing on off-the-shelf mobile Android devices. The software application SCALA (Signal ProCessing and CLassification on Android) supports a standardized communication interface to exchange information with external software and hardware. Approach In order to implement a closed-loop brain-computer interface (BCI) on the smartphone, we used a multiapp framework, which integrates applications for stimulus presentation, data acquisition, data processing, classification, and delivery of feedback to the user. Main Results We have implemented the open source signal processing application SCALA. We present timing test results supporting sufficient temporal precision of audio events. We also validate SCALA with a well-established auditory selective attention paradigm and report above chance level classification results for all participants. Regarding the 24-channel EEG signal quality, evaluation results confirm typical sound onset auditory evoked potentials as well as cognitive event-related potentials that differentiate between correct and incorrect task performance feedback. Significance We present a fully smartphone-operated, modular closed-loop BCI system that can be combined with different EEG amplifiers and can easily implement other paradigms. PMID:29349070

Quantifying Auditory Temporal Stability in a Large Database of Recorded Music

PubMed Central

Ellis, Robert J.; Duan, Zhiyan; Wang, Ye

2014-01-01

“Moving to the beat” is both one of the most basic and one of the most profound means by which humans (and a few other species) interact with music. Computer algorithms that detect the precise temporal location of beats (i.e., pulses of musical “energy”) in recorded music have important practical applications, such as the creation of playlists with a particular tempo for rehabilitation (e.g., rhythmic gait training), exercise (e.g., jogging), or entertainment (e.g., continuous dance mixes). Although several such algorithms return simple point estimates of an audio file’s temporal structure (e.g., “average tempo”, “time signature”), none has sought to quantify the temporal stability of a series of detected beats. Such a method-a “Balanced Evaluation of Auditory Temporal Stability” (BEATS)–is proposed here, and is illustrated using the Million Song Dataset (a collection of audio features and music metadata for nearly one million audio files). A publically accessible web interface is also presented, which combines the thresholdable statistics of BEATS with queryable metadata terms, fostering potential avenues of research and facilitating the creation of highly personalized music playlists for clinical or recreational applications. PMID:25469636

EEG Recording and Online Signal Processing on Android: A Multiapp Framework for Brain-Computer Interfaces on Smartphone.

PubMed

Blum, Sarah; Debener, Stefan; Emkes, Reiner; Volkening, Nils; Fudickar, Sebastian; Bleichner, Martin G

2017-01-01

Our aim was the development and validation of a modular signal processing and classification application enabling online electroencephalography (EEG) signal processing on off-the-shelf mobile Android devices. The software application SCALA (Signal ProCessing and CLassification on Android) supports a standardized communication interface to exchange information with external software and hardware. In order to implement a closed-loop brain-computer interface (BCI) on the smartphone, we used a multiapp framework, which integrates applications for stimulus presentation, data acquisition, data processing, classification, and delivery of feedback to the user. We have implemented the open source signal processing application SCALA. We present timing test results supporting sufficient temporal precision of audio events. We also validate SCALA with a well-established auditory selective attention paradigm and report above chance level classification results for all participants. Regarding the 24-channel EEG signal quality, evaluation results confirm typical sound onset auditory evoked potentials as well as cognitive event-related potentials that differentiate between correct and incorrect task performance feedback. We present a fully smartphone-operated, modular closed-loop BCI system that can be combined with different EEG amplifiers and can easily implement other paradigms.

Relating the variability of tone-burst otoacoustic emission and auditory brainstem response latencies to the underlying cochlear mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verhulst, Sarah; Shera, Christopher A.

2015-12-01

Forward and reverse cochlear latency and its relation to the frequency tuning of the auditory filters can be assessed using tone bursts (TBs). Otoacoustic emissions (TBOAEs) estimate the cochlear roundtrip time, while auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) to the same stimuli aim at measuring the auditory filter buildup time. Latency ratios are generally close to two and controversy exists about the relationship of this ratio to cochlear mechanics. We explored why the two methods provide different estimates of filter buildup time, and ratios with large inter-subject variability, using a time-domain model for OAEs and ABRs. We compared latencies for twenty models, in which all parameters but the cochlear irregularities responsible for reflection-source OAEs were identical, and found that TBOAE latencies were much more variable than ABR latencies. Multiple reflection-sources generated within the evoking stimulus bandwidth were found to shape the TBOAE envelope and complicate the interpretation of TBOAE latency and TBOAE/ABR ratios in terms of auditory filter tuning.

Activity in the left auditory cortex is associated with individual impulsivity in time discounting.

PubMed

Han, Ruokang; Takahashi, Taiki; Miyazaki, Akane; Kadoya, Tomoka; Kato, Shinya; Yokosawa, Koichi

2015-01-01

Impulsivity dictates individual decision-making behavior. Therefore, it can reflect consumption behavior and risk of addiction and thus underlies social activities as well. Neuroscience has been applied to explain social activities; however, the brain function controlling impulsivity has remained unclear. It is known that impulsivity is related to individual time perception, i.e., a person who perceives a certain physical time as being longer is impulsive. Here we show that activity of the left auditory cortex is related to individual impulsivity. Individual impulsivity was evaluated by a self-answered questionnaire in twelve healthy right-handed adults, and activities of the auditory cortices of bilateral hemispheres when listening to continuous tones were recorded by magnetoencephalography. Sustained activity of the left auditory cortex was significantly correlated to impulsivity, that is, larger sustained activity indicated stronger impulsivity. The results suggest that the left auditory cortex represent time perception, probably because the area is involved in speech perception, and that it represents impulsivity indirectly.

Time-Varying Vocal Folds Vibration Detection Using a 24 GHz Portable Auditory Radar

PubMed Central

Hong, Hong; Zhao, Heng; Peng, Zhengyu; Li, Hui; Gu, Chen; Li, Changzhi; Zhu, Xiaohua

2016-01-01

Time-varying vocal folds vibration information is of crucial importance in speech processing, and the traditional devices to acquire speech signals are easily smeared by the high background noise and voice interference. In this paper, we present a non-acoustic way to capture the human vocal folds vibration using a 24-GHz portable auditory radar. Since the vocal folds vibration only reaches several millimeters, the high operating frequency and the 4 × 4 array antennas are applied to achieve the high sensitivity. The Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD) based algorithm is proposed to decompose the radar-detected auditory signal into a sequence of intrinsic modes firstly, and then, extract the time-varying vocal folds vibration frequency from the corresponding mode. Feasibility demonstration, evaluation, and comparison are conducted with tonal and non-tonal languages, and the low relative errors show a high consistency between the radar-detected auditory time-varying vocal folds vibration and acoustic fundamental frequency, except that the auditory radar significantly improves the frequency-resolving power. PMID:27483261

Time-Varying Vocal Folds Vibration Detection Using a 24 GHz Portable Auditory Radar.

PubMed

Hong, Hong; Zhao, Heng; Peng, Zhengyu; Li, Hui; Gu, Chen; Li, Changzhi; Zhu, Xiaohua

2016-07-28

Time-varying vocal folds vibration information is of crucial importance in speech processing, and the traditional devices to acquire speech signals are easily smeared by the high background noise and voice interference. In this paper, we present a non-acoustic way to capture the human vocal folds vibration using a 24-GHz portable auditory radar. Since the vocal folds vibration only reaches several millimeters, the high operating frequency and the 4 × 4 array antennas are applied to achieve the high sensitivity. The Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD) based algorithm is proposed to decompose the radar-detected auditory signal into a sequence of intrinsic modes firstly, and then, extract the time-varying vocal folds vibration frequency from the corresponding mode. Feasibility demonstration, evaluation, and comparison are conducted with tonal and non-tonal languages, and the low relative errors show a high consistency between the radar-detected auditory time-varying vocal folds vibration and acoustic fundamental frequency, except that the auditory radar significantly improves the frequency-resolving power.

Auditory display as feedback for a novel eye-tracking system for sterile operating room interaction.

PubMed

Black, David; Unger, Michael; Fischer, Nele; Kikinis, Ron; Hahn, Horst; Neumuth, Thomas; Glaser, Bernhard

2018-01-01

The growing number of technical systems in the operating room has increased attention on developing touchless interaction methods for sterile conditions. However, touchless interaction paradigms lack the tactile feedback found in common input devices such as mice and keyboards. We propose a novel touchless eye-tracking interaction system with auditory display as a feedback method for completing typical operating room tasks. Auditory display provides feedback concerning the selected input into the eye-tracking system as well as a confirmation of the system response. An eye-tracking system with a novel auditory display using both earcons and parameter-mapping sonification was developed to allow touchless interaction for six typical scrub nurse tasks. An evaluation with novice participants compared auditory display with visual display with respect to reaction time and a series of subjective measures. When using auditory display to substitute for the lost tactile feedback during eye-tracking interaction, participants exhibit reduced reaction time compared to using visual-only display. In addition, the auditory feedback led to lower subjective workload and higher usefulness and system acceptance ratings. Due to the absence of tactile feedback for eye-tracking and other touchless interaction methods, auditory display is shown to be a useful and necessary addition to new interaction concepts for the sterile operating room, reducing reaction times while improving subjective measures, including usefulness, user satisfaction, and cognitive workload.

Enlargement of Ribbons in Zebrafish Hair Cells Increases Calcium Currents But Disrupts Afferent Spontaneous Activity and Timing of Stimulus Onset

PubMed Central

Schreck, Mary; Petralia, Ronald S.; Wang, Ya-Xian; Zhang, Qiuxiang

2017-01-01

In sensory hair cells of auditory and vestibular organs, the ribbon synapse is required for the precise encoding of a wide range of complex stimuli. Hair cells have a unique presynaptic structure, the synaptic ribbon, which organizes both synaptic vesicles and calcium channels at the active zone. Previous work has shown that hair-cell ribbon size is correlated with differences in postsynaptic activity. However, additional variability in postsynapse size presents a challenge to determining the specific role of ribbon size in sensory encoding. To selectively assess the impact of ribbon size on synapse function, we examined hair cells in transgenic zebrafish that have enlarged ribbons, without postsynaptic alterations. Morphologically, we found that enlarged ribbons had more associated vesicles and reduced presynaptic calcium-channel clustering. Functionally, hair cells with enlarged ribbons had larger global and ribbon-localized calcium currents. Afferent neuron recordings revealed that hair cells with enlarged ribbons resulted in reduced spontaneous spike rates. Additionally, despite larger presynaptic calcium signals, we observed fewer evoked spikes with longer latencies from stimulus onset. Together, our work indicates that hair-cell ribbon size influences the spontaneous spiking and the precise encoding of stimulus onset in afferent neurons. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Numerous studies support that hair-cell ribbon size corresponds with functional sensitivity differences in afferent neurons and, in the case of inner hair cells of the cochlea, vulnerability to damage from noise trauma. Yet it is unclear whether ribbon size directly influences sensory encoding. Our study reveals that ribbon enlargement results in increased ribbon-localized calcium signals, yet reduces afferent spontaneous activity and disrupts the timing of stimulus onset, a distinct aspect of auditory and vestibular encoding. These observations suggest that varying ribbon size alone can influence sensory encoding, and give further insight into how hair cells transduce signals that cover a wide dynamic range of stimuli. PMID:28546313

Theta Phase Synchronization Is the Glue that Binds Human Associative Memory.

PubMed

Clouter, Andrew; Shapiro, Kimron L; Hanslmayr, Simon

2017-10-23

Episodic memories are information-rich, often multisensory events that rely on binding different elements [1]. The elements that will constitute a memory episode are processed in specialized but distinct brain modules. The binding of these elements is most likely mediated by fast-acting long-term potentiation (LTP), which relies on the precise timing of neural activity [2]. Theta oscillations in the hippocampus orchestrate such timing as demonstrated by animal studies in vitro [3, 4] and in vivo [5, 6], suggesting a causal role of theta activity for the formation of complex memory episodes, but direct evidence from humans is missing. Here, we show that human episodic memory formation depends on phase synchrony between different sensory cortices at the theta frequency. By modulating the luminance of visual stimuli and the amplitude of auditory stimuli, we directly manipulated the degree of phase synchrony between visual and auditory cortices. Memory for sound-movie associations was significantly better when the stimuli were presented in phase compared to out of phase. This effect was specific to theta (4 Hz) and did not occur in slower (1.7 Hz) or faster (10.5 Hz) frequencies. These findings provide the first direct evidence that episodic memory formation in humans relies on a theta-specific synchronization mechanism. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Continuous time wavelet entropy of auditory evoked potentials.

PubMed

Cek, M Emre; Ozgoren, Murat; Savaci, F Acar

2010-01-01

In this paper, the continuous time wavelet entropy (CTWE) of auditory evoked potentials (AEP) has been characterized by evaluating the relative wavelet energies (RWE) in specified EEG frequency bands. Thus, the rapid variations of CTWE due to the auditory stimulation could be detected in post-stimulus time interval. This approach removes the probability of missing the information hidden in short time intervals. The discrete time and continuous time wavelet based wavelet entropy variations were compared on non-target and target AEP data. It was observed that CTWE can also be an alternative method to analyze entropy as a function of time. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A comparative study of simple auditory reaction time in blind (congenitally) and sighted subjects.

PubMed

Gandhi, Pritesh Hariprasad; Gokhale, Pradnya A; Mehta, H B; Shah, C J

2013-07-01

Reaction time is the time interval between the application of a stimulus and the appearance of appropriate voluntary response by a subject. It involves stimulus processing, decision making, and response programming. Reaction time study has been popular due to their implication in sports physiology. Reaction time has been widely studied as its practical implications may be of great consequence e.g., a slower than normal reaction time while driving can have grave results. To study simple auditory reaction time in congenitally blind subjects and in age sex matched sighted subjects. To compare the simple auditory reaction time between congenitally blind subjects and healthy control subjects. STUDY HAD BEEN CARRIED OUT IN TWO GROUPS: The 1(st) of 50 congenitally blind subjects and 2(nd) group comprises of 50 healthy controls. It was carried out on Multiple Choice Reaction Time Apparatus, Inco Ambala Ltd. (Accuracy±0.001 s) in a sitting position at Government Medical College and Hospital, Bhavnagar and at a Blind School, PNR campus, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India. Simple auditory reaction time response with four different type of sound (horn, bell, ring, and whistle) was recorded in both groups. According to our study, there is no significant different in reaction time between congenital blind and normal healthy persons. Blind individuals commonly utilize tactual and auditory cues for information and orientation and they reliance on touch and audition, together with more practice in using these modalities to guide behavior, is often reflected in better performance of blind relative to sighted participants in tactile or auditory discrimination tasks, but there is not any difference in reaction time between congenitally blind and sighted people.

Interhemispheric transfer time in patients with auditory hallucinations: an auditory event-related potential study.

PubMed

Henshall, Katherine R; Sergejew, Alex A; McKay, Colette M; Rance, Gary; Shea, Tracey L; Hayden, Melissa J; Innes-Brown, Hamish; Copolov, David L

2012-05-01

Central auditory processing in schizophrenia patients with a history of auditory hallucinations has been reported to be impaired, and abnormalities of interhemispheric transfer have been implicated in these patients. This study examined interhemispheric functional connectivity between auditory cortical regions, using temporal information obtained from latency measures of the auditory N1 evoked potential. Interhemispheric Transfer Times (IHTTs) were compared across 3 subject groups: schizophrenia patients who had experienced auditory hallucinations, schizophrenia patients without a history of auditory hallucinations, and normal controls. Pure tones and single-syllable words were presented monaurally to each ear, while EEG was recorded continuously. IHTT was calculated for each stimulus type by comparing the latencies of the auditory N1 evoked potential recorded contralaterally and ipsilaterally to the ear of stimulation. The IHTTs for pure tones did not differ between groups. For word stimuli, the IHTT was significantly different across the 3 groups: the IHTT was close to zero in normal controls, was highest in the AH group, and was negative (shorter latencies ipsilaterally) in the nonAH group. Differences in IHTTs may be attributed to transcallosal dysfunction in the AH group, but altered or reversed cerebral lateralization in nonAH participants is also possible. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Experience and information loss in auditory and visual memory.

PubMed

Gloede, Michele E; Paulauskas, Emily E; Gregg, Melissa K

2017-07-01

Recent studies show that recognition memory for sounds is inferior to memory for pictures. Four experiments were conducted to examine the nature of auditory and visual memory. Experiments 1-3 were conducted to evaluate the role of experience in auditory and visual memory. Participants received a study phase with pictures/sounds, followed by a recognition memory test. Participants then completed auditory training with each of the sounds, followed by a second memory test. Despite auditory training in Experiments 1 and 2, visual memory was superior to auditory memory. In Experiment 3, we found that it is possible to improve auditory memory, but only after 3 days of specific auditory training and 3 days of visual memory decay. We examined the time course of information loss in auditory and visual memory in Experiment 4 and found a trade-off between visual and auditory recognition memory: Visual memory appears to have a larger capacity, while auditory memory is more enduring. Our results indicate that visual and auditory memory are inherently different memory systems and that differences in visual and auditory recognition memory performance may be due to the different amounts of experience with visual and auditory information, as well as structurally different neural circuitry specialized for information retention.

Moving in time: Bayesian causal inference explains movement coordination to auditory beats

PubMed Central

Elliott, Mark T.; Wing, Alan M.; Welchman, Andrew E.

2014-01-01

Many everyday skilled actions depend on moving in time with signals that are embedded in complex auditory streams (e.g. musical performance, dancing or simply holding a conversation). Such behaviour is apparently effortless; however, it is not known how humans combine auditory signals to support movement production and coordination. Here, we test how participants synchronize their movements when there are potentially conflicting auditory targets to guide their actions. Participants tapped their fingers in time with two simultaneously presented metronomes of equal tempo, but differing in phase and temporal regularity. Synchronization therefore depended on integrating the two timing cues into a single-event estimate or treating the cues as independent and thereby selecting one signal over the other. We show that a Bayesian inference process explains the situations in which participants choose to integrate or separate signals, and predicts motor timing errors. Simulations of this causal inference process demonstrate that this model provides a better description of the data than other plausible models. Our findings suggest that humans exploit a Bayesian inference process to control movement timing in situations where the origin of auditory signals needs to be resolved. PMID:24850915

Combined Auditory and Vibrotactile Feedback for Human-Machine-Interface Control.

PubMed

Thorp, Elias B; Larson, Eric; Stepp, Cara E

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the addition of binary vibrotactile stimulation to continuous auditory feedback (vowel synthesis) for human-machine interface (HMI) control. Sixteen healthy participants controlled facial surface electromyography to achieve 2-D targets (vowels). Eight participants used only real-time auditory feedback to locate targets whereas the other eight participants were additionally alerted to having achieved targets with confirmatory vibrotactile stimulation at the index finger. All participants trained using their assigned feedback modality (auditory alone or combined auditory and vibrotactile) over three sessions on three days and completed a fourth session on the third day using novel targets to assess generalization. Analyses of variance performed on the 1) percentage of targets reached and 2) percentage of trial time at the target revealed a main effect for feedback modality: participants using combined auditory and vibrotactile feedback performed significantly better than those using auditory feedback alone. No effect was found for session or the interaction of feedback modality and session, indicating a successful generalization to novel targets but lack of improvement over training sessions. Future research is necessary to determine the cognitive cost associated with combined auditory and vibrotactile feedback during HMI control.

Auditory hallucinations and PTSD in ex-POWS.

PubMed

Crompton, Laura; Lahav, Yael; Solomon, Zahava

2017-01-01

Literature has suggested that auditory hallucinations might be prevalent in the general population and could be linked to the experience of trauma. This prospective study examines the prevalence of auditory hallucinations in trauma survivors and its association with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, over time. Former prisoners of war (ex-POWs) from the 1973 Yom Kippur War (n = 99) with and without PTSD and comparable veterans (n = 103) were assessed twice, in 1991 (T1) and 2003 (T2) in regard to auditory hallucinations and PTSD symptoms. Findings indicated that ex-POWs who suffered from PTSD reported higher levels of auditory hallucinations at T2 as well as increased hallucinations over time, compared to ex-POWs without PTSD and combatants who did not endure captivity. The relation between PTSD and auditory hallucinations was unidirectional, so that the PTSD overall score at T1 predicted an increase in auditory hallucinations between T1 and T2, but not vice versa. Assessing the role of PTSD clusters in predicting hallucinations revealed that intrusion symptoms had a unique contribution, compared to avoidance and hyperarousal symptoms. The findings suggest that auditory hallucinations might be a consequence of the posttraumatic reaction among veterans.

Auditory Reserve and the Legacy of Auditory Experience

PubMed Central

Skoe, Erika; Kraus, Nina

2014-01-01

Musical training during childhood has been linked to more robust encoding of sound later in life. We take this as evidence for an auditory reserve: a mechanism by which individuals capitalize on earlier life experiences to promote auditory processing. We assert that early auditory experiences guide how the reserve develops and is maintained over the lifetime. Experiences that occur after childhood, or which are limited in nature, are theorized to affect the reserve, although their influence on sensory processing may be less long-lasting and may potentially fade over time if not repeated. This auditory reserve may help to explain individual differences in how individuals cope with auditory impoverishment or loss of sensorineural function. PMID:25405381

The effect of progressive hearing loss on the morphology of endbulbs of Held and bushy cells.

PubMed

Connelly, Catherine J; Ryugo, David K; Muniak, Michael A

2017-01-01

Studies of congenital and early-onset deafness have demonstrated that an absence of peripheral sound-evoked activity in the auditory nerve causes pathological changes in central auditory structures. The aim of this study was to establish whether progressive acquired hearing loss could lead to similar brain changes that would degrade the precision of signal transmission. We used complementary physiologic hearing tests and microscopic techniques to study the combined effect of both magnitude and duration of hearing loss on one of the first auditory synapses in the brain, the endbulb of Held (EB), along with its bushy cell (BC) target in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus. We compared two hearing mouse strains (CBA/Ca and heterozygous shaker-2 +/- ) against a model of early-onset progressive hearing loss (DBA/2) and a model of congenital deafness (homozygous shaker-2 -/- ), examining each strain at 1, 3, and 6 months of age. Furthermore, we employed a frequency model of the mouse cochlear nucleus to constrain our analyses to regions most likely to exhibit graded changes in hearing function with time. No significant differences in the gross morphology of EB or BC structure were observed in 1-month-old animals, indicating uninterrupted development. However, in animals with hearing loss, both EBs and BCs exhibited a graded reduction in size that paralleled the hearing loss, with the most severe pathology seen in deaf 6-month-old shaker-2 -/- mice. Ultrastructural pathologies associated with hearing loss were less dramatic: minor changes were observed in terminal size but mitochondrial fraction and postsynaptic densities remained relatively stable. These results indicate that acquired progressive hearing loss can have consequences on auditory brain structure, with prolonged loss leading to greater pathologies. Our findings suggest a role for early intervention with assistive devices in order to mitigate long-term pathology and loss of function. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Auditory-Brainstem Response to Continuous, Non-repetitive Speech Is Modulated by the Speech Envelope and Reflects Speech Processing

PubMed Central

Reichenbach, Chagit S.; Braiman, Chananel; Schiff, Nicholas D.; Hudspeth, A. J.; Reichenbach, Tobias

2016-01-01

The auditory-brainstem response (ABR) to short and simple acoustical signals is an important clinical tool used to diagnose the integrity of the brainstem. The ABR is also employed to investigate the auditory brainstem in a multitude of tasks related to hearing, such as processing speech or selectively focusing on one speaker in a noisy environment. Such research measures the response of the brainstem to short speech signals such as vowels or words. Because the voltage signal of the ABR has a tiny amplitude, several hundred to a thousand repetitions of the acoustic signal are needed to obtain a reliable response. The large number of repetitions poses a challenge to assessing cognitive functions due to neural adaptation. Here we show that continuous, non-repetitive speech, lasting several minutes, may be employed to measure the ABR. Because the speech is not repeated during the experiment, the precise temporal form of the ABR cannot be determined. We show, however, that important structural features of the ABR can nevertheless be inferred. In particular, the brainstem responds at the fundamental frequency of the speech signal, and this response is modulated by the envelope of the voiced parts of speech. We accordingly introduce a novel measure that assesses the ABR as modulated by the speech envelope, at the fundamental frequency of speech and at the characteristic latency of the response. This measure has a high signal-to-noise ratio and can hence be employed effectively to measure the ABR to continuous speech. We use this novel measure to show that the ABR is weaker to intelligible speech than to unintelligible, time-reversed speech. The methods presented here can be employed for further research on speech processing in the auditory brainstem and can lead to the development of future clinical diagnosis of brainstem function. PMID:27303286

Stimulus-specific suppression preserves information in auditory short-term memory.

PubMed

Linke, Annika C; Vicente-Grabovetsky, Alejandro; Cusack, Rhodri

2011-08-02

Philosophers and scientists have puzzled for millennia over how perceptual information is stored in short-term memory. Some have suggested that early sensory representations are involved, but their precise role has remained unclear. The current study asks whether auditory cortex shows sustained frequency-specific activation while sounds are maintained in short-term memory using high-resolution functional MRI (fMRI). Investigating short-term memory representations within regions of human auditory cortex with fMRI has been difficult because of their small size and high anatomical variability between subjects. However, we overcame these constraints by using multivoxel pattern analysis. It clearly revealed frequency-specific activity during the encoding phase of a change detection task, and the degree of this frequency-specific activation was positively related to performance in the task. Although the sounds had to be maintained in memory, activity in auditory cortex was significantly suppressed. Strikingly, patterns of activity in this maintenance period correlated negatively with the patterns evoked by the same frequencies during encoding. Furthermore, individuals who used a rehearsal strategy to remember the sounds showed reduced frequency-specific suppression during the maintenance period. Although negative activations are often disregarded in fMRI research, our findings imply that decreases in blood oxygenation level-dependent response carry important stimulus-specific information and can be related to cognitive processes. We hypothesize that, during auditory change detection, frequency-specific suppression protects short-term memory representations from being overwritten by inhibiting the encoding of interfering sounds.

Human cortical responses to slow and fast binaural beats reveal multiple mechanisms of binaural hearing.

PubMed

Ross, Bernhard; Miyazaki, Takahiro; Thompson, Jessica; Jamali, Shahab; Fujioka, Takako

2014-10-15

When two tones with slightly different frequencies are presented to both ears, they interact in the central auditory system and induce the sensation of a beating sound. At low difference frequencies, we perceive a single sound, which is moving across the head between the left and right ears. The percept changes to loudness fluctuation, roughness, and pitch with increasing beat rate. To examine the neural representations underlying these different perceptions, we recorded neuromagnetic cortical responses while participants listened to binaural beats at a continuously varying rate between 3 Hz and 60 Hz. Binaural beat responses were analyzed as neuromagnetic oscillations following the trajectory of the stimulus rate. Responses were largest in the 40-Hz gamma range and at low frequencies. Binaural beat responses at 3 Hz showed opposite polarity in the left and right auditory cortices. We suggest that this difference in polarity reflects the opponent neural population code for representing sound location. Binaural beats at any rate induced gamma oscillations. However, the responses were largest at 40-Hz stimulation. We propose that the neuromagnetic gamma oscillations reflect postsynaptic modulation that allows for precise timing of cortical neural firing. Systematic phase differences between bilateral responses suggest that separate sound representations of a sound object exist in the left and right auditory cortices. We conclude that binaural processing at the cortical level occurs with the same temporal acuity as monaural processing whereas the identification of sound location requires further interpretation and is limited by the rate of object representations. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

Corti's organ physiology-based cochlear model: a microelectronic prosthetic implant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rios, Francisco; Fernandez-Ramos, Raquel; Romero-Sanchez, Jorge; Martin, Jose Francisco

2003-04-01

Corti"s Organ is an Electro-Mechanical transducer that allows the energy coupling between acoustical stimuli and auditory nerve. Although the structure and funtionality of this organ are complex, state of the art models have been currently developed and tested. Cochlea model presented in this paper is based on the theories of Bekesy and others and concerns on the behaviour of auditory system on frequency-place domain and mechanisms of lateral inhibition. At the same time, present state of technology will permit us developing a microsystem that reproduce this phenomena applied to hearing aid prosthesis. Corti"s Organ is composed of more than 20.000 cilia excited by mean of travelling waves. These waves produce relative pressures distributed along the cochlea, exciting an specific number of cilia in a local way. Nonlinear mechanisms of local adaptation to the intensity (external cilia cells) and lateral inhibition (internal cilia cells) allow the selection of very few elements excited. These transmit a very precise intensity and frequency information. These signals are the only ones coupled to the auditory nerve. Distribution of pressure waves matches a quasilogaritmic law due to Cochlea morphology. Microsystem presented in this paper takes Bark"s law as an approximation to this behaviour consisting on grouped arbitrary elements composed of a set of selective coupled exciters (bank of filters according to Patterson"s model).These sets apply the intensity adaptation principles and lateral inhibition. Elements excited during the process generate a bioelectric signal in the same way than cilia cell. A microelectronic solution is presented for the development of an implantable prosthesis device.

Auditory/Verbal hallucinations, speech perception neurocircuitry, and the social deafferentation hypothesis.

PubMed

Hoffman, Ralph E

2008-04-01

Auditory/verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are comprised of spoken conversational speech seeming to arise from specific, nonself speakers. One hertz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) reduces excitability in the brain region stimulated. Studies utilizing 1-Hz rTMS delivered to the left temporoparietal cortex, a brain area critical to speech perception, have demonstrated statistically significant improvements in AVHs relative to sham simulation. A novel mechanism of AVHs is proposed whereby dramatic pre-psychotic social withdrawal prompts neuroplastic reorganization by the "social brain" to produce spurious social meaning via hallucinations of conversational speech. Preliminary evidence supporting this hypothesis includes a very high rate of social withdrawal emerging prior to the onset of frank psychosis in patients who develop schizophrenia and AVHs. Moreover, reduced AVHs elicited by temporoparietal 1-Hz rTMS are likely to reflect enhanced long-term depression. Some evidence suggests a loss of long-term depression following experimentally-induced deafferentation. Finally, abnormal cortico-cortical coupling is associated with AVHs and also is a common outcome of deafferentation. Auditory/verbal hallucinations (AVHs) of spoken speech or "voices" are reported by 60-80% of persons with schizophrenia at various times during the course of illness. AVHs are associated with high levels of distress, functional disability, and can lead to violent acts. Among patients with AVHs, these symptoms remain poorly or incompletely responsive to currently available treatments in approximately 25% of cases. For patients with AVHs who do respond to antipsychotic drugs, there is a very high likelihood that these experiences will recur in subsequent episodes. A more precise characterization of underlying pathophysiology may lead to more efficacious treatments.

Sensory Constraints on Birdsong Syntax: Neural Responses to Swamp Sparrow Songs with Accelerated Trill Rates

PubMed Central

Prather, JF; Peters, S; Mooney, R; Nowicki, S

2013-01-01

Both sensory and motor mechanisms can constrain behavioral performance. Sensory mechanisms may be especially important for constraining behaviors that depend on experience, such as learned birdsongs. Swamp sparrows learn to sing by imitating the song of a tutor, but sparrows fail to accurately imitate artificial tutor songs with abnormally accelerated trills, instead singing brief and rapid trills interrupted by silent gaps. This “broken syntax” has been proposed to arise from vocal-motor limitations. Here we consider whether sensory limitations exist that could also contribute to broken syntax. We tested this idea by recording auditory-evoked activity of sensorimotor neurons in the swamp sparrow’s brain that are known to be important for the learning, performance and perception of song. In freely behaving adult sparrows that sang songs with normal syntax, neurons were detected that exhibited precisely time-locked activity to each repetition of the syllable in a trill when presented at a natural rate. Those cells failed to faithfully follow syllables presented at an accelerated rate, however, and their failure to respond to consecutive syllables increased as a function of trill rate. This “flickering” auditory representation in animals performing normal syntax reveals a central constraint on the sensory processing of rapid trills. Furthermore, because these neurons are implicated in both song learning and perception, and because auditory flickering began to occur at accelerated trill rates previously associated with the emergence of broken song syntax, these sensory constraints may contribute to the emergence of broken syntax. PMID:23976787

Corollary discharge inhibition of wind-sensitive cercal giant interneurons in the singing field cricket

PubMed Central

Hedwig, Berthold

2014-01-01

Crickets carry wind-sensitive mechanoreceptors on their cerci, which, in response to the airflow produced by approaching predators, triggers escape reactions via ascending giant interneurons (GIs). Males also activate their cercal system by air currents generated due to the wing movements underlying sound production. Singing males still respond to external wind stimulation, but are not startled by the self-generated airflow. To investigate how the nervous system discriminates sensory responses to self-generated and external airflow, we intracellularly recorded wind-sensitive afferents and ventral GIs of the cercal escape pathway in fictively singing crickets, a situation lacking any self-stimulation. GI spiking was reduced whenever cercal wind stimulation coincided with singing motor activity. The axonal terminals of cercal afferents showed no indication of presynaptic inhibition during singing. In two ventral GIs, however, a corollary discharge inhibition occurred strictly in phase with the singing motor pattern. Paired intracellular recordings revealed that this inhibition was not mediated by the activity of the previously identified corollary discharge interneuron (CDI) that rhythmically inhibits the auditory pathway during singing. Cercal wind stimulation, however, reduced the spike activity of this CDI by postsynaptic inhibition. Our study reveals how precisely timed corollary discharge inhibition of ventral GIs can prevent self-generated airflow from triggering inadvertent escape responses in singing crickets. The results indicate that the responsiveness of the auditory and wind-sensitive pathway is modulated by distinct CDIs in singing crickets and that the corollary discharge inhibition in the auditory pathway can be attenuated by cercal wind stimulation. PMID:25318763

The effects of the activation of the inner-hair-cell basolateral K+ channels on auditory nerve responses.

PubMed

Altoè, Alessandro; Pulkki, Ville; Verhulst, Sarah

2018-07-01

The basolateral membrane of the mammalian inner hair cell (IHC) expresses large voltage and Ca 2+ gated outward K + currents. To quantify how the voltage-dependent activation of the K + channels affects the functionality of the auditory nerve innervating the IHC, this study adopts a model of mechanical-to-neural transduction in which the basolateral K + conductances of the IHC can be made voltage-dependent or not. The model shows that the voltage-dependent activation of the K + channels (i) enhances the phase-locking properties of the auditory fiber (AF) responses; (ii) enables the auditory nerve to encode a large dynamic range of sound levels; (iii) enables the AF responses to synchronize precisely with the envelope of amplitude modulated stimuli; and (iv), is responsible for the steep offset responses of the AFs. These results suggest that the basolateral K + channels play a major role in determining the well-known response properties of the AFs and challenge the classical view that describes the IHC membrane as an electrical low-pass filter. In contrast to previous models of the IHC-AF complex, this study ascribes many of the AF response properties to fairly basic mechanisms in the IHC membrane rather than to complex mechanisms in the synapse. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Speech Evoked Auditory Brainstem Response in Stuttering

PubMed Central

Tahaei, Ali Akbar; Ashayeri, Hassan; Pourbakht, Akram; Kamali, Mohammad

2014-01-01

Auditory processing deficits have been hypothesized as an underlying mechanism for stuttering. Previous studies have demonstrated abnormal responses in subjects with persistent developmental stuttering (PDS) at the higher level of the central auditory system using speech stimuli. Recently, the potential usefulness of speech evoked auditory brainstem responses in central auditory processing disorders has been emphasized. The current study used the speech evoked ABR to investigate the hypothesis that subjects with PDS have specific auditory perceptual dysfunction. Objectives. To determine whether brainstem responses to speech stimuli differ between PDS subjects and normal fluent speakers. Methods. Twenty-five subjects with PDS participated in this study. The speech-ABRs were elicited by the 5-formant synthesized syllable/da/, with duration of 40 ms. Results. There were significant group differences for the onset and offset transient peaks. Subjects with PDS had longer latencies for the onset and offset peaks relative to the control group. Conclusions. Subjects with PDS showed a deficient neural timing in the early stages of the auditory pathway consistent with temporal processing deficits and their abnormal timing may underlie to their disfluency. PMID:25215262

Attention is required for maintenance of feature binding in visual working memory

PubMed Central

Heider, Maike; Husain, Masud

2013-01-01

Working memory and attention are intimately connected. However, understanding the relationship between the two is challenging. Currently, there is an important controversy about whether objects in working memory are maintained automatically or require resources that are also deployed for visual or auditory attention. Here we investigated the effects of loading attention resources on precision of visual working memory, specifically on correct maintenance of feature-bound objects, using a dual-task paradigm. Participants were presented with a memory array and were asked to remember either direction of motion of random dot kinematograms of different colour, or orientation of coloured bars. During the maintenance period, they performed a secondary visual or auditory task, with varying levels of load. Following a retention period, they adjusted a coloured probe to match either the motion direction or orientation of stimuli with the same colour in the memory array. This allowed us to examine the effects of an attention-demanding task performed during maintenance on precision of recall on the concurrent working memory task. Systematic increase in attention load during maintenance resulted in a significant decrease in overall working memory performance. Changes in overall performance were specifically accompanied by an increase in feature misbinding errors: erroneous reporting of nontarget motion or orientation. Thus in trials where attention resources were taxed, participants were more likely to respond with nontarget values rather than simply making random responses. Our findings suggest that resources used during attention-demanding visual or auditory tasks also contribute to maintaining feature-bound representations in visual working memory—but not necessarily other aspects of working memory. PMID:24266343

Attention is required for maintenance of feature binding in visual working memory.

PubMed

Zokaei, Nahid; Heider, Maike; Husain, Masud

2014-01-01

Working memory and attention are intimately connected. However, understanding the relationship between the two is challenging. Currently, there is an important controversy about whether objects in working memory are maintained automatically or require resources that are also deployed for visual or auditory attention. Here we investigated the effects of loading attention resources on precision of visual working memory, specifically on correct maintenance of feature-bound objects, using a dual-task paradigm. Participants were presented with a memory array and were asked to remember either direction of motion of random dot kinematograms of different colour, or orientation of coloured bars. During the maintenance period, they performed a secondary visual or auditory task, with varying levels of load. Following a retention period, they adjusted a coloured probe to match either the motion direction or orientation of stimuli with the same colour in the memory array. This allowed us to examine the effects of an attention-demanding task performed during maintenance on precision of recall on the concurrent working memory task. Systematic increase in attention load during maintenance resulted in a significant decrease in overall working memory performance. Changes in overall performance were specifically accompanied by an increase in feature misbinding errors: erroneous reporting of nontarget motion or orientation. Thus in trials where attention resources were taxed, participants were more likely to respond with nontarget values rather than simply making random responses. Our findings suggest that resources used during attention-demanding visual or auditory tasks also contribute to maintaining feature-bound representations in visual working memory-but not necessarily other aspects of working memory.

Study on the application of the time-compressed speech in children.

PubMed

Padilha, Fernanda Yasmin Odila Maestri Miguel; Pinheiro, Maria Madalena Canina

2017-11-09

To analyze the performance of children without alteration of central auditory processing in the Time-compressed Speech Test. This is a descriptive, observational, cross-sectional study. Study participants were 22 children aged 7-11 years without central auditory processing disorders. The following instruments were used to assess whether these children presented central auditory processing disorders: Scale of Auditory Behaviors, simplified evaluation of central auditory processing, and Dichotic Test of Digits (binaural integration stage). The Time-compressed Speech Test was applied to the children without auditory changes. The participants presented better performance in the list of monosyllabic words than in the list of disyllabic words, but with no statistically significant difference. No influence on test performance was observed with respect to order of presentation of the lists and the variables gender and ear. Regarding age, difference in performance was observed only in the list of disyllabic words. The mean score of children in the Time-compressed Speech Test was lower than that of adults reported in the national literature. Difference in test performance was observed only with respect to the age variable for the list of disyllabic words. No difference was observed in the order of presentation of the lists or in the type of stimulus.

Using synthetic biology to interface with physical micro and nano-sized sensors (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanson, Russell; Fuller, Jason; Cheng, Andrew

2017-05-01

This talk will discuss the current goals and efforts of point of care and personal health monitoring systems: what they can do now and what is in the works. These interfaces can be used in a precision medicine context—making diagnoses and getting the right drugs to the right patients at the right time. Many of the same sensors and engineering are being prototyped now for neural interfaces and recording devices with applications in visual, auditory, and motor cortex, allowing basic research along with preliminary applications in actuation and sensing. While miniaturization and electronics development using established manufacturing protocols can provide the current engineering foundations, novel biochemical ligands and molecular detectors can provide the needed flexibility for next-generation devices.

A basic study on universal design of auditory signals in automobiles.

PubMed

Yamauchi, Katsuya; Choi, Jong-dae; Maiguma, Ryo; Takada, Masayuki; Iwamiya, Shin-ichiro

2004-11-01

In this paper, the impression of various kinds of auditory signals currently used in automobiles and a comprehensive evaluation were measured by a semantic differential method. The desirable acoustic characteristic was examined for each type of auditory signal. Sharp sounds with dominant high-frequency components were not suitable for auditory signals in automobiles. This trend is expedient for the aged whose auditory sensitivity in the high frequency region is lower. When intermittent sounds were used, a longer OFF time was suitable. Generally, "dull (not sharp)" and "calm" sounds were appropriate for auditory signals. Furthermore, the comparison between the frequency spectrum of interior noise in automobiles and that of suitable sounds for various auditory signals indicates that the suitable sounds are not easily masked. The suitable auditory signals for various purposes is a good solution from the viewpoint of universal design.

Basic Auditory Processing and Developmental Dyslexia in Chinese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Hsiao-Lan Sharon; Huss, Martina; Hamalainen, Jarmo A.; Goswami, Usha

2012-01-01

The present study explores the relationship between basic auditory processing of sound rise time, frequency, duration and intensity, phonological skills (onset-rime and tone awareness, sound blending, RAN, and phonological memory) and reading disability in Chinese. A series of psychometric, literacy, phonological, auditory, and character…

Psychoacoustics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moore, Brian C. J.

Psychoacoustics psychological is concerned with the relationships between the physical characteristics of sounds and their perceptual attributes. This chapter describes: the absolute sensitivity of the auditory system for detecting weak sounds and how that sensitivity varies with frequency; the frequency selectivity of the auditory system (the ability to resolve or hear out the sinusoidal components in a complex sound) and its characterization in terms of an array of auditory filters; the processes that influence the masking of one sound by another; the range of sound levels that can be processed by the auditory system; the perception and modeling of loudness; level discrimination; the temporal resolution of the auditory system (the ability to detect changes over time); the perception and modeling of pitch for pure and complex tones; the perception of timbre for steady and time-varying sounds; the perception of space and sound localization; and the mechanisms underlying auditory scene analysis that allow the construction of percepts corresponding to individual sounds sources when listening to complex mixtures of sounds.

Cognitive And Neural Sciences Division 1992 Programs

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-08-01

Thalamic short-term plasticity in the auditory system: Associative retuning of receptive fields in the ventral medial geniculate body . Behavioral...prediction and enhancement of human performance in training and operational environments. A second goal is to understand the neurobiological constraints and...such complex, structured bodies of knowledge and skill are acquired. Fourth, to provide a precise theory of instruction, founded on cognitive theory

Passive stimulation and behavioral training differentially transform temporal processing in the inferior colliculus and primary auditory cortex

PubMed Central

Beitel, Ralph E.; Schreiner, Christoph E.; Leake, Patricia A.

2016-01-01

In profoundly deaf cats, behavioral training with intracochlear electric stimulation (ICES) can improve temporal processing in the primary auditory cortex (AI). To investigate whether similar effects are manifest in the auditory midbrain, ICES was initiated in neonatally deafened cats either during development after short durations of deafness (8 wk of age) or in adulthood after long durations of deafness (≥3.5 yr). All of these animals received behaviorally meaningless, “passive” ICES. Some animals also received behavioral training with ICES. Two long-deaf cats received no ICES prior to acute electrophysiological recording. After several months of passive ICES and behavioral training, animals were anesthetized, and neuronal responses to pulse trains of increasing rates were recorded in the central (ICC) and external (ICX) nuclei of the inferior colliculus. Neuronal temporal response patterns (repetition rate coding, minimum latencies, response precision) were compared with results from recordings made in the AI of the same animals (Beitel RE, Vollmer M, Raggio MW, Schreiner CE. J Neurophysiol 106: 944–959, 2011; Vollmer M, Beitel RE. J Neurophysiol 106: 2423–2436, 2011). Passive ICES in long-deaf cats remediated severely degraded temporal processing in the ICC and had no effects in the ICX. In contrast to observations in the AI, behaviorally relevant ICES had no effects on temporal processing in the ICC or ICX, with the single exception of shorter latencies in the ICC in short-deaf cats. The results suggest that independent of deafness duration passive stimulation and behavioral training differentially transform temporal processing in auditory midbrain and cortex, and primary auditory cortex emerges as a pivotal site for behaviorally driven neuronal temporal plasticity in the deaf cat. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Behaviorally relevant vs. passive electric stimulation of the auditory nerve differentially affects neuronal temporal processing in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC) and the primary auditory cortex (AI) in profoundly short-deaf and long-deaf cats. Temporal plasticity in the ICC depends on a critical amount of electric stimulation, independent of its behavioral relevance. In contrast, the AI emerges as a pivotal site for behaviorally driven neuronal temporal plasticity in the deaf auditory system. PMID:27733594

Auditory-visual speech integration by prelinguistic infants: perception of an emergent consonant in the McGurk effect.

PubMed

Burnham, Denis; Dodd, Barbara

2004-12-01

The McGurk effect, in which auditory [ba] dubbed onto [ga] lip movements is perceived as "da" or "tha," was employed in a real-time task to investigate auditory-visual speech perception in prelingual infants. Experiments 1A and 1B established the validity of real-time dubbing for producing the effect. In Experiment 2, 4 1/2-month-olds were tested in a habituation-test paradigm, in which an auditory-visual stimulus was presented contingent upon visual fixation of a live face. The experimental group was habituated to a McGurk stimulus (auditory [ba] visual [ga]), and the control group to matching auditory-visual [ba]. Each group was then presented with three auditory-only test trials, [ba], [da], and [(delta)a] (as in then). Visual-fixation durations in test trials showed that the experimental group treated the emergent percept in the McGurk effect, [da] or [(delta)a], as familiar (even though they had not heard these sounds previously) and [ba] as novel. For control group infants [da] and [(delta)a] were no more familiar than [ba]. These results are consistent with infants' perception of the McGurk effect, and support the conclusion that prelinguistic infants integrate auditory and visual speech information. Copyright 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Temporal factors affecting somatosensory–auditory interactions in speech processing

PubMed Central

Ito, Takayuki; Gracco, Vincent L.; Ostry, David J.

2014-01-01

Speech perception is known to rely on both auditory and visual information. However, sound-specific somatosensory input has been shown also to influence speech perceptual processing (Ito et al., 2009). In the present study, we addressed further the relationship between somatosensory information and speech perceptual processing by addressing the hypothesis that the temporal relationship between orofacial movement and sound processing contributes to somatosensory–auditory interaction in speech perception. We examined the changes in event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to multisensory synchronous (simultaneous) and asynchronous (90 ms lag and lead) somatosensory and auditory stimulation compared to individual unisensory auditory and somatosensory stimulation alone. We used a robotic device to apply facial skin somatosensory deformations that were similar in timing and duration to those experienced in speech production. Following synchronous multisensory stimulation the amplitude of the ERP was reliably different from the two unisensory potentials. More importantly, the magnitude of the ERP difference varied as a function of the relative timing of the somatosensory–auditory stimulation. Event-related activity change due to stimulus timing was seen between 160 and 220 ms following somatosensory onset, mostly around the parietal area. The results demonstrate a dynamic modulation of somatosensory–auditory convergence and suggest the contribution of somatosensory information for speech processing process is dependent on the specific temporal order of sensory inputs in speech production. PMID:25452733

Filling-in visual motion with sounds.

PubMed

Väljamäe, A; Soto-Faraco, S

2008-10-01

Information about the motion of objects can be extracted by multiple sensory modalities, and, as a consequence, object motion perception typically involves the integration of multi-sensory information. Often, in naturalistic settings, the flow of such information can be rather discontinuous (e.g. a cat racing through the furniture in a cluttered room is partly seen and partly heard). This study addressed audio-visual interactions in the perception of time-sampled object motion by measuring adaptation after-effects. We found significant auditory after-effects following adaptation to unisensory auditory and visual motion in depth, sampled at 12.5 Hz. The visually induced (cross-modal) auditory motion after-effect was eliminated if visual adaptors flashed at half of the rate (6.25 Hz). Remarkably, the addition of the high-rate acoustic flutter (12.5 Hz) to this ineffective, sparsely time-sampled, visual adaptor restored the auditory after-effect to a level comparable to what was seen with high-rate bimodal adaptors (flashes and beeps). Our results suggest that this auditory-induced reinstatement of the motion after-effect from the poor visual signals resulted from the occurrence of sound-induced illusory flashes. This effect was found to be dependent both on the directional congruency between modalities and on the rate of auditory flutter. The auditory filling-in of time-sampled visual motion supports the feasibility of using reduced frame rate visual content in multisensory broadcasting and virtual reality applications.

Temporally selective attention modulates early perceptual processing: event-related potential evidence.

PubMed

Sanders, Lisa D; Astheimer, Lori B

2008-05-01

Some of the most important information we encounter changes so rapidly that our perceptual systems cannot process all of it in detail. Spatially selective attention is critical for perception when more information than can be processed in detail is presented simultaneously at distinct locations. When presented with complex, rapidly changing information, listeners may need to selectively attend to specific times rather than to locations. We present evidence that listeners can direct selective attention to time points that differ by as little as 500 msec, and that doing so improves target detection, affects baseline neural activity preceding stimulus presentation, and modulates auditory evoked potentials at a perceptually early stage. These data demonstrate that attentional modulation of early perceptual processing is temporally precise and that listeners can flexibly allocate temporally selective attention over short intervals, making it a viable mechanism for preferentially processing the most relevant segments in rapidly changing streams.

Conjugating time and frequency: hemispheric specialization, acoustic uncertainty, and the mustached bat

PubMed Central

Washington, Stuart D.; Tillinghast, John S.

2015-01-01

A prominent hypothesis of hemispheric specialization for human speech and music states that the left and right auditory cortices (ACs) are respectively specialized for precise calculation of two canonically-conjugate variables: time and frequency. This spectral-temporal asymmetry does not account for sex, brain-volume, or handedness, and is in opposition to closed-system hypotheses that restrict this asymmetry to humans. Mustached bats have smaller brains, but greater ethological pressures to develop such a spectral-temporal asymmetry, than humans. Using the Heisenberg-Gabor Limit (i.e., the mathematical basis of the spectral-temporal asymmetry) to frame mustached bat literature, we show that recent findings in bat AC (1) support the notion that hemispheric specialization for speech and music is based on hemispheric differences in temporal and spectral resolution, (2) discredit closed-system, handedness, and brain-volume theories, (3) underscore the importance of sex differences, and (4) provide new avenues for phonological research. PMID:25926767

Conjugating time and frequency: hemispheric specialization, acoustic uncertainty, and the mustached bat.

PubMed

Washington, Stuart D; Tillinghast, John S

2015-01-01

A prominent hypothesis of hemispheric specialization for human speech and music states that the left and right auditory cortices (ACs) are respectively specialized for precise calculation of two canonically-conjugate variables: time and frequency. This spectral-temporal asymmetry does not account for sex, brain-volume, or handedness, and is in opposition to closed-system hypotheses that restrict this asymmetry to humans. Mustached bats have smaller brains, but greater ethological pressures to develop such a spectral-temporal asymmetry, than humans. Using the Heisenberg-Gabor Limit (i.e., the mathematical basis of the spectral-temporal asymmetry) to frame mustached bat literature, we show that recent findings in bat AC (1) support the notion that hemispheric specialization for speech and music is based on hemispheric differences in temporal and spectral resolution, (2) discredit closed-system, handedness, and brain-volume theories, (3) underscore the importance of sex differences, and (4) provide new avenues for phonological research.

Use of piezosurgery for internal auditory canal drilling in acoustic neuroma surgery.

PubMed

Grauvogel, Juergen; Scheiwe, Christian; Kaminsky, Jan

2011-10-01

Piezosurgery is based on microvibrations generated by the piezoelectrical effect and has a selective bone-cutting ability with preservation of soft tissue. This study examined the applicability of Piezosurgery compared to rotating drills (RD) for internal auditory canal (IAC) opening in acoustic neuroma (AN) surgery. Piezosurgery was used in eight patients for IAC drilling in AN surgery. After exposition of the IAC and tumor, the posterior wall of the IAC was drilled using Piezosurgery instead of RD. Piezosurgery was evaluated with respect to practicability, safety, preciseness of bone cutting, preservation of cranial nerves, influences on neurophysiological monitoring, and facial nerve and hearing outcome. Piezosurgery was successfully used for selective bone cutting, while cranial nerves were structurally and functionally preserved, which could be measured by means of neuromonitoring. Piezosurgery guaranteed a safe and precise cut by removing bone layer by layer in a shaping way. Compared to RD, limited influence on neurophysiological monitoring attributable to Piezosurgery was noted, allowing for continuous neuromonitoring. No disadvantage due to microvibrations was noticed concerning hearing function. The angled tip showed better handling in right-sided than in left-sided tumors in the hands of a right-handed surgeon. The short, thick handpiece may be improved for more convenient handling. Piezosurgery is a safe tool for selective bone cutting for opening of the IAC with preservation of facial nerve and hearing function in AN surgery. Piezosurgery has the potential to replace RD for this indication because of its safe and precise bone-cutting properties.

Alpha power indexes task-related networks on large and small scales: A multimodal ECoG study in humans and a non-human primate.

PubMed

de Pesters, A; Coon, W G; Brunner, P; Gunduz, A; Ritaccio, A L; Brunet, N M; de Weerd, P; Roberts, M J; Oostenveld, R; Fries, P; Schalk, G

2016-07-01

Performing different tasks, such as generating motor movements or processing sensory input, requires the recruitment of specific networks of neuronal populations. Previous studies suggested that power variations in the alpha band (8-12Hz) may implement such recruitment of task-specific populations by increasing cortical excitability in task-related areas while inhibiting population-level cortical activity in task-unrelated areas (Klimesch et al., 2007; Jensen and Mazaheri, 2010). However, the precise temporal and spatial relationships between the modulatory function implemented by alpha oscillations and population-level cortical activity remained undefined. Furthermore, while several studies suggested that alpha power indexes task-related populations across large and spatially separated cortical areas, it was largely unclear whether alpha power also differentially indexes smaller networks of task-related neuronal populations. Here we addressed these questions by investigating the temporal and spatial relationships of electrocorticographic (ECoG) power modulations in the alpha band and in the broadband gamma range (70-170Hz, indexing population-level activity) during auditory and motor tasks in five human subjects and one macaque monkey. In line with previous research, our results confirm that broadband gamma power accurately tracks task-related behavior and that alpha power decreases in task-related areas. More importantly, they demonstrate that alpha power suppression lags population-level activity in auditory areas during the auditory task, but precedes it in motor areas during the motor task. This suppression of alpha power in task-related areas was accompanied by an increase in areas not related to the task. In addition, we show for the first time that these differential modulations of alpha power could be observed not only across widely distributed systems (e.g., motor vs. auditory system), but also within the auditory system. Specifically, alpha power was suppressed in the locations within the auditory system that most robustly responded to particular sound stimuli. Altogether, our results provide experimental evidence for a mechanism that preferentially recruits task-related neuronal populations by increasing cortical excitability in task-related cortical areas and decreasing cortical excitability in task-unrelated areas. This mechanism is implemented by variations in alpha power and is common to humans and the non-human primate under study. These results contribute to an increasingly refined understanding of the mechanisms underlying the selection of the specific neuronal populations required for task execution. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neural mechanisms underlying auditory feedback control of speech

PubMed Central

Reilly, Kevin J.; Guenther, Frank H.

2013-01-01

The neural substrates underlying auditory feedback control of speech were investigated using a combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and computational modeling. Neural responses were measured while subjects spoke monosyllabic words under two conditions: (i) normal auditory feedback of their speech, and (ii) auditory feedback in which the first formant frequency of their speech was unexpectedly shifted in real time. Acoustic measurements showed compensation to the shift within approximately 135 ms of onset. Neuroimaging revealed increased activity in bilateral superior temporal cortex during shifted feedback, indicative of neurons coding mismatches between expected and actual auditory signals, as well as right prefrontal and Rolandic cortical activity. Structural equation modeling revealed increased influence of bilateral auditory cortical areas on right frontal areas during shifted speech, indicating that projections from auditory error cells in posterior superior temporal cortex to motor correction cells in right frontal cortex mediate auditory feedback control of speech. PMID:18035557

Auditory and visual capture during focused visual attention.

PubMed

Koelewijn, Thomas; Bronkhorst, Adelbert; Theeuwes, Jan

2009-10-01

It is well known that auditory and visual onsets presented at a particular location can capture a person's visual attention. However, the question of whether such attentional capture disappears when attention is focused endogenously beforehand has not yet been answered. Moreover, previous studies have not differentiated between capture by onsets presented at a nontarget (invalid) location and possible performance benefits occurring when the target location is (validly) cued. In this study, the authors modulated the degree of attentional focus by presenting endogenous cues with varying reliability and by displaying placeholders indicating the precise areas where the target stimuli could occur. By using not only valid and invalid exogenous cues but also neutral cues that provide temporal but no spatial information, they found performance benefits as well as costs when attention is not strongly focused. The benefits disappear when the attentional focus is increased. These results indicate that there is bottom-up capture of visual attention by irrelevant auditory and visual stimuli that cannot be suppressed by top-down attentional control. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Effectiveness and efficacy of early detection of hearing impairment in children.

PubMed

Ruben, R J

1991-01-01

Throughout the industrial world, technology and techniques are now available so that any child, no matter how young or how impaired, can have an accurate and precise assessment of middle ear function, auditory reactivity, and physiological processing of auditory stimuli. Yet, a major problem exists in the lack of timely identification of many children with hearing impairments. Presently, identification systems are primarily proactive and are based on technology. These consist of testing of infants with biological risk factors and the use of hearing screening programs at various times during the first decade of life. The reactive sources of referral appear to be inadequate, an impression that is supported by the data on the delay of diagnosis. These inadequacies appear to be due to a lack of awareness on the part of health providers as to the potential hearing losses; ignorance concerning the ability to diagnose them; and a lack of awareness of the potential of effective intervention. Two additional approaches are suggested which would be added to those already existing for improving the number of children who will have their diagnoses made in a timely fashion. The first of these is educational: health providers should have required and continuing education concerning the effects of hearing loss, the ability to diagnose, and to intervene effectively. A parallel educational program should be provided for the public. The second is the periodic assessment of speech and language from early infancy through the first few years of life for all children. This would enable children with suspected impairments to be referred for definitive testing.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acquired word deafness, and the temporal grain of sound representation in the primary auditory cortex.

PubMed

Phillips, D P; Farmer, M E

1990-11-15

This paper explores the nature of the processing disorder which underlies the speech discrimination deficit in the syndrome of acquired word deafness following from pathology to the primary auditory cortex. A critical examination of the evidence on this disorder revealed the following. First, the most profound forms of the condition are expressed not only in an isolation of the cerebral linguistic processor from auditory input, but in a failure of even the perceptual elaboration of the relevant sounds. Second, in agreement with earlier studies, we conclude that the perceptual dimension disturbed in word deafness is a temporal one. We argue, however, that it is not a generalized disorder of auditory temporal processing, but one which is largely restricted to the processing of sounds with temporal content in the milliseconds to tens-of-milliseconds time frame. The perceptual elaboration of sounds with temporal content outside that range, in either direction, may survive the disorder. Third, we present neurophysiological evidence that the primary auditory cortex has a special role in the representation of auditory events in that time frame, but not in the representation of auditory events with temporal grains outside that range.

Seeing the Song: Left Auditory Structures May Track Auditory-Visual Dynamic Alignment

PubMed Central

Mossbridge, Julia A.; Grabowecky, Marcia; Suzuki, Satoru

2013-01-01

Auditory and visual signals generated by a single source tend to be temporally correlated, such as the synchronous sounds of footsteps and the limb movements of a walker. Continuous tracking and comparison of the dynamics of auditory-visual streams is thus useful for the perceptual binding of information arising from a common source. Although language-related mechanisms have been implicated in the tracking of speech-related auditory-visual signals (e.g., speech sounds and lip movements), it is not well known what sensory mechanisms generally track ongoing auditory-visual synchrony for non-speech signals in a complex auditory-visual environment. To begin to address this question, we used music and visual displays that varied in the dynamics of multiple features (e.g., auditory loudness and pitch; visual luminance, color, size, motion, and organization) across multiple time scales. Auditory activity (monitored using auditory steady-state responses, ASSR) was selectively reduced in the left hemisphere when the music and dynamic visual displays were temporally misaligned. Importantly, ASSR was not affected when attentional engagement with the music was reduced, or when visual displays presented dynamics clearly dissimilar to the music. These results appear to suggest that left-lateralized auditory mechanisms are sensitive to auditory-visual temporal alignment, but perhaps only when the dynamics of auditory and visual streams are similar. These mechanisms may contribute to correct auditory-visual binding in a busy sensory environment. PMID:24194873

Dividing time: concurrent timing of auditory and visual events by young and elderly adults.

PubMed

McAuley, J Devin; Miller, Jonathan P; Wang, Mo; Pang, Kevin C H

2010-07-01

This article examines age differences in individual's ability to produce the durations of learned auditory and visual target events either in isolation (focused attention) or concurrently (divided attention). Young adults produced learned target durations equally well in focused and divided attention conditions. Older adults, in contrast, showed an age-related increase in timing variability in divided attention conditions that tended to be more pronounced for visual targets than for auditory targets. Age-related impairments were associated with a decrease in working memory span; moreover, the relationship between working memory and timing performance was largest for visual targets in divided attention conditions.

Auditory and audio-visual processing in patients with cochlear, auditory brainstem, and auditory midbrain implants: An EEG study.

PubMed

Schierholz, Irina; Finke, Mareike; Kral, Andrej; Büchner, Andreas; Rach, Stefan; Lenarz, Thomas; Dengler, Reinhard; Sandmann, Pascale

2017-04-01

There is substantial variability in speech recognition ability across patients with cochlear implants (CIs), auditory brainstem implants (ABIs), and auditory midbrain implants (AMIs). To better understand how this variability is related to central processing differences, the current electroencephalography (EEG) study compared hearing abilities and auditory-cortex activation in patients with electrical stimulation at different sites of the auditory pathway. Three different groups of patients with auditory implants (Hannover Medical School; ABI: n = 6, CI: n = 6; AMI: n = 2) performed a speeded response task and a speech recognition test with auditory, visual, and audio-visual stimuli. Behavioral performance and cortical processing of auditory and audio-visual stimuli were compared between groups. ABI and AMI patients showed prolonged response times on auditory and audio-visual stimuli compared with NH listeners and CI patients. This was confirmed by prolonged N1 latencies and reduced N1 amplitudes in ABI and AMI patients. However, patients with central auditory implants showed a remarkable gain in performance when visual and auditory input was combined, in both speech and non-speech conditions, which was reflected by a strong visual modulation of auditory-cortex activation in these individuals. In sum, the results suggest that the behavioral improvement for audio-visual conditions in central auditory implant patients is based on enhanced audio-visual interactions in the auditory cortex. Their findings may provide important implications for the optimization of electrical stimulation and rehabilitation strategies in patients with central auditory prostheses. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2206-2225, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Auditory agnosia due to long-term severe hydrocephalus caused by spina bifida - specific auditory pathway versus nonspecific auditory pathway.

PubMed

Zhang, Qing; Kaga, Kimitaka; Hayashi, Akimasa

2011-07-01

A 27-year-old female showed auditory agnosia after long-term severe hydrocephalus due to congenital spina bifida. After years of hydrocephalus, she gradually suffered from hearing loss in her right ear at 19 years of age, followed by her left ear. During the time when she retained some ability to hear, she experienced severe difficulty in distinguishing verbal, environmental, and musical instrumental sounds. However, her auditory brainstem response and distortion product otoacoustic emissions were largely intact in the left ear. Her bilateral auditory cortices were preserved, as shown by neuroimaging, whereas her auditory radiations were severely damaged owing to progressive hydrocephalus. Although she had a complete bilateral hearing loss, she felt great pleasure when exposed to music. After years of self-training to read lips, she regained fluent ability to communicate. Clinical manifestations of this patient indicate that auditory agnosia can occur after long-term hydrocephalus due to spina bifida; the secondary auditory pathway may play a role in both auditory perception and hearing rehabilitation.

Auditory selective attention in adolescents with major depression: An event-related potential study.

PubMed

Greimel, E; Trinkl, M; Bartling, J; Bakos, S; Grossheinrich, N; Schulte-Körne, G

2015-02-01

Major depression (MD) is associated with deficits in selective attention. Previous studies in adults with MD using event-related potentials (ERPs) reported abnormalities in the neurophysiological correlates of auditory selective attention. However, it is yet unclear whether these findings can be generalized to MD in adolescence. Thus, the aim of the present ERP study was to explore the neural mechanisms of auditory selective attention in adolescents with MD. 24 male and female unmedicated adolescents with MD and 21 control subjects were included in the study. ERPs were collected during an auditory oddball paradigm. Depressive adolescents tended to show a longer N100 latency to target and non-target tones. Moreover, MD subjects showed a prolonged latency of the P200 component to targets. Across groups, longer P200 latency was associated with a decreased tendency of disinhibited behavior as assessed by a behavioral questionnaire. To be able to draw more precise conclusions about differences between the neural bases of selective attention in adolescents vs. adults with MD, future studies should include both age groups and apply the same experimental setting across all subjects. The study provides strong support for abnormalities in the neurophysiolgical bases of selective attention in adolecents with MD at early stages of auditory information processing. Absent group differences in later ERP components reflecting voluntary attentional processes stand in contrast to results reported in adults with MD and may suggest that adolescents with MD possess mechanisms to compensate for abnormalities in the early stages of selective attention. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Systemic Nicotine Increases Gain and Narrows Receptive Fields in A1 via Integrated Cortical and Subcortical Actions

PubMed Central

Intskirveli, Irakli

2017-01-01

Abstract Nicotine enhances sensory and cognitive processing via actions at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), yet the precise circuit- and systems-level mechanisms remain unclear. In sensory cortex, nicotinic modulation of receptive fields (RFs) provides a model to probe mechanisms by which nAChRs regulate cortical circuits. Here, we examine RF modulation in mouse primary auditory cortex (A1) using a novel electrophysiological approach: current-source density (CSD) analysis of responses to tone-in-notched-noise (TINN) acoustic stimuli. TINN stimuli consist of a tone at the characteristic frequency (CF) of the recording site embedded within a white noise stimulus filtered to create a spectral “notch” of variable width centered on CF. Systemic nicotine (2.1 mg/kg) enhanced responses to the CF tone and to narrow-notch stimuli, yet reduced the response to wider-notch stimuli, indicating increased response gain within a narrowed RF. Subsequent manipulations showed that modulation of cortical RFs by systemic nicotine reflected effects at several levels in the auditory pathway: nicotine suppressed responses in the auditory midbrain and thalamus, with suppression increasing with spectral distance from CF so that RFs became narrower, and facilitated responses in the thalamocortical pathway, while nicotinic actions within A1 further contributed to both suppression and facilitation. Thus, multiple effects of systemic nicotine integrate along the ascending auditory pathway. These actions at nAChRs in cortical and subcortical circuits, which mimic effects of auditory attention, likely contribute to nicotinic enhancement of sensory and cognitive processing. PMID:28660244

Systemic Nicotine Increases Gain and Narrows Receptive Fields in A1 via Integrated Cortical and Subcortical Actions.

PubMed

Askew, Caitlin; Intskirveli, Irakli; Metherate, Raju

2017-01-01

Nicotine enhances sensory and cognitive processing via actions at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), yet the precise circuit- and systems-level mechanisms remain unclear. In sensory cortex, nicotinic modulation of receptive fields (RFs) provides a model to probe mechanisms by which nAChRs regulate cortical circuits. Here, we examine RF modulation in mouse primary auditory cortex (A1) using a novel electrophysiological approach: current-source density (CSD) analysis of responses to tone-in-notched-noise (TINN) acoustic stimuli. TINN stimuli consist of a tone at the characteristic frequency (CF) of the recording site embedded within a white noise stimulus filtered to create a spectral "notch" of variable width centered on CF. Systemic nicotine (2.1 mg/kg) enhanced responses to the CF tone and to narrow-notch stimuli, yet reduced the response to wider-notch stimuli, indicating increased response gain within a narrowed RF. Subsequent manipulations showed that modulation of cortical RFs by systemic nicotine reflected effects at several levels in the auditory pathway: nicotine suppressed responses in the auditory midbrain and thalamus, with suppression increasing with spectral distance from CF so that RFs became narrower, and facilitated responses in the thalamocortical pathway, while nicotinic actions within A1 further contributed to both suppression and facilitation. Thus, multiple effects of systemic nicotine integrate along the ascending auditory pathway. These actions at nAChRs in cortical and subcortical circuits, which mimic effects of auditory attention, likely contribute to nicotinic enhancement of sensory and cognitive processing.

Attention to sound improves auditory reliability in audio-tactile spatial optimal integration.

PubMed

Vercillo, Tiziana; Gori, Monica

2015-01-01

The role of attention on multisensory processing is still poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear whether directing attention toward a sensory cue dynamically reweights cue reliability during integration of multiple sensory signals. In this study, we investigated the impact of attention in combining audio-tactile signals in an optimal fashion. We used the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) model to predict audio-tactile spatial localization on the body surface. We developed a new audio-tactile device composed by several small units, each one consisting of a speaker and a tactile vibrator independently controllable by external software. We tested participants in an attentional and a non-attentional condition. In the attentional experiment, participants performed a dual task paradigm: they were required to evaluate the duration of a sound while performing an audio-tactile spatial task. Three unisensory or multisensory stimuli, conflictual or not conflictual sounds and vibrations arranged along the horizontal axis, were presented sequentially. In the primary task participants had to evaluate in a space bisection task the position of the second stimulus (the probe) with respect to the others (the standards). In the secondary task they had to report occasionally changes in duration of the second auditory stimulus. In the non-attentional task participants had only to perform the primary task (space bisection). Our results showed an enhanced auditory precision (and auditory weights) in the auditory attentional condition with respect to the control non-attentional condition. The results of this study support the idea that modality-specific attention modulates multisensory integration.

Psychophysical Evaluation of Three-Dimensional Auditory Displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wightman, Frederic L. (Principal Investigator)

1995-01-01

This report describes the process made during the first year of a three-year Cooperative Research Agreement (CRA NCC2-542). The CRA proposed a program of applied of psychophysical research designed to determine the requirements and limitations of three-dimensional (3-D) auditory display systems. These displays present synthesized stimuli to a pilot or virtual workstation operator that evoke auditory images at predetermined positions in space. The images can be either stationary or moving. In previous years. we completed a number of studies that provided data on listeners' abilities to localize stationary sound sources with 3-D displays. The current focus is on the use of 3-D displays in 'natural' listening conditions, which include listeners' head movements, moving sources, multiple sources and 'echoic' sources. The results of our research on two of these topics, the role of head movements and the role of echoes and reflections, were reported in the most recent Semi-Annual Pro-ress Report (Appendix A). In the period since the last Progress Report we have been studying a third topic, the localizability of moving sources. The results of this research are described. The fidelity of a virtual auditory display is critically dependent on precise measurement of the listener''s Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs), which are used to produce the virtual auditory images. We continue to explore methods for improving our HRTF measurement technique. During this reporting period we compared HRTFs measured using our standard open-canal probe tube technique and HRTFs measured with the closed-canal insert microphones from the Crystal River Engineering Snapshot system.

Auditory pathways: anatomy and physiology.

PubMed

Pickles, James O

2015-01-01

This chapter outlines the anatomy and physiology of the auditory pathways. After a brief analysis of the external, middle ears, and cochlea, the responses of auditory nerve fibers are described. The central nervous system is analyzed in more detail. A scheme is provided to help understand the complex and multiple auditory pathways running through the brainstem. The multiple pathways are based on the need to preserve accurate timing while extracting complex spectral patterns in the auditory input. The auditory nerve fibers branch to give two pathways, a ventral sound-localizing stream, and a dorsal mainly pattern recognition stream, which innervate the different divisions of the cochlear nucleus. The outputs of the two streams, with their two types of analysis, are progressively combined in the inferior colliculus and onwards, to produce the representation of what can be called the "auditory objects" in the external world. The progressive extraction of critical features in the auditory stimulus in the different levels of the central auditory system, from cochlear nucleus to auditory cortex, is described. In addition, the auditory centrifugal system, running from cortex in multiple stages to the organ of Corti of the cochlea, is described. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Temporal integration at consecutive processing stages in the auditory pathway of the grasshopper.

PubMed

Wirtssohn, Sarah; Ronacher, Bernhard

2015-04-01

Temporal integration in the auditory system of locusts was quantified by presenting single clicks and click pairs while performing intracellular recordings. Auditory neurons were studied at three processing stages, which form a feed-forward network in the metathoracic ganglion. Receptor neurons and most first-order interneurons ("local neurons") encode the signal envelope, while second-order interneurons ("ascending neurons") tend to extract more complex, behaviorally relevant sound features. In different neuron types of the auditory pathway we found three response types: no significant temporal integration (some ascending neurons), leaky energy integration (receptor neurons and some local neurons), and facilitatory processes (some local and ascending neurons). The receptor neurons integrated input over very short time windows (<2 ms). Temporal integration on longer time scales was found at subsequent processing stages, indicative of within-neuron computations and network activity. These different strategies, realized at separate processing stages and in parallel neuronal pathways within one processing stage, could enable the grasshopper's auditory system to evaluate longer time windows and thus to implement temporal filters, while at the same time maintaining a high temporal resolution. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Promoting smoke-free homes: a novel behavioral intervention using real-time audio-visual feedback on airborne particle levels.

PubMed

Klepeis, Neil E; Hughes, Suzanne C; Edwards, Rufus D; Allen, Tracy; Johnson, Michael; Chowdhury, Zohir; Smith, Kirk R; Boman-Davis, Marie; Bellettiere, John; Hovell, Melbourne F

2013-01-01

Interventions are needed to protect the health of children who live with smokers. We pilot-tested a real-time intervention for promoting behavior change in homes that reduces second hand tobacco smoke (SHS) levels. The intervention uses a monitor and feedback system to provide immediate auditory and visual signals triggered at defined thresholds of fine particle concentration. Dynamic graphs of real-time particle levels are also shown on a computer screen. We experimentally evaluated the system, field-tested it in homes with smokers, and conducted focus groups to obtain general opinions. Laboratory tests of the monitor demonstrated SHS sensitivity, stability, precision equivalent to at least 1 µg/m(3), and low noise. A linear relationship (R(2) = 0.98) was observed between the monitor and average SHS mass concentrations up to 150 µg/m(3). Focus groups and interviews with intervention participants showed in-home use to be acceptable and feasible. The intervention was evaluated in 3 homes with combined baseline and intervention periods lasting 9 to 15 full days. Two families modified their behavior by opening windows or doors, smoking outdoors, or smoking less. We observed evidence of lower SHS levels in these homes. The remaining household voiced reluctance to changing their smoking activity and did not exhibit lower SHS levels in main smoking areas or clear behavior change; however, family members expressed receptivity to smoking outdoors. This study established the feasibility of the real-time intervention, laying the groundwork for controlled trials with larger sample sizes. Visual and auditory cues may prompt family members to take immediate action to reduce SHS levels. Dynamic graphs of SHS levels may help families make decisions about specific mitigation approaches.

Promoting Smoke-Free Homes: A Novel Behavioral Intervention Using Real-Time Audio-Visual Feedback on Airborne Particle Levels

PubMed Central

Klepeis, Neil E.; Hughes, Suzanne C.; Edwards, Rufus D.; Allen, Tracy; Johnson, Michael; Chowdhury, Zohir; Smith, Kirk R.; Boman-Davis, Marie; Bellettiere, John; Hovell, Melbourne F.

2013-01-01

Interventions are needed to protect the health of children who live with smokers. We pilot-tested a real-time intervention for promoting behavior change in homes that reduces second hand tobacco smoke (SHS) levels. The intervention uses a monitor and feedback system to provide immediate auditory and visual signals triggered at defined thresholds of fine particle concentration. Dynamic graphs of real-time particle levels are also shown on a computer screen. We experimentally evaluated the system, field-tested it in homes with smokers, and conducted focus groups to obtain general opinions. Laboratory tests of the monitor demonstrated SHS sensitivity, stability, precision equivalent to at least 1 µg/m3, and low noise. A linear relationship (R2 = 0.98) was observed between the monitor and average SHS mass concentrations up to 150 µg/m3. Focus groups and interviews with intervention participants showed in-home use to be acceptable and feasible. The intervention was evaluated in 3 homes with combined baseline and intervention periods lasting 9 to 15 full days. Two families modified their behavior by opening windows or doors, smoking outdoors, or smoking less. We observed evidence of lower SHS levels in these homes. The remaining household voiced reluctance to changing their smoking activity and did not exhibit lower SHS levels in main smoking areas or clear behavior change; however, family members expressed receptivity to smoking outdoors. This study established the feasibility of the real-time intervention, laying the groundwork for controlled trials with larger sample sizes. Visual and auditory cues may prompt family members to take immediate action to reduce SHS levels. Dynamic graphs of SHS levels may help families make decisions about specific mitigation approaches. PMID:24009742

Extracting neuronal functional network dynamics via adaptive Granger causality analysis.

PubMed

Sheikhattar, Alireza; Miran, Sina; Liu, Ji; Fritz, Jonathan B; Shamma, Shihab A; Kanold, Patrick O; Babadi, Behtash

2018-04-24

Quantifying the functional relations between the nodes in a network based on local observations is a key challenge in studying complex systems. Most existing time series analysis techniques for this purpose provide static estimates of the network properties, pertain to stationary Gaussian data, or do not take into account the ubiquitous sparsity in the underlying functional networks. When applied to spike recordings from neuronal ensembles undergoing rapid task-dependent dynamics, they thus hinder a precise statistical characterization of the dynamic neuronal functional networks underlying adaptive behavior. We develop a dynamic estimation and inference paradigm for extracting functional neuronal network dynamics in the sense of Granger, by integrating techniques from adaptive filtering, compressed sensing, point process theory, and high-dimensional statistics. We demonstrate the utility of our proposed paradigm through theoretical analysis, algorithm development, and application to synthetic and real data. Application of our techniques to two-photon Ca 2+ imaging experiments from the mouse auditory cortex reveals unique features of the functional neuronal network structures underlying spontaneous activity at unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution. Our analysis of simultaneous recordings from the ferret auditory and prefrontal cortical areas suggests evidence for the role of rapid top-down and bottom-up functional dynamics across these areas involved in robust attentive behavior.

Training in rapid auditory processing ameliorates auditory comprehension in aphasic patients: a randomized controlled pilot study.

PubMed

Szelag, Elzbieta; Lewandowska, Monika; Wolak, Tomasz; Seniow, Joanna; Poniatowska, Renata; Pöppel, Ernst; Szymaszek, Aneta

2014-03-15

Experimental studies have often reported close associations between rapid auditory processing and language competency. The present study was aimed at improving auditory comprehension in aphasic patients following specific training in the perception of temporal order (TO) of events. We tested 18 aphasic patients showing both comprehension and TO perception deficits. Auditory comprehension was assessed by the Token Test, phonemic awareness and Voice-Onset-Time Test. The TO perception was assessed using auditory Temporal-Order-Threshold, defined as the shortest interval between two consecutive stimuli, necessary to report correctly their before-after relation. Aphasic patients participated in eight 45-minute sessions of either specific temporal training (TT, n=11) aimed to improve sequencing abilities, or control non-temporal training (NT, n=7) focussed on volume discrimination. The TT yielded improved TO perception; moreover, a transfer of improvement was observed from the time domain to the language domain, which was untrained during the training. The NT did not improve either the TO perception or comprehension in any language test. These results are in agreement with previous literature studies which proved ameliorated language competency following the TT in language-learning-impaired or dyslexic children. Our results indicated for the first time such benefits also in aphasic patients. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of the Level of Coordinated Motor Abilities on Performance in Junior Judokas

PubMed Central

Lech, Grzegorz; Jaworski, Janusz; Lyakh, Vladimir; Krawczyk, Robert

2011-01-01

The main focus of this study was to identify coordinated motor abilities that affect fighting methods and performance in junior judokas. Subjects were selected for the study in consideration of their age, competition experience, body mass and prior sports level. Subjects’ competition history was taken into consideration when analysing the effectiveness of current fight actions, and individual sports level was determined with consideration to rank in the analysed competitions. The study sought to determine the level of coordinated motor abilities of competitors. The scope of this analysis covered the following aspects: kinaesthetic differentiation, movement frequency, simple and selective reaction time (evoked by a visual or auditory stimulus), spatial orientation, visual-motor coordination, rhythmization, speed, accuracy and precision of movements and the ability to adapt movements and balance. A set of computer tests was employed for the analysis of all of the coordination abilities, while balance examinations were based on the Flamingo Balance Test. Finally, all relationships were determined based on the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. It was observed that the activity of the contestants during the fight correlated with the ability to differentiate movements and speed, accuracy and precision of movement, whereas the achievement level during competition was connected with reaction time. PMID:23486723

Rapid measurement of auditory filter shape in mice using the auditory brainstem response and notched noise.

PubMed

Lina, Ioan A; Lauer, Amanda M

2013-04-01

The notched noise method is an effective procedure for measuring frequency resolution and auditory filter shapes in both human and animal models of hearing. Briefly, auditory filter shape and bandwidth estimates are derived from masked thresholds for tones presented in noise containing widening spectral notches. As the spectral notch widens, increasingly less of the noise falls within the auditory filter and the tone becomes more detectible until the notch width exceeds the filter bandwidth. Behavioral procedures have been used for the derivation of notched noise auditory filter shapes in mice; however, the time and effort needed to train and test animals on these tasks renders a constraint on the widespread application of this testing method. As an alternative procedure, we combined relatively non-invasive auditory brainstem response (ABR) measurements and the notched noise method to estimate auditory filters in normal-hearing mice at center frequencies of 8, 11.2, and 16 kHz. A complete set of simultaneous masked thresholds for a particular tone frequency were obtained in about an hour. ABR-derived filter bandwidths broadened with increasing frequency, consistent with previous studies. The ABR notched noise procedure provides a fast alternative to estimating frequency selectivity in mice that is well-suited to high through-put or time-sensitive screening. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Melodic Contour Repeatedly Experienced by Human Near-Term Fetuses Elicits a Profound Cardiac Reaction One Month after Birth

PubMed Central

Granier-Deferre, Carolyn; Bassereau, Sophie; Ribeiro, Aurélie; Jacquet, Anne-Yvonne; DeCasper, Anthony J.

2011-01-01

Background Human hearing develops progressively during the last trimester of gestation. Near-term fetuses can discriminate acoustic features, such as frequencies and spectra, and process complex auditory streams. Fetal and neonatal studies show that they can remember frequently recurring sounds. However, existing data can only show retention intervals up to several days after birth. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we show that auditory memories can last at least six weeks. Experimental fetuses were given precisely controlled exposure to a descending piano melody twice daily during the 35th, 36th, and 37th weeks of gestation. Six weeks later we assessed the cardiac responses of 25 exposed infants and 25 naive control infants, while in quiet sleep, to the descending melody and to an ascending control piano melody. The melodies had precisely inverse contours, but similar spectra, identical duration, tempo and rhythm, thus, almost identical amplitude envelopes. All infants displayed a significant heart rate change. In exposed infants, the descending melody evoked a cardiac deceleration that was twice larger than the decelerations elicited by the ascending melody and by both melodies in control infants. Conclusions/Significance Thus, 3-weeks of prenatal exposure to a specific melodic contour affects infants ‘auditory processing’ or perception, i.e., impacts the autonomic nervous system at least six weeks later, when infants are 1-month old. Our results extend the retention interval over which a prenatally acquired memory of a specific sound stream can be observed from 3–4 days to six weeks. The long-term memory for the descending melody is interpreted in terms of enduring neurophysiological tuning and its significance for the developmental psychobiology of attention and perception, including early speech perception, is discussed. PMID:21383836

Auditory perception and the control of spatially coordinated action of deaf and hearing children.

PubMed

Savelsbergh, G J; Netelenbos, J B; Whiting, H T

1991-03-01

From birth onwards, auditory stimulation directs and intensifies visual orientation behaviour. In deaf children, by definition, auditory perception cannot take place and cannot, therefore, make a contribution to visual orientation to objects approaching from outside the initial field of view. In experiment 1, a difference in catching ability is demonstrated between deaf and hearing children (10-13 years of age) when the ball approached from the periphery or from outside the field of view. No differences in catching ability between the two groups occurred when the ball approached from within the field of view. A second experiment was conducted in order to determine if differences in catching ability between deaf and hearing children could be attributed to execution of slow orientating movements and/or slow reaction time as a result of the auditory loss. The deaf children showed slower reaction times. No differences were found in movement times between deaf and hearing children. Overall, the findings suggest that a lack of auditory stimulation during development can lead to deficiencies in the coordination of actions such as catching which are both spatially and temporally constrained.

No, There Is No 150 ms Lead of Visual Speech on Auditory Speech, but a Range of Audiovisual Asynchronies Varying from Small Audio Lead to Large Audio Lag

PubMed Central

Schwartz, Jean-Luc; Savariaux, Christophe

2014-01-01

An increasing number of neuroscience papers capitalize on the assumption published in this journal that visual speech would be typically 150 ms ahead of auditory speech. It happens that the estimation of audiovisual asynchrony in the reference paper is valid only in very specific cases, for isolated consonant-vowel syllables or at the beginning of a speech utterance, in what we call “preparatory gestures”. However, when syllables are chained in sequences, as they are typically in most parts of a natural speech utterance, asynchrony should be defined in a different way. This is what we call “comodulatory gestures” providing auditory and visual events more or less in synchrony. We provide audiovisual data on sequences of plosive-vowel syllables (pa, ta, ka, ba, da, ga, ma, na) showing that audiovisual synchrony is actually rather precise, varying between 20 ms audio lead and 70 ms audio lag. We show how more complex speech material should result in a range typically varying between 40 ms audio lead and 200 ms audio lag, and we discuss how this natural coordination is reflected in the so-called temporal integration window for audiovisual speech perception. Finally we present a toy model of auditory and audiovisual predictive coding, showing that visual lead is actually not necessary for visual prediction. PMID:25079216

Characterization of the blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response in cat auditory cortex using high-field fMRI.

PubMed

Brown, Trecia A; Joanisse, Marc F; Gati, Joseph S; Hughes, Sarah M; Nixon, Pam L; Menon, Ravi S; Lomber, Stephen G

2013-01-01

Much of what is known about the cortical organization for audition in humans draws from studies of auditory cortex in the cat. However, these data build largely on electrophysiological recordings that are both highly invasive and provide less evidence concerning macroscopic patterns of brain activation. Optical imaging, using intrinsic signals or dyes, allows visualization of surface-based activity but is also quite invasive. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) overcomes these limitations by providing a large-scale perspective of distributed activity across the brain in a non-invasive manner. The present study used fMRI to characterize stimulus-evoked activity in auditory cortex of an anesthetized (ketamine/isoflurane) cat, focusing specifically on the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal time course. Functional images were acquired for adult cats in a 7 T MRI scanner. To determine the BOLD signal time course, we presented 1s broadband noise bursts between widely spaced scan acquisitions at randomized delays (1-12 s in 1s increments) prior to each scan. Baseline trials in which no stimulus was presented were also acquired. Our results indicate that the BOLD response peaks at about 3.5s in primary auditory cortex (AI) and at about 4.5 s in non-primary areas (AII, PAF) of cat auditory cortex. The observed peak latency is within the range reported for humans and non-human primates (3-4 s). The time course of hemodynamic activity in cat auditory cortex also occurs on a comparatively shorter scale than in cat visual cortex. The results of this study will provide a foundation for future auditory fMRI studies in the cat to incorporate these hemodynamic response properties into appropriate analyses of cat auditory cortex. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A psychophysiological evaluation of the perceived urgency of auditory warning signals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burt, J. L.; Bartolome, D. S.; Burdette, D. W.; Comstock, J. R. Jr

1995-01-01

One significant concern that pilots have about cockpit auditory warnings is that the signals presently used lack a sense of priority. The relationship between auditory warning sound parameters and perceived urgency is, therefore, an important topic of enquiry in aviation psychology. The present investigation examined the relationship among subjective assessments of urgency, reaction time, and brainwave activity with three auditory warning signals. Subjects performed a tracking task involving automated and manual conditions, and were presented with auditory warnings having various levels of perceived and situational urgency. Subjective assessments revealed that subjects were able to rank warnings on an urgency scale, but rankings were altered after warnings were mapped to a situational urgency scale. Reaction times differed between automated and manual tracking task conditions, and physiological data showed attentional differences in response to perceived and situational warning urgency levels. This study shows that the use of physiological measures sensitive to attention and arousal, in conjunction with behavioural and subjective measures, may lead to the design of auditory warnings that produce a sense of urgency in an operator that matches the urgency of the situation.

Evidence for auditory-visual processing specific to biological motion.

PubMed

Wuerger, Sophie M; Crocker-Buque, Alexander; Meyer, Georg F

2012-01-01

Biological motion is usually associated with highly correlated sensory signals from more than one modality: an approaching human walker will not only have a visual representation, namely an increase in the retinal size of the walker's image, but also a synchronous auditory signal since the walker's footsteps will grow louder. We investigated whether the multisensorial processing of biological motion is subject to different constraints than ecologically invalid motion. Observers were presented with a visual point-light walker and/or synchronised auditory footsteps; the walker was either approaching the observer (looming motion) or walking away (receding motion). A scrambled point-light walker served as a control. Observers were asked to detect the walker's motion as quickly and as accurately as possible. In Experiment 1 we tested whether the reaction time advantage due to redundant information in the auditory and visual modality is specific for biological motion. We found no evidence for such an effect: the reaction time reduction was accounted for by statistical facilitation for both biological and scrambled motion. In Experiment 2, we dissociated the auditory and visual information and tested whether inconsistent motion directions across the auditory and visual modality yield longer reaction times in comparison to consistent motion directions. Here we find an effect specific to biological motion: motion incongruency leads to longer reaction times only when the visual walker is intact and recognisable as a human figure. If the figure of the walker is abolished by scrambling, motion incongruency has no effect on the speed of the observers' judgments. In conjunction with Experiment 1 this suggests that conflicting auditory-visual motion information of an intact human walker leads to interference and thereby delaying the response.

Effects of auditory stimuli in the horizontal plane on audiovisual integration: an event-related potential study.

PubMed

Yang, Weiping; Li, Qi; Ochi, Tatsuya; Yang, Jingjing; Gao, Yulin; Tang, Xiaoyu; Takahashi, Satoshi; Wu, Jinglong

2013-01-01

This article aims to investigate whether auditory stimuli in the horizontal plane, particularly originating from behind the participant, affect audiovisual integration by using behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measurements. In this study, visual stimuli were presented directly in front of the participants, auditory stimuli were presented at one location in an equidistant horizontal plane at the front (0°, the fixation point), right (90°), back (180°), or left (270°) of the participants, and audiovisual stimuli that include both visual stimuli and auditory stimuli originating from one of the four locations were simultaneously presented. These stimuli were presented randomly with equal probability; during this time, participants were asked to attend to the visual stimulus and respond promptly only to visual target stimuli (a unimodal visual target stimulus and the visual target of the audiovisual stimulus). A significant facilitation of reaction times and hit rates was obtained following audiovisual stimulation, irrespective of whether the auditory stimuli were presented in the front or back of the participant. However, no significant interactions were found between visual stimuli and auditory stimuli from the right or left. Two main ERP components related to audiovisual integration were found: first, auditory stimuli from the front location produced an ERP reaction over the right temporal area and right occipital area at approximately 160-200 milliseconds; second, auditory stimuli from the back produced a reaction over the parietal and occipital areas at approximately 360-400 milliseconds. Our results confirmed that audiovisual integration was also elicited, even though auditory stimuli were presented behind the participant, but no integration occurred when auditory stimuli were presented in the right or left spaces, suggesting that the human brain might be particularly sensitive to information received from behind than both sides.

Effects of Auditory Stimuli in the Horizontal Plane on Audiovisual Integration: An Event-Related Potential Study

PubMed Central

Yang, Weiping; Li, Qi; Ochi, Tatsuya; Yang, Jingjing; Gao, Yulin; Tang, Xiaoyu; Takahashi, Satoshi; Wu, Jinglong

2013-01-01

This article aims to investigate whether auditory stimuli in the horizontal plane, particularly originating from behind the participant, affect audiovisual integration by using behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measurements. In this study, visual stimuli were presented directly in front of the participants, auditory stimuli were presented at one location in an equidistant horizontal plane at the front (0°, the fixation point), right (90°), back (180°), or left (270°) of the participants, and audiovisual stimuli that include both visual stimuli and auditory stimuli originating from one of the four locations were simultaneously presented. These stimuli were presented randomly with equal probability; during this time, participants were asked to attend to the visual stimulus and respond promptly only to visual target stimuli (a unimodal visual target stimulus and the visual target of the audiovisual stimulus). A significant facilitation of reaction times and hit rates was obtained following audiovisual stimulation, irrespective of whether the auditory stimuli were presented in the front or back of the participant. However, no significant interactions were found between visual stimuli and auditory stimuli from the right or left. Two main ERP components related to audiovisual integration were found: first, auditory stimuli from the front location produced an ERP reaction over the right temporal area and right occipital area at approximately 160–200 milliseconds; second, auditory stimuli from the back produced a reaction over the parietal and occipital areas at approximately 360–400 milliseconds. Our results confirmed that audiovisual integration was also elicited, even though auditory stimuli were presented behind the participant, but no integration occurred when auditory stimuli were presented in the right or left spaces, suggesting that the human brain might be particularly sensitive to information received from behind than both sides. PMID:23799097

Study of Auditory, Visual Reaction Time and Glycemic Control (HBA1C) in Chronic Type II Diabetes Mellitus.

PubMed

M, Muhil; Sembian, Umapathy; Babitha; N, Ethiya; K, Muthuselvi

2014-09-01

Diabetes mellitus is a disease of insulin deficiencyleads to micro and macro vascular disorder. Neuropathy is one of the major complication of chronic uncontrolled Diabetes affecting the Reaction time. To study the correlation between the glycosylated HbA1C and Auditory, visual Reaction time in chronic Type II diabetes (40-60y) of on oral hypoglycemic drugs of>10 y duration in two groups (n-100 in each group , both Males & females) and compared within the study groups and also with the age matched control group (100). HbA1C-Glycosylated HbA1C was measured by Particle enhanced immunoturbidimetric test method. Auditory and visual reaction time (ART, VRT) were measured by PC 1000 Reaction timer for control & study groups i.e. Group-I - Chronic Type II DM for >10 y with HbA1c < 7.0, and Group II - chronic Type-IIDM for >10 y with HbA1c > 7.0 ie impaired glycemic control. Exclusion Criteria- Subjects with Auditory and visual disturbances, alcoholism and smoking. Statistical Analysis - One-way ANOVA. Using SPSS 21 software. Both the groups had prolonged ART and VRT than controls. Among the study group, G-II (DM with HbA1C >7) had increased Auditory & Visual Reaction time than Group I which is statistically significant p-value <0.05. Impairment of sensory motor function of peripheral nervous system is more in chronic diabetic with less glycemic control ie., HbA1C>7 who have shown increased Auditory and Visual Reaction time than chronic DM with HbA1C<7.Severity of Peripheral neuropathy in Type II Diabetics could be due to elevated HbA1C.

Integrated trimodal SSEP experimental setup for visual, auditory and tactile stimulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuś, Rafał; Spustek, Tomasz; Zieleniewska, Magdalena; Duszyk, Anna; Rogowski, Piotr; Suffczyński, Piotr

2017-12-01

Objective. Steady-state evoked potentials (SSEPs), the brain responses to repetitive stimulation, are commonly used in both clinical practice and scientific research. Particular brain mechanisms underlying SSEPs in different modalities (i.e. visual, auditory and tactile) are very complex and still not completely understood. Each response has distinct resonant frequencies and exhibits a particular brain topography. Moreover, the topography can be frequency-dependent, as in case of auditory potentials. However, to study each modality separately and also to investigate multisensory interactions through multimodal experiments, a proper experimental setup appears to be of critical importance. The aim of this study was to design and evaluate a novel SSEP experimental setup providing a repetitive stimulation in three different modalities (visual, tactile and auditory) with a precise control of stimuli parameters. Results from a pilot study with a stimulation in a particular modality and in two modalities simultaneously prove the feasibility of the device to study SSEP phenomenon. Approach. We developed a setup of three separate stimulators that allows for a precise generation of repetitive stimuli. Besides sequential stimulation in a particular modality, parallel stimulation in up to three different modalities can be delivered. Stimulus in each modality is characterized by a stimulation frequency and a waveform (sine or square wave). We also present a novel methodology for the analysis of SSEPs. Main results. Apart from constructing the experimental setup, we conducted a pilot study with both sequential and simultaneous stimulation paradigms. EEG signals recorded during this study were analyzed with advanced methodology based on spatial filtering and adaptive approximation, followed by statistical evaluation. Significance. We developed a novel experimental setup for performing SSEP experiments. In this sense our study continues the ongoing research in this field. On the other hand, the described setup along with the presented methodology is a considerable improvement and an extension of methods constituting the state-of-the-art in the related field. Device flexibility both with developed analysis methodology can lead to further development of diagnostic methods and provide deeper insight into information processing in the human brain.

Odors Bias Time Perception in Visual and Auditory Modalities

PubMed Central

Yue, Zhenzhu; Gao, Tianyu; Chen, Lihan; Wu, Jiashuang

2016-01-01

Previous studies have shown that emotional states alter our perception of time. However, attention, which is modulated by a number of factors, such as emotional events, also influences time perception. To exclude potential attentional effects associated with emotional events, various types of odors (inducing different levels of emotional arousal) were used to explore whether olfactory events modulated time perception differently in visual and auditory modalities. Participants were shown either a visual dot or heard a continuous tone for 1000 or 4000 ms while they were exposed to odors of jasmine, lavender, or garlic. Participants then reproduced the temporal durations of the preceding visual or auditory stimuli by pressing the spacebar twice. Their reproduced durations were compared to those in the control condition (without odor). The results showed that participants produced significantly longer time intervals in the lavender condition than in the jasmine or garlic conditions. The overall influence of odor on time perception was equivalent for both visual and auditory modalities. The analysis of the interaction effect showed that participants produced longer durations than the actual duration in the short interval condition, but they produced shorter durations in the long interval condition. The effect sizes were larger for the auditory modality than those for the visual modality. Moreover, by comparing performance across the initial and the final blocks of the experiment, we found odor adaptation effects were mainly manifested as longer reproductions for the short time interval later in the adaptation phase, and there was a larger effect size in the auditory modality. In summary, the present results indicate that odors imposed differential impacts on reproduced time durations, and they were constrained by different sensory modalities, valence of the emotional events, and target durations. Biases in time perception could be accounted for by a framework of attentional deployment between the inducers (odors) and emotionally neutral stimuli (visual dots and sound beeps). PMID:27148143

[A comparison of time resolution among auditory, tactile and promontory electrical stimulation--superiority of cochlear implants as human communication aids].

PubMed

Matsushima, J; Kumagai, M; Harada, C; Takahashi, K; Inuyama, Y; Ifukube, T

1992-09-01

Our previous reports showed that second formant information, using a speech coding method, could be transmitted through an electrode on the promontory. However, second formant information can also be transmitted by tactile stimulation. Therefore, to find out whether electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve would be superior to tactile stimulation for our speech coding method, the time resolutions of the two modes of stimulation were compared. The results showed that the time resolution of electrical promontory stimulation was three times better than the time resolution of tactile stimulation of the finger. This indicates that electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve is much better for our speech coding method than tactile stimulation of the finger.

Functional Mapping of the Human Auditory Cortex: fMRI Investigation of a Patient with Auditory Agnosia from Trauma to the Inferior Colliculus.

PubMed

Poliva, Oren; Bestelmeyer, Patricia E G; Hall, Michelle; Bultitude, Janet H; Koller, Kristin; Rafal, Robert D

2015-09-01

To use functional magnetic resonance imaging to map the auditory cortical fields that are activated, or nonreactive, to sounds in patient M.L., who has auditory agnosia caused by trauma to the inferior colliculi. The patient cannot recognize speech or environmental sounds. Her discrimination is greatly facilitated by context and visibility of the speaker's facial movements, and under forced-choice testing. Her auditory temporal resolution is severely compromised. Her discrimination is more impaired for words differing in voice onset time than place of articulation. Words presented to her right ear are extinguished with dichotic presentation; auditory stimuli in the right hemifield are mislocalized to the left. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine cortical activations to different categories of meaningful sounds embedded in a block design. Sounds activated the caudal sub-area of M.L.'s primary auditory cortex (hA1) bilaterally and her right posterior superior temporal gyrus (auditory dorsal stream), but not the rostral sub-area (hR) of her primary auditory cortex or the anterior superior temporal gyrus in either hemisphere (auditory ventral stream). Auditory agnosia reflects dysfunction of the auditory ventral stream. The ventral and dorsal auditory streams are already segregated as early as the primary auditory cortex, with the ventral stream projecting from hR and the dorsal stream from hA1. M.L.'s leftward localization bias, preserved audiovisual integration, and phoneme perception are explained by preserved processing in her right auditory dorsal stream.

Neural coding strategies in auditory cortex.

PubMed

Wang, Xiaoqin

2007-07-01

In contrast to the visual system, the auditory system has longer subcortical pathways and more spiking synapses between the peripheral receptors and the cortex. This unique organization reflects the needs of the auditory system to extract behaviorally relevant information from a complex acoustic environment using strategies different from those used by other sensory systems. The neural representations of acoustic information in auditory cortex can be characterized by three types: (1) isomorphic (faithful) representations of acoustic structures; (2) non-isomorphic transformations of acoustic features and (3) transformations from acoustical to perceptual dimensions. The challenge facing auditory neurophysiologists is to understand the nature of the latter two transformations. In this article, I will review recent studies from our laboratory regarding temporal discharge patterns in auditory cortex of awake marmosets and cortical representations of time-varying signals. Findings from these studies show that (1) firing patterns of neurons in auditory cortex are dependent on stimulus optimality and context and (2) the auditory cortex forms internal representations of sounds that are no longer faithful replicas of their acoustic structures.

Evaluation of an imputed pitch velocity model of the auditory kappa effect.

PubMed

Henry, Molly J; McAuley, J Devin

2009-04-01

Three experiments evaluated an imputed pitch velocity model of the auditory kappa effect. Listeners heard 3-tone sequences and judged the timing of the middle (target) tone relative to the timing of the 1st and 3rd (bounding) tones. Experiment 1 held pitch constant but varied the time (T) interval between bounding tones (T = 728, 1,000, or 1,600 ms) in order to establish baseline performance levels for the 3 values of T. Experiments 2 and 3 combined the values of T tested in Experiment 1 with a pitch manipulation in order to create fast (8 semitones/728 ms), medium (8 semitones/1,000 ms), and slow (8 semitones/1,600 ms) velocity conditions. Consistent with an auditory motion hypothesis, distortions in perceived timing were larger for fast than for slow velocity conditions for both ascending sequences (Experiment 2) and descending sequences (Experiment 3). Overall, results supported the proposed imputed pitch velocity model of the auditory kappa effect. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Temporal Integration of Auditory Information Is Invariant to Temporal Grouping Cues

PubMed

Liu, Andrew S K; Tsunada, Joji; Gold, Joshua I; Cohen, Yale E

2015-01-01

Auditory perception depends on the temporal structure of incoming acoustic stimuli. Here, we examined whether a temporal manipulation that affects the perceptual grouping also affects the time dependence of decisions regarding those stimuli. We designed a novel discrimination task that required human listeners to decide whether a sequence of tone bursts was increasing or decreasing in frequency. We manipulated temporal perceptual-grouping cues by changing the time interval between the tone bursts, which led to listeners hearing the sequences as a single sound for short intervals or discrete sounds for longer intervals. Despite these strong perceptual differences, this manipulation did not affect the efficiency of how auditory information was integrated over time to form a decision. Instead, the grouping manipulation affected subjects' speed-accuracy trade-offs. These results indicate that the temporal dynamics of evidence accumulation for auditory perceptual decisions can be invariant to manipulations that affect the perceptual grouping of the evidence.

Acute auditory agnosia as the presenting hearing disorder in MELAS.

PubMed

Miceli, Gabriele; Conti, Guido; Cianfoni, Alessandro; Di Giacopo, Raffaella; Zampetti, Patrizia; Servidei, Serenella

2008-12-01

MELAS is commonly associated with peripheral hearing loss. Auditory agnosia is a rare cortical auditory impairment, usually due to bilateral temporal damage. We document, for the first time, auditory agnosia as the presenting hearing disorder in MELAS. A young woman with MELAS (A3243G mtDNA mutation) suffered from acute cortical hearing damage following a single stroke-like episode, in the absence of previous hearing deficits. Audiometric testing showed marked central hearing impairment and very mild sensorineural hearing loss. MRI documented bilateral, acute lesions to superior temporal regions. Neuropsychological tests demonstrated auditory agnosia without aphasia. Our data and a review of published reports show that cortical auditory disorders are relatively frequent in MELAS, probably due to the strikingly high incidence of bilateral and symmetric damage following stroke-like episodes. Acute auditory agnosia can be the presenting hearing deficit in MELAS and, conversely, MELAS should be suspected in young adults with sudden hearing loss.

Auditory Processing, Linguistic Prosody Awareness, and Word Reading in Mandarin-Speaking Children Learning English

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chung, Wei-Lun; Jarmulowicz, Linda; Bidelman, Gavin M.

2017-01-01

This study examined language-specific links among auditory processing, linguistic prosody awareness, and Mandarin (L1) and English (L2) word reading in 61 Mandarin-speaking, English-learning children. Three auditory discrimination abilities were measured: pitch contour, pitch interval, and rise time (rate of intensity change at tone onset).…

Influence of sleep deprivation and auditory intensity on reaction time and response force.

PubMed

Włodarczyk, Dariusz; Jaśkowski, Piotr; Nowik, Agnieszka

2002-06-01

Arousal and activation are two variables supposed to underlie change in response force. This study was undertaken to explain these roles, specifically, for strong auditory stimuli and sleep deficit. Loud auditory stimuli can evoke phasic overarousal whereas sleep deficit leads to general underarousal. Moreover, Van der Molen and Keuss (1979, 1981) showed that paradoxically long reaction times occurred with extremely strong auditory stimuli when the task was difficult, e.g., choice reaction or Simon paradigm. It was argued that this paradoxical behavior related to reaction time is due to active disconnecting of the coupling between arousal and activation to prevent false responses. If so, we predicted that for extremely loud stimuli and for difficult tasks, the lengthening of reaction time should be associated with reduction of response force. The effects of loudness and sleep deficit on response time and force were investigated in three different tasks: simple response, choice response, and Simon paradigm. According to our expectation, we found a detrimental effect of sleep deficit on reaction time and on response force. In contrast to Van der Molen and Keuss, we found no increase in reaction time for loud stimuli (up to 110 dB) even on the Simon task.

Hearing in Insects.

PubMed

Göpfert, Martin C; Hennig, R Matthias

2016-01-01

Insect hearing has independently evolved multiple times in the context of intraspecific communication and predator detection by transforming proprioceptive organs into ears. Research over the past decade, ranging from the biophysics of sound reception to molecular aspects of auditory transduction to the neuronal mechanisms of auditory signal processing, has greatly advanced our understanding of how insects hear. Apart from evolutionary innovations that seem unique to insect hearing, parallels between insect and vertebrate auditory systems have been uncovered, and the auditory sensory cells of insects and vertebrates turned out to be evolutionarily related. This review summarizes our current understanding of insect hearing. It also discusses recent advances in insect auditory research, which have put forward insect auditory systems for studying biological aspects that extend beyond hearing, such as cilium function, neuronal signal computation, and sensory system evolution.

A Generative Model of Speech Production in Broca’s and Wernicke’s Areas

PubMed Central

Price, Cathy J.; Crinion, Jenny T.; MacSweeney, Mairéad

2011-01-01

Speech production involves the generation of an auditory signal from the articulators and vocal tract. When the intended auditory signal does not match the produced sounds, subsequent articulatory commands can be adjusted to reduce the difference between the intended and produced sounds. This requires an internal model of the intended speech output that can be compared to the produced speech. The aim of this functional imaging study was to identify brain activation related to the internal model of speech production after activation related to vocalization, auditory feedback, and movement in the articulators had been controlled. There were four conditions: silent articulation of speech, non-speech mouth movements, finger tapping, and visual fixation. In the speech conditions, participants produced the mouth movements associated with the words “one” and “three.” We eliminated auditory feedback from the spoken output by instructing participants to articulate these words without producing any sound. The non-speech mouth movement conditions involved lip pursing and tongue protrusions to control for movement in the articulators. The main difference between our speech and non-speech mouth movement conditions is that prior experience producing speech sounds leads to the automatic and covert generation of auditory and phonological associations that may play a role in predicting auditory feedback. We found that, relative to non-speech mouth movements, silent speech activated Broca’s area in the left dorsal pars opercularis and Wernicke’s area in the left posterior superior temporal sulcus. We discuss these results in the context of a generative model of speech production and propose that Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas may be involved in predicting the speech output that follows articulation. These predictions could provide a mechanism by which rapid movement of the articulators is precisely matched to the intended speech outputs during future articulations. PMID:21954392

Reaction time and accuracy in individuals with aphasia during auditory vigilance tasks.

PubMed

Laures, Jacqueline S

2005-11-01

Research indicates that attentional deficits exist in aphasic individuals. However, relatively little is known about auditory vigilance performance in individuals with aphasia. The current study explores reaction time (RT) and accuracy in 10 aphasic participants and 10 nonbrain-damaged controls during linguistic and nonlinguistic auditory vigilance tasks. Findings indicate that the aphasic group was less accurate during both tasks than the control group, but was not slower in their accurate responses. Further examination of the data revealed variability in the aphasic participants' RT contributing to the lower accuracy scores.

Comparing the experience of voices in borderline personality disorder with the experience of voices in a psychotic disorder: A systematic review.

PubMed

Merrett, Zalie; Rossell, Susan L; Castle, David J

2016-07-01

In clinical settings, there is substantial evidence both clinically and empirically to suggest that approximately 50% of individuals with borderline personality disorder experience auditory verbal hallucinations. However, there is limited research investigating the phenomenology of these voices. The aim of this study was to review and compare our current understanding of auditory verbal hallucinations in borderline personality disorder with auditory verbal hallucinations in patients with a psychotic disorder, to critically analyse existing studies investigating auditory verbal hallucinations in borderline personality disorder and to identify gaps in current knowledge, which will help direct future research. The literature was searched using the electronic database Scopus, PubMed and MEDLINE. Relevant studies were included if they were written in English, were empirical studies specifically addressing auditory verbal hallucinations and borderline personality disorder, were peer reviewed, used only adult humans and sample comprising borderline personality disorder as the primary diagnosis, and included a comparison group with a primary psychotic disorder such as schizophrenia. Our search strategy revealed a total of 16 articles investigating the phenomenology of auditory verbal hallucinations in borderline personality disorder. Some studies provided evidence to suggest that the voice experiences in borderline personality disorder are similar to those experienced by people with schizophrenia, for example, occur inside the head, and often involved persecutory voices. Other studies revealed some differences between schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder voice experiences, with the borderline personality disorder voices sounding more derogatory and self-critical in nature and the voice-hearers' response to the voices were more emotionally resistive. Furthermore, in one study, the schizophrenia group's voices resulted in more disruption in daily functioning. These studies are, however, limited in number and do not provide definitive evidence of these differences. The limited research examining auditory verbal hallucinations experiences in borderline personality disorder poses a significant diagnostic and treatment challenge. A deeper understanding of the precise phenomenological characteristics will help us in terms of diagnostic distinction as well as inform treatments. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2016.

'The effect of different genres of music on the stress levels of kennelled dogs'.

PubMed

Bowman, A; Dowell, F J; Evans, N P

2017-03-15

Classical music has been shown to reduce stress in kennelled dogs; however, rapid habituation of dogs to this form of auditory enrichment has also been demonstrated. The current study investigated the physiological and behavioural response of kennelled dogs (n=38) to medium-term (5days) auditory enrichment with five different genres of music including Soft Rock, Motown, Pop, Reggae and Classical, to determine whether increasing the variety of auditory stimulation reduces the level of habituation to auditory enrichment. Dogs were found to spend significantly more time lying and significantly less time standing when music was played, regardless of genre. There was no observable effect of music on barking, however, dogs were significantly (z=2.2, P<0.05) more likely to bark following cessation of auditory enrichment. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) was significantly higher, indicative of decreased stress, when dogs were played Soft Rock and Reggae, with a lesser effect observed when Motown, Pop and Classical genres were played. Relative to the silent period prior to auditory enrichment, urinary cortisol:creatanine (UCCR) values were significantly higher during Soft Rock (t=2.781, P<0.01) and the second silent control period following auditory enrichment (t=2.46, P<0.05). Despite the mixed response to different genres, the physiological and behavioural changes observed remained constant over the 5d of enrichment suggesting that the effect of habituation may be reduced by increasing the variety of auditory enrichment provided. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Achilles' ear? Inferior human short-term and recognition memory in the auditory modality.

PubMed

Bigelow, James; Poremba, Amy

2014-01-01

Studies of the memory capabilities of nonhuman primates have consistently revealed a relative weakness for auditory compared to visual or tactile stimuli: extensive training is required to learn auditory memory tasks, and subjects are only capable of retaining acoustic information for a brief period of time. Whether a parallel deficit exists in human auditory memory remains an outstanding question. In the current study, a short-term memory paradigm was used to test human subjects' retention of simple auditory, visual, and tactile stimuli that were carefully equated in terms of discriminability, stimulus exposure time, and temporal dynamics. Mean accuracy did not differ significantly among sensory modalities at very short retention intervals (1-4 s). However, at longer retention intervals (8-32 s), accuracy for auditory stimuli fell substantially below that observed for visual and tactile stimuli. In the interest of extending the ecological validity of these findings, a second experiment tested recognition memory for complex, naturalistic stimuli that would likely be encountered in everyday life. Subjects were able to identify all stimuli when retention was not required, however, recognition accuracy following a delay period was again inferior for auditory compared to visual and tactile stimuli. Thus, the outcomes of both experiments provide a human parallel to the pattern of results observed in nonhuman primates. The results are interpreted in light of neuropsychological data from nonhuman primates, which suggest a difference in the degree to which auditory, visual, and tactile memory are mediated by the perirhinal and entorhinal cortices.

Feature assignment in perception of auditory figure.

PubMed

Gregg, Melissa K; Samuel, Arthur G

2012-08-01

Because the environment often includes multiple sounds that overlap in time, listeners must segregate a sound of interest (the auditory figure) from other co-occurring sounds (the unattended auditory ground). We conducted a series of experiments to clarify the principles governing the extraction of auditory figures. We distinguish between auditory "objects" (relatively punctate events, such as a dog's bark) and auditory "streams" (sounds involving a pattern over time, such as a galloping rhythm). In Experiments 1 and 2, on each trial 2 sounds-an object (a vowel) and a stream (a series of tones)-were presented with 1 target feature that could be perceptually grouped with either source. In each block of these experiments, listeners were required to attend to 1 of the 2 sounds, and report its perceived category. Across several experimental manipulations, listeners were more likely to allocate the feature to an impoverished object if the result of the grouping was a good, identifiable object. Perception of objects was quite sensitive to feature variation (noise masking), whereas perception of streams was more robust to feature variation. In Experiment 3, the number of sound sources competing for the feature was increased to 3. This produced a shift toward relying more on spatial cues than on the potential contribution of the feature to an object's perceptual quality. The results support a distinction between auditory objects and streams, and provide new information about the way that the auditory world is parsed. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Auditory, visual, and bimodal data link displays and how they support pilot performance.

PubMed

Steelman, Kelly S; Talleur, Donald; Carbonari, Ronald; Yamani, Yusuke; Nunes, Ashley; McCarley, Jason S

2013-06-01

The design of data link messaging systems to ensure optimal pilot performance requires empirical guidance. The current study examined the effects of display format (auditory, visual, or bimodal) and visual display position (adjacent to instrument panel or mounted on console) on pilot performance. Subjects performed five 20-min simulated single-pilot flights. During each flight, subjects received messages from a simulated air traffic controller. Messages were delivered visually, auditorily, or bimodally. Subjects were asked to read back each message aloud and then perform the instructed maneuver. Visual and bimodal displays engendered lower subjective workload and better altitude tracking than auditory displays. Readback times were shorter with the two unimodal visual formats than with any of the other three formats. Advantages for the unimodal visual format ranged in size from 2.8 s to 3.8 s relative to the bimodal upper left and auditory formats, respectively. Auditory displays allowed slightly more head-up time (3 to 3.5 seconds per minute) than either visual or bimodal displays. Position of the visual display had only modest effects on any measure. Combined with the results from previous studies by Helleberg and Wickens and Lancaster and Casali the current data favor visual and bimodal displays over auditory displays; unimodal auditory displays were favored by only one measure, head-up time, and only very modestly. Data evinced no statistically significant effects of visual display position on performance, suggesting that, contrary to expectations, the placement of a visual data link display may be of relatively little consequence to performance.

Conserved mechanisms of vocalization coding in mammalian and songbird auditory midbrain.

PubMed

Woolley, Sarah M N; Portfors, Christine V

2013-11-01

The ubiquity of social vocalizations among animals provides the opportunity to identify conserved mechanisms of auditory processing that subserve communication. Identifying auditory coding properties that are shared across vocal communicators will provide insight into how human auditory processing leads to speech perception. Here, we compare auditory response properties and neural coding of social vocalizations in auditory midbrain neurons of mammalian and avian vocal communicators. The auditory midbrain is a nexus of auditory processing because it receives and integrates information from multiple parallel pathways and provides the ascending auditory input to the thalamus. The auditory midbrain is also the first region in the ascending auditory system where neurons show complex tuning properties that are correlated with the acoustics of social vocalizations. Single unit studies in mice, bats and zebra finches reveal shared principles of auditory coding including tonotopy, excitatory and inhibitory interactions that shape responses to vocal signals, nonlinear response properties that are important for auditory coding of social vocalizations and modulation tuning. Additionally, single neuron responses in the mouse and songbird midbrain are reliable, selective for specific syllables, and rely on spike timing for neural discrimination of distinct vocalizations. We propose that future research on auditory coding of vocalizations in mouse and songbird midbrain neurons adopt similar experimental and analytical approaches so that conserved principles of vocalization coding may be distinguished from those that are specialized for each species. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Communication Sounds and the Brain: New Directions and Perspectives". Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Differential auditory-oculomotor interactions in patients with right vs. left sided subjective tinnitus: a saccade study

PubMed Central

Lang, Alexandre; Vernet, Marine; Yang, Qing; Orssaud, Christophe; Londero, Alain; Kapoula, Zoï

2013-01-01

Subjective tinnitus (ST) is a frequent but poorly understood medical condition. Recent studies demonstrated abnormalities in several types of eye movements (smooth pursuit, optokinetic nystagmus, fixation, and vergence) in ST patients. The present study investigates horizontal and vertical saccades in patients with tinnitus lateralized predominantly to the left or to the right side. Compared to left sided ST, tinnitus perceived on the right side impaired almost all the parameters of saccades (latency, amplitude, velocity, etc.) and noticeably the upward saccades. Relative to controls, saccades from both groups were more dysmetric and were characterized by increased saccade disconjugacy (i.e., poor binocular coordination). Although the precise mechanisms linking ST and saccadic control remain unexplained, these data suggest that ST can lead to detrimental auditory, visuomotor, and perhaps vestibular interactions. PMID:23550269

Predicting Future Reading Problems Based on Pre-reading Auditory Measures: A Longitudinal Study of Children with a Familial Risk of Dyslexia

PubMed Central

Law, Jeremy M.; Vandermosten, Maaike; Ghesquière, Pol; Wouters, Jan

2017-01-01

Purpose: This longitudinal study examines measures of temporal auditory processing in pre-reading children with a family risk of dyslexia. Specifically, it attempts to ascertain whether pre-reading auditory processing, speech perception, and phonological awareness (PA) reliably predict later literacy achievement. Additionally, this study retrospectively examines the presence of pre-reading auditory processing, speech perception, and PA impairments in children later found to be literacy impaired. Method: Forty-four pre-reading children with and without a family risk of dyslexia were assessed at three time points (kindergarten, first, and second grade). Auditory processing measures of rise time (RT) discrimination and frequency modulation (FM) along with speech perception, PA, and various literacy tasks were assessed. Results: Kindergarten RT uniquely contributed to growth in literacy in grades one and two, even after controlling for letter knowledge and PA. Highly significant concurrent and predictive correlations were observed with kindergarten RT significantly predicting first grade PA. Retrospective analysis demonstrated atypical performance in RT and PA at all three time points in children who later developed literacy impairments. Conclusions: Although significant, kindergarten auditory processing contributions to later literacy growth lack the power to be considered as a single-cause predictor; thus results support temporal processing deficits' contribution within a multiple deficit model of dyslexia. PMID:28223953

Investigating brain response to music: a comparison of different fMRI acquisition schemes.

PubMed

Mueller, Karsten; Mildner, Toralf; Fritz, Thomas; Lepsien, Jöran; Schwarzbauer, Christian; Schroeter, Matthias L; Möller, Harald E

2011-01-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in auditory experiments is a challenge, because the scanning procedure produces considerable noise that can interfere with the auditory paradigm. The noise might either mask the auditory material presented, or interfere with stimuli designed to evoke emotions because it sounds loud and rather unpleasant. Therefore, scanning paradigms that allow interleaved auditory stimulation and image acquisition appear to be advantageous. The sparse temporal sampling (STS) technique uses a very long repetition time in order to achieve a stimulus presentation in the absence of scanner noise. Although only relatively few volumes are acquired for the resulting data sets, there have been recent studies where this method has furthered remarkable results. A new development is the interleaved silent steady state (ISSS) technique. Compared with STS, this method is capable of acquiring several volumes in the time frame between the auditory trials (while the magnetization is kept in a steady state during stimulus presentation). In order to draw conclusions about the optimum fMRI procedure with auditory stimulation, different echo-planar imaging (EPI) acquisition schemes were compared: Continuous scanning, STS, and ISSS. The total acquisition time of each sequence was adjusted to about 12.5 min. The results indicate that the ISSS approach exhibits the highest sensitivity in detecting subtle activity in sub-cortical brain regions. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

High levels of sound pressure: acoustic reflex thresholds and auditory complaints of workers with noise exposure.

PubMed

Duarte, Alexandre Scalli Mathias; Ng, Ronny Tah Yen; de Carvalho, Guilherme Machado; Guimarães, Alexandre Caixeta; Pinheiro, Laiza Araujo Mohana; Costa, Everardo Andrade da; Gusmão, Reinaldo Jordão

2015-01-01

The clinical evaluation of subjects with occupational noise exposure has been difficult due to the discrepancy between auditory complaints and auditory test results. This study aimed to evaluate the contralateral acoustic reflex thresholds of workers exposed to high levels of noise, and to compare these results to the subjects' auditory complaints. This clinical retrospective study evaluated 364 workers between 1998 and 2005; their contralateral acoustic reflexes were compared to auditory complaints, age, and noise exposure time by chi-squared, Fisher's, and Spearman's tests. The workers' age ranged from 18 to 50 years (mean=39.6), and noise exposure time from one to 38 years (mean=17.3). We found that 15.1% (55) of the workers had bilateral hearing loss, 38.5% (140) had bilateral tinnitus, 52.8% (192) had abnormal sensitivity to loud sounds, and 47.2% (172) had speech recognition impairment. The variables hearing loss, speech recognition impairment, tinnitus, age group, and noise exposure time did not show relationship with acoustic reflex thresholds; however, all complaints demonstrated a statistically significant relationship with Metz recruitment at 3000 and 4000Hz bilaterally. There was no significance relationship between auditory complaints and acoustic reflexes. Copyright © 2015 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Sonic morphology: Aesthetic dimensional auditory spatial awareness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitehouse, Martha M.

The sound and ceramic sculpture installation, " Skirting the Edge: Experiences in Sound & Form," is an integration of art and science demonstrating the concept of sonic morphology. "Sonic morphology" is herein defined as aesthetic three-dimensional auditory spatial awareness. The exhibition explicates my empirical phenomenal observations that sound has a three-dimensional form. Composed of ceramic sculptures that allude to different social and physical situations, coupled with sound compositions that enhance and create a three-dimensional auditory and visual aesthetic experience (see accompanying DVD), the exhibition supports the research question, "What is the relationship between sound and form?" Precisely how people aurally experience three-dimensional space involves an integration of spatial properties, auditory perception, individual history, and cultural mores. People also utilize environmental sound events as a guide in social situations and in remembering their personal history, as well as a guide in moving through space. Aesthetically, sound affects the fascination, meaning, and attention one has within a particular space. Sonic morphology brings art forms such as a movie, video, sound composition, and musical performance into the cognitive scope by generating meaning from the link between the visual and auditory senses. This research examined sonic morphology as an extension of musique concrete, sound as object, originating in Pierre Schaeffer's work in the 1940s. Pointing, as John Cage did, to the corporeal three-dimensional experience of "all sound," I composed works that took their total form only through the perceiver-participant's participation in the exhibition. While contemporary artist Alvin Lucier creates artworks that draw attention to making sound visible, "Skirting the Edge" engages the perceiver-participant visually and aurally, leading to recognition of sonic morphology.

Functional significance of the electrocorticographic auditory responses in the premotor cortex.

PubMed

Tanji, Kazuyo; Sakurada, Kaori; Funiu, Hayato; Matsuda, Kenichiro; Kayama, Takamasa; Ito, Sayuri; Suzuki, Kyoko

2015-01-01

Other than well-known motor activities in the precentral gyrus, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have found that the ventral part of the precentral gyrus is activated in response to linguistic auditory stimuli. It has been proposed that the premotor cortex in the precentral gyrus is responsible for the comprehension of speech, but the precise function of this area is still debated because patients with frontal lesions that include the precentral gyrus do not exhibit disturbances in speech comprehension. We report on a patient who underwent resection of the tumor in the precentral gyrus with electrocorticographic recordings while she performed the verb generation task during awake brain craniotomy. Consistent with previous fMRI studies, high-gamma band auditory activity was observed in the precentral gyrus. Due to the location of the tumor, the patient underwent resection of the auditory responsive precentral area which resulted in the post-operative expression of a characteristic articulatory disturbance known as apraxia of speech (AOS). The language function of the patient was otherwise preserved and she exhibited intact comprehension of both spoken and written language. The present findings demonstrated that a lesion restricted to the ventral precentral gyrus is sufficient for the expression of AOS and suggest that the auditory-responsive area plays an important role in the execution of fluent speech rather than the comprehension of speech. These findings also confirm that the function of the premotor area is predominantly motor in nature and its sensory responses is more consistent with the "sensory theory of speech production," in which it was proposed that sensory representations are used to guide motor-articulatory processes.

Inhibition of histone deacetylase 3 via RGFP966 facilitates cortical plasticity underlying unusually accurate auditory associative cue memory for excitatory and inhibitory cue-reward associations.

PubMed

Shang, Andrea; Bylipudi, Sooraz; Bieszczad, Kasia M

2018-05-31

Epigenetic mechanisms are key for regulating long-term memory (LTM) and are known to exert control on memory formation in multiple systems of the adult brain, including the sensory cortex. One epigenetic mechanism is chromatin modification by histone acetylation. Blocking the action of histone de-acetylases (HDACs) that normally negatively regulate LTM by repressing transcription has been shown to enable memory formation. Indeed, HDAC inhibition appears to facilitate memory by altering the dynamics of gene expression events important for memory consolidation. However, less understood are the ways in which molecular-level consolidation processes alter subsequent memory to enhance storage or facilitate retrieval. Here we used a sensory perspective to investigate whether the characteristics of memory formed with HDAC inhibitors are different from naturally-formed memory. One possibility is that HDAC inhibition enables memory to form with greater sensory detail than normal. Because the auditory system undergoes learning-induced remodeling that provides substrates for sound-specific LTM, we aimed to identify behavioral effects of HDAC inhibition on memory for specific sound features using a standard model of auditory associative cue-reward learning, memory, and cortical plasticity. We found that three systemic post-training treatments of an HDAC3-inhibitor (RGPF966, Abcam Inc.) in rats in the early phase of training facilitated auditory discriminative learning, changed auditory cortical tuning, and increased the specificity for acoustic frequency formed in memory of both excitatory (S+) and inhibitory (S-) associations for at least 2 weeks. The findings support that epigenetic mechanisms act on neural and behavioral sensory acuity to increase the precision of associative cue memory, which can be revealed by studying the sensory characteristics of long-term associative memory formation with HDAC inhibitors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Auditory Speech Perception Development in Relation to Patient's Age with Cochlear Implant

PubMed Central

Ciscare, Grace Kelly Seixas; Mantello, Erika Barioni; Fortunato-Queiroz, Carla Aparecida Urzedo; Hyppolito, Miguel Angelo; Reis, Ana Cláudia Mirândola Barbosa dos

2017-01-01

Introduction  A cochlear implant in adolescent patients with pre-lingual deafness is still a debatable issue. Objective  The objective of this study is to analyze and compare the development of auditory speech perception in children with pre-lingual auditory impairment submitted to cochlear implant, in different age groups in the first year after implantation. Method  This is a retrospective study, documentary research, in which we analyzed 78 reports of children with severe bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, unilateral cochlear implant users of both sexes. They were divided into three groups: G1, 22 infants aged less than 42 months; G2, 28 infants aged between 43 to 83 months; and G3, 28 older than 84 months. We collected medical record data to characterize the patients, auditory thresholds with cochlear implants, assessment of speech perception, and auditory skills. Results  There was no statistical difference in the association of the results among groups G1, G2, and G3 with sex, caregiver education level, city of residence, and speech perception level. There was a moderate correlation between age and hearing aid use time, age and cochlear implants use time. There was a strong correlation between age and the age cochlear implants was performed, hearing aid use time and age CI was performed. Conclusion  There was no statistical difference in the speech perception in relation to the patient's age when cochlear implant was performed. There were statistically significant differences for the variables of auditory deprivation time between G3 - G1 and G2 - G1 and hearing aid use time between G3 - G2 and G3 - G1. PMID:28680487

[Digital signal processing of a novel neuron discharge model stimulation strategy for cochlear implants].

PubMed

Yang, Yiwei; Xu, Yuejin; Miu, Jichang; Zhou, Linghong; Xiao, Zhongju

2012-10-01

To apply the classic leakage integrate-and-fire models, based on the mechanism of the generation of physiological auditory stimulation, in the information processing coding of cochlear implants to improve the auditory result. The results of algorithm simulation in digital signal processor (DSP) were imported into Matlab for a comparative analysis. Compared with CIS coding, the algorithm of membrane potential integrate-and-fire (MPIF) allowed more natural pulse discharge in a pseudo-random manner to better fit the physiological structures. The MPIF algorithm can effectively solve the problem of the dynamic structure of the delivered auditory information sequence issued in the auditory center and allowed integration of the stimulating pulses and time coding to ensure the coherence and relevance of the stimulating pulse time.

Is Auditory Discrimination Mature by Middle Childhood? A Study Using Time-Frequency Analysis of Mismatch Responses from 7 Years to Adulthood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bishop, Dorothy V. M.; Hardiman, Mervyn J.; Barry, Johanna G.

2011-01-01

Behavioural and electrophysiological studies give differing impressions of when auditory discrimination is mature. Ability to discriminate frequency and speech contrasts reaches adult levels only around 12 years of age, yet an electrophysiological index of auditory discrimination, the mismatch negativity (MMN), is reported to be as large in…

How Hearing Loss Impacts Communication. Tipsheet: Serving Students Who Are Hard of Hearing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atcherson, Samuel R.; Johnson, Marni I.

2009-01-01

Hearing, or auditory processing, involves the use of many hearing skills in a single or combined fashion. The sounds that humans hear can be characterized by their intensity (loudness), frequency (pitch), and timing. Impairment of any of the auditory structures from the visible ear to the central auditory nervous system within the brain can have a…

The impact of visual gaze direction on auditory object tracking.

PubMed

Pomper, Ulrich; Chait, Maria

2017-07-05

Subjective experience suggests that we are able to direct our auditory attention independent of our visual gaze, e.g when shadowing a nearby conversation at a cocktail party. But what are the consequences at the behavioural and neural level? While numerous studies have investigated both auditory attention and visual gaze independently, little is known about their interaction during selective listening. In the present EEG study, we manipulated visual gaze independently of auditory attention while participants detected targets presented from one of three loudspeakers. We observed increased response times when gaze was directed away from the locus of auditory attention. Further, we found an increase in occipital alpha-band power contralateral to the direction of gaze, indicative of a suppression of distracting input. Finally, this condition also led to stronger central theta-band power, which correlated with the observed effect in response times, indicative of differences in top-down processing. Our data suggest that a misalignment between gaze and auditory attention both reduce behavioural performance and modulate underlying neural processes. The involvement of central theta-band and occipital alpha-band effects are in line with compensatory neural mechanisms such as increased cognitive control and the suppression of task irrelevant inputs.

Evoked-potential recovery during double click stimulation in a beluga whale: implications for biosonar gain control.

PubMed

Supin, Alexander Ya; Popov, Vladimir V

2015-05-01

Auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) were recorded in a beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas using a double-pulse stimulation paradigm, specifically measuring the recovery (release from masking) of the second (test) response as a function of delay after the first (conditioning) pulse at various levels of the conditioning and test stimuli. The conditioning/test stimulus level ratio influenced the recovery time (the higher the ratio, the longer the recovery). This interrelation was used to evaluate the intensity/time trade in release from forward masking. Trade was evaluated as 32.2 dB per time decade. Data were considered as simulating interactions between the transmitted pulse and echo during echolocation, assuming that a transmitted sonar pulse produces forward masking of the echo response. With increased target distance, the attenuation of the echo may be compensated by the release from masking. According to the model, the compensation results in substantial stabilization of the echo response even if the intensity/time trade of release from masking is not precisely equal to the rate of echo attenuation with distance.

Perceptual consequences of disrupted auditory nerve activity.

PubMed

Zeng, Fan-Gang; Kong, Ying-Yee; Michalewski, Henry J; Starr, Arnold

2005-06-01

Perceptual consequences of disrupted auditory nerve activity were systematically studied in 21 subjects who had been clinically diagnosed with auditory neuropathy (AN), a recently defined disorder characterized by normal outer hair cell function but disrupted auditory nerve function. Neurological and electrophysical evidence suggests that disrupted auditory nerve activity is due to desynchronized or reduced neural activity or both. Psychophysical measures showed that the disrupted neural activity has minimal effects on intensity-related perception, such as loudness discrimination, pitch discrimination at high frequencies, and sound localization using interaural level differences. In contrast, the disrupted neural activity significantly impairs timing related perception, such as pitch discrimination at low frequencies, temporal integration, gap detection, temporal modulation detection, backward and forward masking, signal detection in noise, binaural beats, and sound localization using interaural time differences. These perceptual consequences are the opposite of what is typically observed in cochlear-impaired subjects who have impaired intensity perception but relatively normal temporal processing after taking their impaired intensity perception into account. These differences in perceptual consequences between auditory neuropathy and cochlear damage suggest the use of different neural codes in auditory perception: a suboptimal spike count code for intensity processing, a synchronized spike code for temporal processing, and a duplex code for frequency processing. We also proposed two underlying physiological models based on desynchronized and reduced discharge in the auditory nerve to successfully account for the observed neurological and behavioral data. These methods and measures cannot differentiate between these two AN models, but future studies using electric stimulation of the auditory nerve via a cochlear implant might. These results not only show the unique contribution of neural synchrony to sensory perception but also provide guidance for translational research in terms of better diagnosis and management of human communication disorders.

Generic HRTFs May be Good Enough in Virtual Reality. Improving Source Localization through Cross-Modal Plasticity.

PubMed

Berger, Christopher C; Gonzalez-Franco, Mar; Tajadura-Jiménez, Ana; Florencio, Dinei; Zhang, Zhengyou

2018-01-01

Auditory spatial localization in humans is performed using a combination of interaural time differences, interaural level differences, as well as spectral cues provided by the geometry of the ear. To render spatialized sounds within a virtual reality (VR) headset, either individualized or generic Head Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs) are usually employed. The former require arduous calibrations, but enable accurate auditory source localization, which may lead to a heightened sense of presence within VR. The latter obviate the need for individualized calibrations, but result in less accurate auditory source localization. Previous research on auditory source localization in the real world suggests that our representation of acoustic space is highly plastic. In light of these findings, we investigated whether auditory source localization could be improved for users of generic HRTFs via cross-modal learning. The results show that pairing a dynamic auditory stimulus, with a spatio-temporally aligned visual counterpart, enabled users of generic HRTFs to improve subsequent auditory source localization. Exposure to the auditory stimulus alone or to asynchronous audiovisual stimuli did not improve auditory source localization. These findings have important implications for human perception as well as the development of VR systems as they indicate that generic HRTFs may be enough to enable good auditory source localization in VR.

The importance of individual frequencies of endogenous brain oscillations for auditory cognition - A short review.

PubMed

Baltus, Alina; Herrmann, Christoph Siegfried

2016-06-01

Oscillatory EEG activity in the human brain with frequencies in the gamma range (approx. 30-80Hz) is known to be relevant for a large number of cognitive processes. Interestingly, each subject reveals an individual frequency of the auditory gamma-band response (GBR) that coincides with the peak in the auditory steady state response (ASSR). A common resonance frequency of auditory cortex seems to underlie both the individual frequency of the GBR and the peak of the ASSR. This review sheds light on the functional role of oscillatory gamma activity for auditory processing. For successful processing, the auditory system has to track changes in auditory input over time and store information about past events in memory which allows the construction of auditory objects. Recent findings support the idea of gamma oscillations being involved in the partitioning of auditory input into discrete samples to facilitate higher order processing. We review experiments that seem to suggest that inter-individual differences in the resonance frequency are behaviorally relevant for gap detection and speech processing. A possible application of these resonance frequencies for brain computer interfaces is illustrated with regard to optimized individual presentation rates for auditory input to correspond with endogenous oscillatory activity. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Auditory working memory. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Strategy Choice Mediates the Link between Auditory Processing and Spelling

PubMed Central

Kwong, Tru E.; Brachman, Kyle J.

2014-01-01

Relations among linguistic auditory processing, nonlinguistic auditory processing, spelling ability, and spelling strategy choice were examined. Sixty-three undergraduate students completed measures of auditory processing (one involving distinguishing similar tones, one involving distinguishing similar phonemes, and one involving selecting appropriate spellings for individual phonemes). Participants also completed a modified version of a standardized spelling test, and a secondary spelling test with retrospective strategy reports. Once testing was completed, participants were divided into phonological versus nonphonological spellers on the basis of the number of words they spelled using phonological strategies only. Results indicated a) moderate to strong positive correlations among the different auditory processing tasks in terms of reaction time, but not accuracy levels, and b) weak to moderate positive correlations between measures of linguistic auditory processing (phoneme distinction and phoneme spelling choice in the presence of foils) and spelling ability for phonological spellers, but not for nonphonological spellers. These results suggest a possible explanation for past contradictory research on auditory processing and spelling, which has been divided in terms of whether or not disabled spellers seemed to have poorer auditory processing than did typically developing spellers, and suggest implications for teaching spelling to children with good versus poor auditory processing abilities. PMID:25198787

Strategy choice mediates the link between auditory processing and spelling.

PubMed

Kwong, Tru E; Brachman, Kyle J

2014-01-01

Relations among linguistic auditory processing, nonlinguistic auditory processing, spelling ability, and spelling strategy choice were examined. Sixty-three undergraduate students completed measures of auditory processing (one involving distinguishing similar tones, one involving distinguishing similar phonemes, and one involving selecting appropriate spellings for individual phonemes). Participants also completed a modified version of a standardized spelling test, and a secondary spelling test with retrospective strategy reports. Once testing was completed, participants were divided into phonological versus nonphonological spellers on the basis of the number of words they spelled using phonological strategies only. Results indicated a) moderate to strong positive correlations among the different auditory processing tasks in terms of reaction time, but not accuracy levels, and b) weak to moderate positive correlations between measures of linguistic auditory processing (phoneme distinction and phoneme spelling choice in the presence of foils) and spelling ability for phonological spellers, but not for nonphonological spellers. These results suggest a possible explanation for past contradictory research on auditory processing and spelling, which has been divided in terms of whether or not disabled spellers seemed to have poorer auditory processing than did typically developing spellers, and suggest implications for teaching spelling to children with good versus poor auditory processing abilities.

Uncovering beat deafness: detecting rhythm disorders with synchronized finger tapping and perceptual timing tasks.

PubMed

Dalla Bella, Simone; Sowiński, Jakub

2015-03-16

A set of behavioral tasks for assessing perceptual and sensorimotor timing abilities in the general population (i.e., non-musicians) is presented here with the goal of uncovering rhythm disorders, such as beat deafness. Beat deafness is characterized by poor performance in perceiving durations in auditory rhythmic patterns or poor synchronization of movement with auditory rhythms (e.g., with musical beats). These tasks include the synchronization of finger tapping to the beat of simple and complex auditory stimuli and the detection of rhythmic irregularities (anisochrony detection task) embedded in the same stimuli. These tests, which are easy to administer, include an assessment of both perceptual and sensorimotor timing abilities under different conditions (e.g., beat rates and types of auditory material) and are based on the same auditory stimuli, ranging from a simple metronome to a complex musical excerpt. The analysis of synchronized tapping data is performed with circular statistics, which provide reliable measures of synchronization accuracy (e.g., the difference between the timing of the taps and the timing of the pacing stimuli) and consistency. Circular statistics on tapping data are particularly well-suited for detecting individual differences in the general population. Synchronized tapping and anisochrony detection are sensitive measures for identifying profiles of rhythm disorders and have been used with success to uncover cases of poor synchronization with spared perceptual timing. This systematic assessment of perceptual and sensorimotor timing can be extended to populations of patients with brain damage, neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Parkinson's disease), and developmental disorders (e.g., Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

Altered auditory function in rats exposed to hypergravic fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, T. A.; Hoffman, L.; Horowitz, J. M.

1982-01-01

The effect of an orthodynamic hypergravic field of 6 G on the brainstem auditory projections was studied in rats. The brain temperature and EEG activity were recorded in the rats during 6 G orthodynamic acceleration and auditory brainstem responses were used to monitor auditory function. Results show that all animals exhibited auditory brainstem responses which indicated impaired conduction and transmission of brainstem auditory signals during the exposure to the 6 G acceleration field. Significant increases in central conduction time were observed for peaks 3N, 4P, 4N, and 5P (N = negative, P = positive), while the absolute latency values for these same peaks were also significantly increased. It is concluded that these results, along with those for fields below 4 G (Jones and Horowitz, 1981), indicate that impaired function proceeds in a rostro-caudal progression as field strength is increased.

Neuronal activity in primate auditory cortex during the performance of audiovisual tasks.

PubMed

Brosch, Michael; Selezneva, Elena; Scheich, Henning

2015-03-01

This study aimed at a deeper understanding of which cognitive and motivational aspects of tasks affect auditory cortical activity. To this end we trained two macaque monkeys to perform two different tasks on the same audiovisual stimulus and to do this with two different sizes of water rewards. The monkeys had to touch a bar after a tone had been turned on together with an LED, and to hold the bar until either the tone (auditory task) or the LED (visual task) was turned off. In 399 multiunits recorded from core fields of auditory cortex we confirmed that during task engagement neurons responded to auditory and non-auditory stimuli that were task-relevant, such as light and water. We also confirmed that firing rates slowly increased or decreased for several seconds during various phases of the tasks. Responses to non-auditory stimuli and slow firing changes were observed during both the auditory and the visual task, with some differences between them. There was also a weak task-dependent modulation of the responses to auditory stimuli. In contrast to these cognitive aspects, motivational aspects of the tasks were not reflected in the firing, except during delivery of the water reward. In conclusion, the present study supports our previous proposal that there are two response types in the auditory cortex that represent the timing and the type of auditory and non-auditory elements of a auditory tasks as well the association between elements. © 2015 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A Circuit for Motor Cortical Modulation of Auditory Cortical Activity

PubMed Central

Nelson, Anders; Schneider, David M.; Takatoh, Jun; Sakurai, Katsuyasu; Wang, Fan

2013-01-01

Normal hearing depends on the ability to distinguish self-generated sounds from other sounds, and this ability is thought to involve neural circuits that convey copies of motor command signals to various levels of the auditory system. Although such interactions at the cortical level are believed to facilitate auditory comprehension during movements and drive auditory hallucinations in pathological states, the synaptic organization and function of circuitry linking the motor and auditory cortices remain unclear. Here we describe experiments in the mouse that characterize circuitry well suited to transmit motor-related signals to the auditory cortex. Using retrograde viral tracing, we established that neurons in superficial and deep layers of the medial agranular motor cortex (M2) project directly to the auditory cortex and that the axons of some of these deep-layer cells also target brainstem motor regions. Using in vitro whole-cell physiology, optogenetics, and pharmacology, we determined that M2 axons make excitatory synapses in the auditory cortex but exert a primarily suppressive effect on auditory cortical neuron activity mediated in part by feedforward inhibition involving parvalbumin-positive interneurons. Using in vivo intracellular physiology, optogenetics, and sound playback, we also found that directly activating M2 axon terminals in the auditory cortex suppresses spontaneous and stimulus-evoked synaptic activity in auditory cortical neurons and that this effect depends on the relative timing of motor cortical activity and auditory stimulation. These experiments delineate the structural and functional properties of a corticocortical circuit that could enable movement-related suppression of auditory cortical activity. PMID:24005287

Time reproduction in children with ADHD and their nonaffected siblings.

PubMed

Rommelse, Nanda N J; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Buitelaar, Jan; Faraone, Stephen V; Sergeant, Joseph A

2007-05-01

Time reproduction is deficient in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Whether this deficit is familial and could therefore serve as a candidate endophenotype has not been previously investigated. It is unknown whether timing deficits are also measurable in adolescent children with ADHD and nonaffected siblings. These issues were investigated in 226 children with ADHD, 188 nonaffected siblings, and 162 normal controls ages 5 to 19. Children participated in a visual and auditory time reproduction task. They reproduced interval lengths of 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 seconds. Children with ADHD and their nonaffected siblings were less precise than controls, particularly when task difficulty was systematically increased. Time reproduction skills were familial. Time reproduction deficits were more pronounced in younger children with ADHD than in older children. Children with ADHD could be clearly dissociated from control children until the age of 9. After this age, group differences were somewhat attenuated, but were still present. Differences between nonaffected siblings and controls were constant across the age range studied. Deficits were unaffected by modality. Time reproduction may serve as a candidate endophenotype for ADHD, predominantly in younger children with (a genetic risk for) ADHD.

Virtual acoustics displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wenzel, Elizabeth M.; Fisher, Scott S.; Stone, Philip K.; Foster, Scott H.

1991-01-01

The real time acoustic display capabilities are described which were developed for the Virtual Environment Workstation (VIEW) Project at NASA-Ames. The acoustic display is capable of generating localized acoustic cues in real time over headphones. An auditory symbology, a related collection of representational auditory 'objects' or 'icons', can be designed using ACE (Auditory Cue Editor), which links both discrete and continuously varying acoustic parameters with information or events in the display. During a given display scenario, the symbology can be dynamically coordinated in real time with 3-D visual objects, speech, and gestural displays. The types of displays feasible with the system range from simple warnings and alarms to the acoustic representation of multidimensional data or events.

Virtual acoustics displays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wenzel, Elizabeth M.; Fisher, Scott S.; Stone, Philip K.; Foster, Scott H.

1991-03-01

The real time acoustic display capabilities are described which were developed for the Virtual Environment Workstation (VIEW) Project at NASA-Ames. The acoustic display is capable of generating localized acoustic cues in real time over headphones. An auditory symbology, a related collection of representational auditory 'objects' or 'icons', can be designed using ACE (Auditory Cue Editor), which links both discrete and continuously varying acoustic parameters with information or events in the display. During a given display scenario, the symbology can be dynamically coordinated in real time with 3-D visual objects, speech, and gestural displays. The types of displays feasible with the system range from simple warnings and alarms to the acoustic representation of multidimensional data or events.

Weak Responses to Auditory Feedback Perturbation during Articulation in Persons Who Stutter: Evidence for Abnormal Auditory-Motor Transformation

PubMed Central

Cai, Shanqing; Beal, Deryk S.; Ghosh, Satrajit S.; Tiede, Mark K.; Guenther, Frank H.; Perkell, Joseph S.

2012-01-01

Previous empirical observations have led researchers to propose that auditory feedback (the auditory perception of self-produced sounds when speaking) functions abnormally in the speech motor systems of persons who stutter (PWS). Researchers have theorized that an important neural basis of stuttering is the aberrant integration of auditory information into incipient speech motor commands. Because of the circumstantial support for these hypotheses and the differences and contradictions between them, there is a need for carefully designed experiments that directly examine auditory-motor integration during speech production in PWS. In the current study, we used real-time manipulation of auditory feedback to directly investigate whether the speech motor system of PWS utilizes auditory feedback abnormally during articulation and to characterize potential deficits of this auditory-motor integration. Twenty-one PWS and 18 fluent control participants were recruited. Using a short-latency formant-perturbation system, we examined participants’ compensatory responses to unanticipated perturbation of auditory feedback of the first formant frequency during the production of the monophthong [ε]. The PWS showed compensatory responses that were qualitatively similar to the controls’ and had close-to-normal latencies (∼150 ms), but the magnitudes of their responses were substantially and significantly smaller than those of the control participants (by 47% on average, p<0.05). Measurements of auditory acuity indicate that the weaker-than-normal compensatory responses in PWS were not attributable to a deficit in low-level auditory processing. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that stuttering is associated with functional defects in the inverse models responsible for the transformation from the domain of auditory targets and auditory error information into the domain of speech motor commands. PMID:22911857

Musical Sophistication and the Effect of Complexity on Auditory Discrimination in Finnish Speakers.

PubMed

Dawson, Caitlin; Aalto, Daniel; Šimko, Juraj; Vainio, Martti; Tervaniemi, Mari

2017-01-01

Musical experiences and native language are both known to affect auditory processing. The present work aims to disentangle the influences of native language phonology and musicality on behavioral and subcortical sound feature processing in a population of musically diverse Finnish speakers as well as to investigate the specificity of enhancement from musical training. Finnish speakers are highly sensitive to duration cues since in Finnish, vowel and consonant duration determine word meaning. Using a correlational approach with a set of behavioral sound feature discrimination tasks, brainstem recordings, and a musical sophistication questionnaire, we find no evidence for an association between musical sophistication and more precise duration processing in Finnish speakers either in the auditory brainstem response or in behavioral tasks, but they do show an enhanced pitch discrimination compared to Finnish speakers with less musical experience and show greater duration modulation in a complex task. These results are consistent with a ceiling effect set for certain sound features which corresponds to the phonology of the native language, leaving an opportunity for music experience-based enhancement of sound features not explicitly encoded in the language (such as pitch, which is not explicitly encoded in Finnish). Finally, the pattern of duration modulation in more musically sophisticated Finnish speakers suggests integrated feature processing for greater efficiency in a real world musical situation. These results have implications for research into the specificity of plasticity in the auditory system as well as to the effects of interaction of specific language features with musical experiences.

Musical Sophistication and the Effect of Complexity on Auditory Discrimination in Finnish Speakers

PubMed Central

Dawson, Caitlin; Aalto, Daniel; Šimko, Juraj; Vainio, Martti; Tervaniemi, Mari

2017-01-01

Musical experiences and native language are both known to affect auditory processing. The present work aims to disentangle the influences of native language phonology and musicality on behavioral and subcortical sound feature processing in a population of musically diverse Finnish speakers as well as to investigate the specificity of enhancement from musical training. Finnish speakers are highly sensitive to duration cues since in Finnish, vowel and consonant duration determine word meaning. Using a correlational approach with a set of behavioral sound feature discrimination tasks, brainstem recordings, and a musical sophistication questionnaire, we find no evidence for an association between musical sophistication and more precise duration processing in Finnish speakers either in the auditory brainstem response or in behavioral tasks, but they do show an enhanced pitch discrimination compared to Finnish speakers with less musical experience and show greater duration modulation in a complex task. These results are consistent with a ceiling effect set for certain sound features which corresponds to the phonology of the native language, leaving an opportunity for music experience-based enhancement of sound features not explicitly encoded in the language (such as pitch, which is not explicitly encoded in Finnish). Finally, the pattern of duration modulation in more musically sophisticated Finnish speakers suggests integrated feature processing for greater efficiency in a real world musical situation. These results have implications for research into the specificity of plasticity in the auditory system as well as to the effects of interaction of specific language features with musical experiences. PMID:28450829

Musical Experience, Sensorineural Auditory Processing, and Reading Subskills in Adults.

PubMed

Tichko, Parker; Skoe, Erika

2018-04-27

Developmental research suggests that sensorineural auditory processing, reading subskills (e.g., phonological awareness and rapid naming), and musical experience are related during early periods of reading development. Interestingly, recent work suggests that these relations may extend into adulthood, with indices of sensorineural auditory processing relating to global reading ability. However, it is largely unknown whether sensorineural auditory processing relates to specific reading subskills, such as phonological awareness and rapid naming, as well as musical experience in mature readers. To address this question, we recorded electrophysiological responses to a repeating click (auditory stimulus) in a sample of adult readers. We then investigated relations between electrophysiological responses to sound, reading subskills, and musical experience in this same set of adult readers. Analyses suggest that sensorineural auditory processing, reading subskills, and musical experience are related in adulthood, with faster neural conduction times and greater musical experience associated with stronger rapid-naming skills. These results are similar to the developmental findings that suggest reading subskills are related to sensorineural auditory processing and musical experience in children.

Auditory temporal processing skills in musicians with dyslexia.

PubMed

Bishop-Liebler, Paula; Welch, Graham; Huss, Martina; Thomson, Jennifer M; Goswami, Usha

2014-08-01

The core cognitive difficulty in developmental dyslexia involves phonological processing, but adults and children with dyslexia also have sensory impairments. Impairments in basic auditory processing show particular links with phonological impairments, and recent studies with dyslexic children across languages reveal a relationship between auditory temporal processing and sensitivity to rhythmic timing and speech rhythm. As rhythm is explicit in music, musical training might have a beneficial effect on the auditory perception of acoustic cues to rhythm in dyslexia. Here we took advantage of the presence of musicians with and without dyslexia in musical conservatoires, comparing their auditory temporal processing abilities with those of dyslexic non-musicians matched for cognitive ability. Musicians with dyslexia showed equivalent auditory sensitivity to musicians without dyslexia and also showed equivalent rhythm perception. The data support the view that extensive rhythmic experience initiated during childhood (here in the form of music training) can affect basic auditory processing skills which are found to be deficient in individuals with dyslexia. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

What You See Isn’t Always What You Get: Auditory Word Signals Trump Consciously Perceived Words in Lexical Access

PubMed Central

Ostrand, Rachel; Blumstein, Sheila E.; Ferreira, Victor S.; Morgan, James L.

2016-01-01

Human speech perception often includes both an auditory and visual component. A conflict in these signals can result in the McGurk illusion, in which the listener perceives a fusion of the two streams, implying that information from both has been integrated. We report two experiments investigating whether auditory-visual integration of speech occurs before or after lexical access, and whether the visual signal influences lexical access at all. Subjects were presented with McGurk or Congruent primes and performed a lexical decision task on related or unrelated targets. Although subjects perceived the McGurk illusion, McGurk and Congruent primes with matching real-word auditory signals equivalently primed targets that were semantically related to the auditory signal, but not targets related to the McGurk percept. We conclude that the time course of auditory-visual integration is dependent on the lexicality of the auditory and visual input signals, and that listeners can lexically access one word and yet consciously perceive another. PMID:27011021

Application of auditory signals to the operation of an agricultural vehicle: results of pilot testing.

PubMed

Karimi, D; Mondor, T A; Mann, D D

2008-01-01

The operation of agricultural vehicles is a multitask activity that requires proper distribution of attentional resources. Human factors theories suggest that proper utilization of the operator's sensory capacities under such conditions can improve the operator's performance and reduce the operator's workload. Using a tractor driving simulator, this study investigated whether auditory cues can be used to improve performance of the operator of an agricultural vehicle. Steering of a vehicle was simulated in visual mode (where driving error was shown to the subject using a lightbar) and in auditory mode (where a pair of speakers were used to convey the driving error direction and/or magnitude). A secondary task was also introduced in order to simulate the monitoring of an attached machine. This task included monitoring of two identical displays, which were placed behind the simulator, and responding to them, when needed, using a joystick. This task was also implemented in auditory mode (in which a beep signaled the subject to push the proper button when a response was needed) and in visual mode (in which there was no beep and visual, monitoring of the displays was necessary). Two levels of difficulty of the monitoring task were used. Deviation of the simulated vehicle from a desired straight line was used as the measure of performance in the steering task, and reaction time to the displays was used as the measure of performance in the monitoring task. Results of the experiments showed that steering performance was significantly better when steering was a visual task (driving errors were 40% to 60% of the driving errors in auditory mode), although subjective evaluations showed that auditory steering could be easier, depending on the implementation. Performance in the monitoring task was significantly better for auditory implementation (reaction time was approximately 6 times shorter), and this result was strongly supported by subjective ratings. The majority of the subjects preferred the combination of visual mode for the steering task and auditory mode for the monitoring task.

Speech Compensation for Time-Scale-Modified Auditory Feedback

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ogane, Rintaro; Honda, Masaaki

2014-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine speech compensation in response to time-scale-modified auditory feedback during the transition of the semivowel for a target utterance of /ija/. Method: Each utterance session consisted of 10 control trials in the normal feedback condition followed by 20 perturbed trials in the modified auditory…

Auditory Attention to Frequency and Time: An Analogy to Visual Local-Global Stimuli

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Justus, Timothy; List, Alexandra

2005-01-01

Two priming experiments demonstrated exogenous attentional persistence to the fundamental auditory dimensions of frequency (Experiment 1) and time (Experiment 2). In a divided-attention task, participants responded to an independent dimension, the identification of three-tone sequence patterns, for both prime and probe stimuli. The stimuli were…

Oscillatory support for rapid frequency change processing in infants.

PubMed

Musacchia, Gabriella; Choudhury, Naseem A; Ortiz-Mantilla, Silvia; Realpe-Bonilla, Teresa; Roesler, Cynthia P; Benasich, April A

2013-11-01

Rapid auditory processing and auditory change detection abilities are crucial aspects of speech and language development, particularly in the first year of life. Animal models and adult studies suggest that oscillatory synchrony, and in particular low-frequency oscillations play key roles in this process. We hypothesize that infant perception of rapid pitch and timing changes is mediated, at least in part, by oscillatory mechanisms. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), source localization and time-frequency analysis of event-related oscillations (EROs), we examined the neural substrates of rapid auditory processing in 4-month-olds. During a standard oddball paradigm, infants listened to tone pairs with invariant standard (STD, 800-800 Hz) and variant deviant (DEV, 800-1200 Hz) pitch. STD and DEV tone pairs were first presented in a block with a short inter-stimulus interval (ISI) (Rapid Rate: 70 ms ISI), followed by a block of stimuli with a longer ISI (Control Rate: 300 ms ISI). Results showed greater ERP peak amplitude in response to the DEV tone in both conditions and later and larger peaks during Rapid Rate presentation, compared to the Control condition. Sources of neural activity, localized to right and left auditory regions, showed larger and faster activation in the right hemisphere for both rate conditions. Time-frequency analysis of the source activity revealed clusters of theta band enhancement to the DEV tone in right auditory cortex for both conditions. Left auditory activity was enhanced only during Rapid Rate presentation. These data suggest that local low-frequency oscillatory synchrony underlies rapid processing and can robustly index auditory perception in young infants. Furthermore, left hemisphere recruitment during rapid frequency change discrimination suggests a difference in the spectral and temporal resolution of right and left hemispheres at a very young age. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Experiments on Auditory-Visual Perception of Sentences by Users of Unilateral, Bimodal, and Bilateral Cochlear Implants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dorman, Michael F.; Liss, Julie; Wang, Shuai; Berisha, Visar; Ludwig, Cimarron; Natale, Sarah Cook

2016-01-01

Purpose: Five experiments probed auditory-visual (AV) understanding of sentences by users of cochlear implants (CIs). Method: Sentence material was presented in auditory (A), visual (V), and AV test conditions to listeners with normal hearing and CI users. Results: (a) Most CI users report that most of the time, they have access to both A and V…

Plasticity in neuromagnetic cortical responses suggests enhanced auditory object representation

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Auditory perceptual learning persistently modifies neural networks in the central nervous system. Central auditory processing comprises a hierarchy of sound analysis and integration, which transforms an acoustical signal into a meaningful object for perception. Based on latencies and source locations of auditory evoked responses, we investigated which stage of central processing undergoes neuroplastic changes when gaining auditory experience during passive listening and active perceptual training. Young healthy volunteers participated in a five-day training program to identify two pre-voiced versions of the stop-consonant syllable ‘ba’, which is an unusual speech sound to English listeners. Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) brain responses were recorded during two pre-training and one post-training sessions. Underlying cortical sources were localized, and the temporal dynamics of auditory evoked responses were analyzed. Results After both passive listening and active training, the amplitude of the P2m wave with latency of 200 ms increased considerably. By this latency, the integration of stimulus features into an auditory object for further conscious perception is considered to be complete. Therefore the P2m changes were discussed in the light of auditory object representation. Moreover, P2m sources were localized in anterior auditory association cortex, which is part of the antero-ventral pathway for object identification. The amplitude of the earlier N1m wave, which is related to processing of sensory information, did not change over the time course of the study. Conclusion The P2m amplitude increase and its persistence over time constitute a neuroplastic change. The P2m gain likely reflects enhanced object representation after stimulus experience and training, which enables listeners to improve their ability for scrutinizing fine differences in pre-voicing time. Different trajectories of brain and behaviour changes suggest that the preceding effect of a P2m increase relates to brain processes, which are necessary precursors of perceptual learning. Cautious discussion is required when interpreting the finding of a P2 amplitude increase between recordings before and after training and learning. PMID:24314010

Different patterns of modality dominance across development.

PubMed

Barnhart, Wesley R; Rivera, Samuel; Robinson, Christopher W

2018-01-01

The present study sought to better understand how children, young adults, and older adults attend and respond to multisensory information. In Experiment 1, young adults were presented with two spoken words, two pictures, or two word-picture pairings and they had to determine if the two stimuli/pairings were exactly the same or different. Pairing the words and pictures together slowed down visual but not auditory response times and delayed the latency of first fixations, both of which are consistent with a proposed mechanism underlying auditory dominance. Experiment 2 examined the development of modality dominance in children, young adults, and older adults. Cross-modal presentation attenuated visual accuracy and slowed down visual response times in children, whereas older adults showed the opposite pattern, with cross-modal presentation attenuating auditory accuracy and slowing down auditory response times. Cross-modal presentation also delayed first fixations in children and young adults. Mechanisms underlying modality dominance and multisensory processing are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Temporal Integration of Auditory Information Is Invariant to Temporal Grouping Cues1,2,3

PubMed Central

Tsunada, Joji

2015-01-01

Abstract Auditory perception depends on the temporal structure of incoming acoustic stimuli. Here, we examined whether a temporal manipulation that affects the perceptual grouping also affects the time dependence of decisions regarding those stimuli. We designed a novel discrimination task that required human listeners to decide whether a sequence of tone bursts was increasing or decreasing in frequency. We manipulated temporal perceptual-grouping cues by changing the time interval between the tone bursts, which led to listeners hearing the sequences as a single sound for short intervals or discrete sounds for longer intervals. Despite these strong perceptual differences, this manipulation did not affect the efficiency of how auditory information was integrated over time to form a decision. Instead, the grouping manipulation affected subjects’ speed−accuracy trade-offs. These results indicate that the temporal dynamics of evidence accumulation for auditory perceptual decisions can be invariant to manipulations that affect the perceptual grouping of the evidence. PMID:26464975

The processing of auditory and visual recognition of self-stimuli.

PubMed

Hughes, Susan M; Nicholson, Shevon E

2010-12-01

This study examined self-recognition processing in both the auditory and visual modalities by determining how comparable hearing a recording of one's own voice was to seeing photograph of one's own face. We also investigated whether the simultaneous presentation of auditory and visual self-stimuli would either facilitate or inhibit self-identification. Ninety-one participants completed reaction-time tasks of self-recognition when presented with their own faces, own voices, and combinations of the two. Reaction time and errors made when responding with both the right and left hand were recorded to determine if there were lateralization effects on these tasks. Our findings showed that visual self-recognition for facial photographs appears to be superior to auditory self-recognition for voice recordings. Furthermore, a combined presentation of one's own face and voice appeared to inhibit rather than facilitate self-recognition and there was a left-hand advantage for reaction time on the combined-presentation tasks. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Idealized Computational Models for Auditory Receptive Fields

PubMed Central

Lindeberg, Tony; Friberg, Anders

2015-01-01

We present a theory by which idealized models of auditory receptive fields can be derived in a principled axiomatic manner, from a set of structural properties to (i) enable invariance of receptive field responses under natural sound transformations and (ii) ensure internal consistency between spectro-temporal receptive fields at different temporal and spectral scales. For defining a time-frequency transformation of a purely temporal sound signal, it is shown that the framework allows for a new way of deriving the Gabor and Gammatone filters as well as a novel family of generalized Gammatone filters, with additional degrees of freedom to obtain different trade-offs between the spectral selectivity and the temporal delay of time-causal temporal window functions. When applied to the definition of a second-layer of receptive fields from a spectrogram, it is shown that the framework leads to two canonical families of spectro-temporal receptive fields, in terms of spectro-temporal derivatives of either spectro-temporal Gaussian kernels for non-causal time or a cascade of time-causal first-order integrators over the temporal domain and a Gaussian filter over the logspectral domain. For each filter family, the spectro-temporal receptive fields can be either separable over the time-frequency domain or be adapted to local glissando transformations that represent variations in logarithmic frequencies over time. Within each domain of either non-causal or time-causal time, these receptive field families are derived by uniqueness from the assumptions. It is demonstrated how the presented framework allows for computation of basic auditory features for audio processing and that it leads to predictions about auditory receptive fields with good qualitative similarity to biological receptive fields measured in the inferior colliculus (ICC) and primary auditory cortex (A1) of mammals. PMID:25822973

Evaluation of an Imputed Pitch Velocity Model of the Auditory Kappa Effect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henry, Molly J.; McAuley, J. Devin

2009-01-01

Three experiments evaluated an imputed pitch velocity model of the auditory kappa effect. Listeners heard 3-tone sequences and judged the timing of the middle (target) tone relative to the timing of the 1st and 3rd (bounding) tones. Experiment 1 held pitch constant but varied the time (T) interval between bounding tones (T = 728, 1,000, or 1,600…

Perceptual learning in temporal discrimination: asymmetric cross-modal transfer from audition to vision.

PubMed

Bratzke, Daniel; Seifried, Tanja; Ulrich, Rolf

2012-08-01

This study assessed possible cross-modal transfer effects of training in a temporal discrimination task from vision to audition as well as from audition to vision. We employed a pretest-training-post-test design including a control group that performed only the pretest and the post-test. Trained participants showed better discrimination performance with their trained interval than the control group. This training effect transferred to the other modality only for those participants who had been trained with auditory stimuli. The present study thus demonstrates for the first time that training on temporal discrimination within the auditory modality can transfer to the visual modality but not vice versa. This finding represents a novel illustration of auditory dominance in temporal processing and is consistent with the notion that time is primarily encoded in the auditory system.

Behavioural benefits of multisensory processing in ferrets.

PubMed

Hammond-Kenny, Amy; Bajo, Victoria M; King, Andrew J; Nodal, Fernando R

2017-01-01

Enhanced detection and discrimination, along with faster reaction times, are the most typical behavioural manifestations of the brain's capacity to integrate multisensory signals arising from the same object. In this study, we examined whether multisensory behavioural gains are observable across different components of the localization response that are potentially under the command of distinct brain regions. We measured the ability of ferrets to localize unisensory (auditory or visual) and spatiotemporally coincident auditory-visual stimuli of different durations that were presented from one of seven locations spanning the frontal hemifield. During the localization task, we recorded the head movements made following stimulus presentation, as a metric for assessing the initial orienting response of the ferrets, as well as the subsequent choice of which target location to approach to receive a reward. Head-orienting responses to auditory-visual stimuli were more accurate and faster than those made to visual but not auditory targets, suggesting that these movements were guided principally by sound alone. In contrast, approach-to-target localization responses were more accurate and faster to spatially congruent auditory-visual stimuli throughout the frontal hemifield than to either visual or auditory stimuli alone. Race model inequality analysis of head-orienting reaction times and approach-to-target response times indicates that different processes, probability summation and neural integration, respectively, are likely to be responsible for the effects of multisensory stimulation on these two measures of localization behaviour. © 2016 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience published by Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Local and Global Auditory Processing: Behavioral and ERP Evidence

PubMed Central

Sanders, Lisa D.; Poeppel, David

2007-01-01

Differential processing of local and global visual features is well established. Global precedence effects, differences in event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited when attention is focused on local versus global levels, and hemispheric specialization for local and global features all indicate that relative scale of detail is an important distinction in visual processing. Observing analogous differential processing of local and global auditory information would suggest that scale of detail is a general organizational principle of the brain. However, to date the research on auditory local and global processing has primarily focused on music perception or on the perceptual analysis of relatively higher and lower frequencies. The study described here suggests that temporal aspects of auditory stimuli better capture the local-global distinction. By combining short (40 ms) frequency modulated tones in series to create global auditory patterns (500 ms), we independently varied whether pitch increased or decreased over short time spans (local) and longer time spans (global). Accuracy and reaction time measures revealed better performance for global judgments and asymmetric interference that were modulated by amount of pitch change. ERPs recorded while participants listened to identical sounds and indicated the direction of pitch change at the local or global levels provided evidence for differential processing similar to that found in ERP studies employing hierarchical visual stimuli. ERP measures failed to provide evidence for lateralization of local and global auditory perception, but differences in distributions suggest preferential processing in more ventral and dorsal areas respectively. PMID:17113115

Effect of dual task activity on reaction time in males and females.

PubMed

Kaur, Manjinder; Nagpal, Sangeeta; Singh, Harpreet; Suhalka, M L

2014-01-01

The present study was designed to compare the auditory and visual reaction time on an Audiovisual Reaction Time Machine with the concomitant use of mobile phones in 52 women and 30 men in the age group of 18-40 years. Males showed significantly (p < 0.05) shorter reaction times, both auditory and visual, than females both during single task and multi task performance. But the percentage increase from their respective baseline auditory reaction times, was more in men than women during multitasking, in hand held (24.38% & 18.70% respectively) and hands free modes (36.40% & 18.40% respectively) of the use of cell phone. VRT increased non significantly during multitasking in both the groups. However, the multitasking per se has detrimental effect on the reaction times in both the groups studied. Hence, it should best be avoided in crucial and high attention demanding tasks like driving.

Performance on Tests of Central Auditory Processing by Individuals Exposed to High-Intensity Blasts

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-07-01

percent (gap detected on at least four of the six presentations), with all longer durations receiving a score greater than 50 percent. Binaural ...Processing and Sound Localization Temporal precision of neural firing is also involved in binaural processing and localization of sound in space. The...Masking Level Difference (MLD) test evaluates the integrity of the earliest sites of binaural comparison and sensitivity to interaural phase in the

Development of a test for recording both visual and auditory reaction times, potentially useful for future studies in patients on opioids therapy

PubMed Central

Miceli, Luca; Bednarova, Rym; Rizzardo, Alessandro; Samogin, Valentina; Della Rocca, Giorgio

2015-01-01

Objective Italian Road Law limits driving while undergoing treatment with certain kinds of medication. Here, we report the results of a test, run as a smartphone application (app), assessing auditory and visual reflexes in a sample of 300 drivers. The scope of the test is to provide both the police force and medication-taking drivers with a tool that can evaluate the individual’s capacity to drive safely. Methods The test is run as an app for Apple iOS and Android mobile operating systems and facilitates four different reaction times to be assessed: simple visual and auditory reaction times and complex visual and auditory reaction times. Reference deciles were created for the test results obtained from a sample of 300 Italian subjects. Results lying within the first three deciles were considered as incompatible with safe driving capabilities. Results Performance is both age-related (r>0.5) and sex-related (female reaction times were significantly slower than those recorded for male subjects, P<0.05). Only 21% of the subjects were able to perform all four tests correctly. Conclusion We developed and fine-tuned a test called Safedrive that measures visual and auditory reaction times through a smartphone mobile device; the scope of the test is two-fold: to provide a clinical tool for the assessment of the driving capacity of individuals taking pain relief medication; to promote the sense of social responsibility in drivers who are on medication and provide these individuals with a means of testing their own capacity to drive safely. PMID:25709406

Development of a test for recording both visual and auditory reaction times, potentially useful for future studies in patients on opioids therapy.

PubMed

Miceli, Luca; Bednarova, Rym; Rizzardo, Alessandro; Samogin, Valentina; Della Rocca, Giorgio

2015-01-01

Italian Road Law limits driving while undergoing treatment with certain kinds of medication. Here, we report the results of a test, run as a smartphone application (app), assessing auditory and visual reflexes in a sample of 300 drivers. The scope of the test is to provide both the police force and medication-taking drivers with a tool that can evaluate the individual's capacity to drive safely. The test is run as an app for Apple iOS and Android mobile operating systems and facilitates four different reaction times to be assessed: simple visual and auditory reaction times and complex visual and auditory reaction times. Reference deciles were created for the test results obtained from a sample of 300 Italian subjects. Results lying within the first three deciles were considered as incompatible with safe driving capabilities. Performance is both age-related (r>0.5) and sex-related (female reaction times were significantly slower than those recorded for male subjects, P<0.05). Only 21% of the subjects were able to perform all four tests correctly. We developed and fine-tuned a test called Safedrive that measures visual and auditory reaction times through a smartphone mobile device; the scope of the test is two-fold: to provide a clinical tool for the assessment of the driving capacity of individuals taking pain relief medication; to promote the sense of social responsibility in drivers who are on medication and provide these individuals with a means of testing their own capacity to drive safely.

Human engineer's guide to auditory displays. Volume 2: Elements of signal reception and resolution affecting auditory displays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mulligan, B. E.; Goodman, L. S.; McBride, D. K.; Mitchell, T. M.; Crosby, T. N.

1984-08-01

This work reviews the areas of monaural and binaural signal detection, auditory discrimination and localization, and reaction times to acoustic signals. The review was written from the perspective of human engineering and focuses primarily on auditory processing of information contained in acoustic signals. The impetus for this effort was to establish a data base to be utilized in the design and evaluation of acoustic displays. Appendix 1 also contains citations of the scientific literature on which was based the answers to each question. There are nineteen questions and answers, and more than two hundred citations contained in the list of references given in Appendix 2. This is one of two related works, the other of which reviewed the literature in the areas of auditory attention, recognition memory, and auditory perception of patterns, pitch, and loudness.

The Perception of Auditory Motion

PubMed Central

Leung, Johahn

2016-01-01

The growing availability of efficient and relatively inexpensive virtual auditory display technology has provided new research platforms to explore the perception of auditory motion. At the same time, deployment of these technologies in command and control as well as in entertainment roles is generating an increasing need to better understand the complex processes underlying auditory motion perception. This is a particularly challenging processing feat because it involves the rapid deconvolution of the relative change in the locations of sound sources produced by rotational and translations of the head in space (self-motion) to enable the perception of actual source motion. The fact that we perceive our auditory world to be stable despite almost continual movement of the head demonstrates the efficiency and effectiveness of this process. This review examines the acoustical basis of auditory motion perception and a wide range of psychophysical, electrophysiological, and cortical imaging studies that have probed the limits and possible mechanisms underlying this perception. PMID:27094029

A Brain System for Auditory Working Memory.

PubMed

Kumar, Sukhbinder; Joseph, Sabine; Gander, Phillip E; Barascud, Nicolas; Halpern, Andrea R; Griffiths, Timothy D

2016-04-20

The brain basis for auditory working memory, the process of actively maintaining sounds in memory over short periods of time, is controversial. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in human participants, we demonstrate that the maintenance of single tones in memory is associated with activation in auditory cortex. In addition, sustained activation was observed in hippocampus and inferior frontal gyrus. Multivoxel pattern analysis showed that patterns of activity in auditory cortex and left inferior frontal gyrus distinguished the tone that was maintained in memory. Functional connectivity during maintenance was demonstrated between auditory cortex and both the hippocampus and inferior frontal cortex. The data support a system for auditory working memory based on the maintenance of sound-specific representations in auditory cortex by projections from higher-order areas, including the hippocampus and frontal cortex. In this work, we demonstrate a system for maintaining sound in working memory based on activity in auditory cortex, hippocampus, and frontal cortex, and functional connectivity among them. Specifically, our work makes three advances from the previous work. First, we robustly demonstrate hippocampal involvement in all phases of auditory working memory (encoding, maintenance, and retrieval): the role of hippocampus in working memory is controversial. Second, using a pattern classification technique, we show that activity in the auditory cortex and inferior frontal gyrus is specific to the maintained tones in working memory. Third, we show long-range connectivity of auditory cortex to hippocampus and frontal cortex, which may be responsible for keeping such representations active during working memory maintenance. Copyright © 2016 Kumar et al.

Involvement of the human midbrain and thalamus in auditory deviance detection.

PubMed

Cacciaglia, Raffaele; Escera, Carles; Slabu, Lavinia; Grimm, Sabine; Sanjuán, Ana; Ventura-Campos, Noelia; Ávila, César

2015-02-01

Prompt detection of unexpected changes in the sensory environment is critical for survival. In the auditory domain, the occurrence of a rare stimulus triggers a cascade of neurophysiological events spanning over multiple time-scales. Besides the role of the mismatch negativity (MMN), whose cortical generators are located in supratemporal areas, cumulative evidence suggests that violations of auditory regularities can be detected earlier and lower in the auditory hierarchy. Recent human scalp recordings have shown signatures of auditory mismatch responses at shorter latencies than those of the MMN. Moreover, animal single-unit recordings have demonstrated that rare stimulus changes cause a release from stimulus-specific adaptation in neurons of the primary auditory cortex, the medial geniculate body (MGB), and the inferior colliculus (IC). Although these data suggest that change detection is a pervasive property of the auditory system which may reside upstream cortical sites, direct evidence for the involvement of subcortical stages in the human auditory novelty system is lacking. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging during a frequency oddball paradigm, we here report that auditory deviance detection occurs in the MGB and the IC of healthy human participants. By implementing a random condition controlling for neural refractoriness effects, we show that auditory change detection in these subcortical stations involves the encoding of statistical regularities from the acoustic input. These results provide the first direct evidence of the existence of multiple mismatch detectors nested at different levels along the human ascending auditory pathway. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Development of Auditory Perception in Children Following Auditory Brainstem Implantation

PubMed Central

Colletti, Liliana; Shannon, Robert V.; Colletti, Vittorio

2014-01-01

Auditory brainstem implants (ABI) can provide useful auditory perception and language development in deaf children who are not able to use a cochlear implant (CI). We prospectively followed-up a consecutive group of 64 deaf children up to 12 years following ABI implantation. The etiology of deafness in these children was: cochlear nerve aplasia in 49, auditory neuropathy in 1, cochlear malformations in 8, bilateral cochlear post-meningitic ossification in 3, NF2 in 2, and bilateral cochlear fractures due to a head injury in 1. Thirty five children had other congenital non-auditory disabilities. Twenty two children had previous CIs with no benefit. Fifty eight children were fitted with the Cochlear 24 ABI device and six with the MedEl ABI device and all children followed the same rehabilitation program. Auditory perceptual abilities were evaluated on the Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP) scale. No child was lost to follow-up and there were no exclusions from the study. All children showed significant improvement in auditory perception with implant experience. Seven children (11%) were able to achieve the highest score on the CAP test; they were able to converse on the telephone within 3 years of implantation. Twenty children (31.3%) achieved open set speech recognition (CAP score of 5 or greater) and 30 (46.9%) achieved a CAP level of 4 or greater. Of the 29 children without non-auditory disabilities, 18 (62%) achieved a CAP score of 5 or greater with the ABI. All children showed continued improvements in auditory skills over time. The long-term results of ABI implantation reveal significant auditory benefit in most children, and open set auditory recognition in many. PMID:25377987

Brainstem processing following unilateral and bilateral hearing-aid amplification.

PubMed

Dawes, Piers; Munro, Kevin J; Kalluri, Sridhar; Edwards, Brent

2013-04-17

Following previous research suggesting hearing-aid experience may induce functional plasticity at the peripheral level of the auditory system, click-evoked auditory brainstem response was recorded at first fitting and 12 weeks after hearing-aid use by unilateral and bilateral hearing-aid users. A control group of experienced hearing-aid users was tested over a similar time scale. No significant alterations in auditory brainstem response latency or amplitude were identified in any group. This does not support the hypothesis of plastic changes in the peripheral auditory system induced by hearing-aid use for 12 weeks.

Linking prenatal experience to the emerging musical mind.

PubMed

Ullal-Gupta, Sangeeta; Vanden Bosch der Nederlanden, Christina M; Tichko, Parker; Lahav, Amir; Hannon, Erin E

2013-09-03

The musical brain is built over time through experience with a multitude of sounds in the auditory environment. However, learning the melodies, timbres, and rhythms unique to the music and language of one's culture begins already within the mother's womb during the third trimester of human development. We review evidence that the intrauterine auditory environment plays a key role in shaping later auditory development and musical preferences. We describe evidence that externally and internally generated sounds influence the developing fetus, and argue that such prenatal auditory experience may set the trajectory for the development of the musical mind.

The auditory comprehension changes over time after sport-related concussion can indicate multisensory processing dysfunctions.

PubMed

Białuńska, Anita; Salvatore, Anthony P

2017-12-01

Although science findings and treatment approaches of a concussion have changed in recent years, there continue to be challenges in understanding the nature of the post-concussion behavior. There is growing a body of evidence that some deficits can be related to an impaired auditory processing. To assess auditory comprehension changes over time following sport-related concussion (SRC) in young athletes. A prospective, repeated measures mixed-design was used. A sample of concussed athletes ( n  = 137) and the control group consisted of age-matched, non-concussed athletes ( n  = 143) were administered Subtest VIII of the Computerized-Revised Token Test (C-RTT). The 88 concussed athletes selected for final analysis (neither previous history of brain injury, neurological, psychiatric problems, nor auditory deficits) were evaluated after injury during three sessions (PC1, PC2, and PC3); controls were tested once. Between- and within-group comparisons using RMANOVA were performed on the C-RTT Efficiency Score (ES). ES of the SRC athletes group improved over consecutive testing sessions ( F  =   14.7, p  <   .001), while post-hoc analysis showed that PC1 results differed from PC2 and PC3 ( ts  ≥ 4.0, ps  < .001), but PC2 and PC3 C-RTT ES did not change statistically ( t  =   0.6, p =  .557). The SRC athletes demonstrated lower ES for all test session when compared to the control group ( ts  > 2.0, Ps <.01). Dysfunctional auditory comprehension performance following a concussion improved over time, but after the second testing session improved performance slowed, especially in terms of its timing. Yet, not only auditory processing but also sensorimotor integration and/or motor execution can be compromised after a concussion.

Auditory and Visual Differences in Time Perception? An Investigation from a Developmental Perspective with Neuropsychological Tests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zelanti, Pierre S.; Droit-Volet, Sylvie

2012-01-01

Adults and children (5- and 8-year-olds) performed a temporal bisection task with either auditory or visual signals and either a short (0.5-1.0s) or long (4.0-8.0s) duration range. Their working memory and attentional capacities were assessed by a series of neuropsychological tests administered in both the auditory and visual modalities. Results…

Elevated audiovisual temporal interaction in patients with migraine without aura

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Photophobia and phonophobia are the most prominent symptoms in patients with migraine without aura. Hypersensitivity to visual stimuli can lead to greater hypersensitivity to auditory stimuli, which suggests that the interaction between visual and auditory stimuli may play an important role in the pathogenesis of migraine. However, audiovisual temporal interactions in migraine have not been well studied. Therefore, our aim was to examine auditory and visual interactions in migraine. Methods In this study, visual, auditory, and audiovisual stimuli with different temporal intervals between the visual and auditory stimuli were randomly presented to the left or right hemispace. During this time, the participants were asked to respond promptly to target stimuli. We used cumulative distribution functions to analyze the response times as a measure of audiovisual integration. Results Our results showed that audiovisual integration was significantly elevated in the migraineurs compared with the normal controls (p < 0.05); however, audiovisual suppression was weaker in the migraineurs compared with the normal controls (p < 0.05). Conclusions Our findings further objectively support the notion that migraineurs without aura are hypersensitive to external visual and auditory stimuli. Our study offers a new quantitative and objective method to evaluate hypersensitivity to audio-visual stimuli in patients with migraine. PMID:24961903

Is sensorimotor BCI performance influenced differently by mono, stereo, or 3-D auditory feedback?

PubMed

McCreadie, Karl A; Coyle, Damien H; Prasad, Girijesh

2014-05-01

Imagination of movement can be used as a control method for a brain-computer interface (BCI) allowing communication for the physically impaired. Visual feedback within such a closed loop system excludes those with visual problems and hence there is a need for alternative sensory feedback pathways. In the context of substituting the visual channel for the auditory channel, this study aims to add to the limited evidence that it is possible to substitute visual feedback for its auditory equivalent and assess the impact this has on BCI performance. Secondly, the study aims to determine for the first time if the type of auditory feedback method influences motor imagery performance significantly. Auditory feedback is presented using a stepped approach of single (mono), double (stereo), and multiple (vector base amplitude panning as an audio game) loudspeaker arrangements. Visual feedback involves a ball-basket paradigm and a spaceship game. Each session consists of either auditory or visual feedback only with runs of each type of feedback presentation method applied in each session. Results from seven subjects across five sessions of each feedback type (visual, auditory) (10 sessions in total) show that auditory feedback is a suitable substitute for the visual equivalent and that there are no statistical differences in the type of auditory feedback presented across five sessions.

Prestimulus Network Integration of Auditory Cortex Predisposes Near-Threshold Perception Independently of Local Excitability

PubMed Central

Leske, Sabine; Ruhnau, Philipp; Frey, Julia; Lithari, Chrysa; Müller, Nadia; Hartmann, Thomas; Weisz, Nathan

2015-01-01

An ever-increasing number of studies are pointing to the importance of network properties of the brain for understanding behavior such as conscious perception. However, with regards to the influence of prestimulus brain states on perception, this network perspective has rarely been taken. Our recent framework predicts that brain regions crucial for a conscious percept are coupled prior to stimulus arrival, forming pre-established pathways of information flow and influencing perceptual awareness. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and graph theoretical measures, we investigated auditory conscious perception in a near-threshold (NT) task and found strong support for this framework. Relevant auditory regions showed an increased prestimulus interhemispheric connectivity. The left auditory cortex was characterized by a hub-like behavior and an enhanced integration into the brain functional network prior to perceptual awareness. Right auditory regions were decoupled from non-auditory regions, presumably forming an integrated information processing unit with the left auditory cortex. In addition, we show for the first time for the auditory modality that local excitability, measured by decreased alpha power in the auditory cortex, increases prior to conscious percepts. Importantly, we were able to show that connectivity states seem to be largely independent from local excitability states in the context of a NT paradigm. PMID:26408799

Timescale- and Sensory Modality-Dependency of the Central Tendency of Time Perception.

PubMed

Murai, Yuki; Yotsumoto, Yuko

2016-01-01

When individuals are asked to reproduce intervals of stimuli that are intermixedly presented at various times, longer intervals are often underestimated and shorter intervals overestimated. This phenomenon may be attributed to the central tendency of time perception, and suggests that our brain optimally encodes a stimulus interval based on current stimulus input and prior knowledge of the distribution of stimulus intervals. Two distinct systems are thought to be recruited in the perception of sub- and supra-second intervals. Sub-second timing is subject to local sensory processing, whereas supra-second timing depends on more centralized mechanisms. To clarify the factors that influence time perception, the present study investigated how both sensory modality and timescale affect the central tendency. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to reproduce sub- or supra-second intervals, defined by visual or auditory stimuli. In the sub-second range, the magnitude of the central tendency was significantly larger for visual intervals compared to auditory intervals, while visual and auditory intervals exhibited a correlated and comparable central tendency in the supra-second range. In Experiment 2, the ability to discriminate sub-second intervals in the reproduction task was controlled across modalities by using an interval discrimination task. Even when the ability to discriminate intervals was controlled, visual intervals exhibited a larger central tendency than auditory intervals in the sub-second range. In addition, the magnitude of the central tendency for visual and auditory sub-second intervals was significantly correlated. These results suggest that a common modality-independent mechanism is responsible for the supra-second central tendency, and that both the modality-dependent and modality-independent components of the timing system contribute to the central tendency in the sub-second range.

Temporal Information Processing as a Basis for Auditory Comprehension: Clinical Evidence from Aphasic Patients

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oron, Anna; Szymaszek, Aneta; Szelag, Elzbieta

2015-01-01

Background: Temporal information processing (TIP) underlies many aspects of cognitive functions like language, motor control, learning, memory, attention, etc. Millisecond timing may be assessed by sequencing abilities, e.g. the perception of event order. It may be measured with auditory temporal-order-threshold (TOT), i.e. a minimum time gap…

Auditory Imagery Shapes Movement Timing and Kinematics: Evidence from a Musical Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keller, Peter E.; Dalla Bella, Simone; Koch, Iring

2010-01-01

The role of anticipatory auditory imagery in music-like sequential action was investigated by examining timing accuracy and kinematics using a motion capture system. Musicians responded to metronomic pacing signals by producing three unpaced taps on three vertically aligned keys at the given tempo. Taps triggered tones in two out of three blocked…

The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) mediates anticipatory motor control.

PubMed

Krause, Vanessa; Weber, Juliane; Pollok, Bettina

2014-01-01

Flexible and precisely timed motor control is based on functional interaction within a cortico-subcortical network. The left posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is supposed to be crucial for anticipatory motor control by sensorimotor feedback matching. Intention of the present study was to disentangle the specific relevance of the left PPC for anticipatory motor control using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) since a causal link remains to be established. Anodal vs. cathodal tDCS was applied for 10 min over the left PPC in 16 right-handed subjects in separate sessions. Left primary motor cortex (M1) tDCS served as control condition and was applied in additional 15 subjects. Prior to and immediately after tDCS, subjects performed three tasks demanding temporal motor precision with respect to an auditory stimulus: sensorimotor synchronization as measure of anticipatory motor control, interval reproduction and simple reaction. Left PPC tDCS affected right hand synchronization but not simple reaction times. Motor anticipation was deteriorated by anodal tDCS, while cathodal tDCS yielded the reverse effect. The variability of interval reproduction was increased by anodal left M1 tDCS, whereas it was reduced by cathodal tDCS. No significant effects on simple reaction times were found. The present data support the hypothesis that left PPC is causally involved in right hand anticipatory motor control exceeding pure motor implementation as processed by M1 and possibly indicating subjective timing. Since M1 tDCS particularly affects motor implementation, the observed PPC effects are not likely to be explained by alterations of motor-cortical excitability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Induction of plasticity in the human motor cortex by pairing an auditory stimulus with TMS.

PubMed

Sowman, Paul F; Dueholm, Søren S; Rasmussen, Jesper H; Mrachacz-Kersting, Natalie

2014-01-01

Acoustic stimuli can cause a transient increase in the excitability of the motor cortex. The current study leverages this phenomenon to develop a method for testing the integrity of auditorimotor integration and the capacity for auditorimotor plasticity. We demonstrate that appropriately timed transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the hand area, paired with auditorily mediated excitation of the motor cortex, induces an enhancement of motor cortex excitability that lasts beyond the time of stimulation. This result demonstrates for the first time that paired associative stimulation (PAS)-induced plasticity within the motor cortex is applicable with auditory stimuli. We propose that the method developed here might provide a useful tool for future studies that measure auditory-motor connectivity in communication disorders.

Auditory brainstem response to complex sounds: a tutorial

PubMed Central

Skoe, Erika; Kraus, Nina

2010-01-01

This tutorial provides a comprehensive overview of the methodological approach to collecting and analyzing auditory brainstem responses to complex sounds (cABRs). cABRs provide a window into how behaviorally relevant sounds such as speech and music are processed in the brain. Because temporal and spectral characteristics of sounds are preserved in this subcortical response, cABRs can be used to assess specific impairments and enhancements in auditory processing. Notably, subcortical function is neither passive nor hardwired but dynamically interacts with higher-level cognitive processes to refine how sounds are transcribed into neural code. This experience-dependent plasticity, which can occur on a number of time scales (e.g., life-long experience with speech or music, short-term auditory training, online auditory processing), helps shape sensory perception. Thus, by being an objective and non-invasive means for examining cognitive function and experience-dependent processes in sensory activity, cABRs have considerable utility in the study of populations where auditory function is of interest (e.g., auditory experts such as musicians, persons with hearing loss, auditory processing and language disorders). This tutorial is intended for clinicians and researchers seeking to integrate cABRs into their clinical and/or research programs. PMID:20084007

Estimating the relative weights of visual and auditory tau versus heuristic-based cues for time-to-contact judgments in realistic, familiar scenes by older and younger adults.

PubMed

Keshavarz, Behrang; Campos, Jennifer L; DeLucia, Patricia R; Oberfeld, Daniel

2017-04-01

Estimating time to contact (TTC) involves multiple sensory systems, including vision and audition. Previous findings suggested that the ratio of an object's instantaneous optical size/sound intensity to its instantaneous rate of change in optical size/sound intensity (τ) drives TTC judgments. Other evidence has shown that heuristic-based cues are used, including final optical size or final sound pressure level. Most previous studies have used decontextualized and unfamiliar stimuli (e.g., geometric shapes on a blank background). Here we evaluated TTC estimates by using a traffic scene with an approaching vehicle to evaluate the weights of visual and auditory TTC cues under more realistic conditions. Younger (18-39 years) and older (65+ years) participants made TTC estimates in three sensory conditions: visual-only, auditory-only, and audio-visual. Stimuli were presented within an immersive virtual-reality environment, and cue weights were calculated for both visual cues (e.g., visual τ, final optical size) and auditory cues (e.g., auditory τ, final sound pressure level). The results demonstrated the use of visual τ as well as heuristic cues in the visual-only condition. TTC estimates in the auditory-only condition, however, were primarily based on an auditory heuristic cue (final sound pressure level), rather than on auditory τ. In the audio-visual condition, the visual cues dominated overall, with the highest weight being assigned to visual τ by younger adults, and a more equal weighting of visual τ and heuristic cues in older adults. Overall, better characterizing the effects of combined sensory inputs, stimulus characteristics, and age on the cues used to estimate TTC will provide important insights into how these factors may affect everyday behavior.

Entrainment to an auditory signal: Is attention involved?

PubMed

Kunert, Richard; Jongman, Suzanne R

2017-01-01

Many natural auditory signals, including music and language, change periodically. The effect of such auditory rhythms on the brain is unclear however. One widely held view, dynamic attending theory, proposes that the attentional system entrains to the rhythm and increases attention at moments of rhythmic salience. In support, 2 experiments reported here show reduced response times to visual letter strings shown at auditory rhythm peaks, compared with rhythm troughs. However, we argue that an account invoking the entrainment of general attention should further predict rhythm entrainment to also influence memory for visual stimuli. In 2 pseudoword memory experiments we find evidence against this prediction. Whether a pseudoword is shown during an auditory rhythm peak or not is irrelevant for its later recognition memory in silence. Other attention manipulations, dividing attention and focusing attention, did result in a memory effect. This raises doubts about the suggested attentional nature of rhythm entrainment. We interpret our findings as support for auditory rhythm perception being based on auditory-motor entrainment, not general attention entrainment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Musical Experience, Sensorineural Auditory Processing, and Reading Subskills in Adults

PubMed Central

Tichko, Parker; Skoe, Erika

2018-01-01

Developmental research suggests that sensorineural auditory processing, reading subskills (e.g., phonological awareness and rapid naming), and musical experience are related during early periods of reading development. Interestingly, recent work suggests that these relations may extend into adulthood, with indices of sensorineural auditory processing relating to global reading ability. However, it is largely unknown whether sensorineural auditory processing relates to specific reading subskills, such as phonological awareness and rapid naming, as well as musical experience in mature readers. To address this question, we recorded electrophysiological responses to a repeating click (auditory stimulus) in a sample of adult readers. We then investigated relations between electrophysiological responses to sound, reading subskills, and musical experience in this same set of adult readers. Analyses suggest that sensorineural auditory processing, reading subskills, and musical experience are related in adulthood, with faster neural conduction times and greater musical experience associated with stronger rapid-naming skills. These results are similar to the developmental findings that suggest reading subskills are related to sensorineural auditory processing and musical experience in children. PMID:29702572

Multisensory perceptual learning of temporal order: audiovisual learning transfers to vision but not audition.

PubMed

Alais, David; Cass, John

2010-06-23

An outstanding question in sensory neuroscience is whether the perceived timing of events is mediated by a central supra-modal timing mechanism, or multiple modality-specific systems. We use a perceptual learning paradigm to address this question. Three groups were trained daily for 10 sessions on an auditory, a visual or a combined audiovisual temporal order judgment (TOJ). Groups were pre-tested on a range TOJ tasks within and between their group modality prior to learning so that transfer of any learning from the trained task could be measured by post-testing other tasks. Robust TOJ learning (reduced temporal order discrimination thresholds) occurred for all groups, although auditory learning (dichotic 500/2000 Hz tones) was slightly weaker than visual learning (lateralised grating patches). Crossmodal TOJs also displayed robust learning. Post-testing revealed that improvements in temporal resolution acquired during visual learning transferred within modality to other retinotopic locations and orientations, but not to auditory or crossmodal tasks. Auditory learning did not transfer to visual or crossmodal tasks, and neither did it transfer within audition to another frequency pair. In an interesting asymmetry, crossmodal learning transferred to all visual tasks but not to auditory tasks. Finally, in all conditions, learning to make TOJs for stimulus onsets did not transfer at all to discriminating temporal offsets. These data present a complex picture of timing processes. The lack of transfer between unimodal groups indicates no central supramodal timing process for this task; however, the audiovisual-to-visual transfer cannot be explained without some form of sensory interaction. We propose that auditory learning occurred in frequency-tuned processes in the periphery, precluding interactions with more central visual and audiovisual timing processes. Functionally the patterns of featural transfer suggest that perceptual learning of temporal order may be optimised to object-centered rather than viewer-centered constraints.

Bimodal stimulus timing-dependent plasticity in primary auditory cortex is altered after noise exposure with and without tinnitus

PubMed Central

Koehler, Seth D.; Shore, Susan E.

2015-01-01

Central auditory circuits are influenced by the somatosensory system, a relationship that may underlie tinnitus generation. In the guinea pig dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN), pairing spinal trigeminal nucleus (Sp5) stimulation with tones at specific intervals and orders facilitated or suppressed subsequent tone-evoked neural responses, reflecting spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). Furthermore, after noise-induced tinnitus, bimodal responses in DCN were shifted from Hebbian to anti-Hebbian timing rules with less discrete temporal windows, suggesting a role for bimodal plasticity in tinnitus. Here, we aimed to determine if multisensory STDP principles like those in DCN also exist in primary auditory cortex (A1), and whether they change following noise-induced tinnitus. Tone-evoked and spontaneous neural responses were recorded before and 15 min after bimodal stimulation in which the intervals and orders of auditory-somatosensory stimuli were randomized. Tone-evoked and spontaneous firing rates were influenced by the interval and order of the bimodal stimuli, and in sham-controls Hebbian-like timing rules predominated as was seen in DCN. In noise-exposed animals with and without tinnitus, timing rules shifted away from those found in sham-controls to more anti-Hebbian rules. Only those animals with evidence of tinnitus showed increased spontaneous firing rates, a purported neurophysiological correlate of tinnitus in A1. Together, these findings suggest that bimodal plasticity is also evident in A1 following noise damage and may have implications for tinnitus generation and therapeutic intervention across the central auditory circuit. PMID:26289461

Demonstrating the Potential for Dynamic Auditory Stimulation to Contribute to Motion Sickness

PubMed Central

Keshavarz, Behrang; Hettinger, Lawrence J.; Kennedy, Robert S.; Campos, Jennifer L.

2014-01-01

Auditory cues can create the illusion of self-motion (vection) in the absence of visual or physical stimulation. The present study aimed to determine whether auditory cues alone can also elicit motion sickness and how auditory cues contribute to motion sickness when added to visual motion stimuli. Twenty participants were seated in front of a curved projection display and were exposed to a virtual scene that constantly rotated around the participant's vertical axis. The virtual scene contained either visual-only, auditory-only, or a combination of corresponding visual and auditory cues. All participants performed all three conditions in a counterbalanced order. Participants tilted their heads alternately towards the right or left shoulder in all conditions during stimulus exposure in order to create pseudo-Coriolis effects and to maximize the likelihood for motion sickness. Measurements of motion sickness (onset, severity), vection (latency, strength, duration), and postural steadiness (center of pressure) were recorded. Results showed that adding auditory cues to the visual stimuli did not, on average, affect motion sickness and postural steadiness, but it did reduce vection onset times and increased vection strength compared to pure visual or pure auditory stimulation. Eighteen of the 20 participants reported at least slight motion sickness in the two conditions including visual stimuli. More interestingly, six participants also reported slight motion sickness during pure auditory stimulation and two of the six participants stopped the pure auditory test session due to motion sickness. The present study is the first to demonstrate that motion sickness may be caused by pure auditory stimulation, which we refer to as “auditorily induced motion sickness”. PMID:24983752

Computational modeling of the human auditory periphery: Auditory-nerve responses, evoked potentials and hearing loss.

PubMed

Verhulst, Sarah; Altoè, Alessandro; Vasilkov, Viacheslav

2018-03-01

Models of the human auditory periphery range from very basic functional descriptions of auditory filtering to detailed computational models of cochlear mechanics, inner-hair cell (IHC), auditory-nerve (AN) and brainstem signal processing. It is challenging to include detailed physiological descriptions of cellular components into human auditory models because single-cell data stems from invasive animal recordings while human reference data only exists in the form of population responses (e.g., otoacoustic emissions, auditory evoked potentials). To embed physiological models within a comprehensive human auditory periphery framework, it is important to capitalize on the success of basic functional models of hearing and render their descriptions more biophysical where possible. At the same time, comprehensive models should capture a variety of key auditory features, rather than fitting their parameters to a single reference dataset. In this study, we review and improve existing models of the IHC-AN complex by updating their equations and expressing their fitting parameters into biophysical quantities. The quality of the model framework for human auditory processing is evaluated using recorded auditory brainstem response (ABR) and envelope-following response (EFR) reference data from normal and hearing-impaired listeners. We present a model with 12 fitting parameters from the cochlea to the brainstem that can be rendered hearing impaired to simulate how cochlear gain loss and synaptopathy affect human population responses. The model description forms a compromise between capturing well-described single-unit IHC and AN properties and human population response features. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of rhythmic auditory stimulation on gait kinematic parameters of patients with multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Shahraki, M; Sohrabi, M; Taheri Torbati, H R; Nikkhah, K; NaeimiKia, M

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the effect of rhythmic auditory stimulation on gait kinematic parameters of patients with multiple sclerosis. Subjects and Methods: In this study, 18 subjects, comprising 4 males and 14 females with Multiple Sclerosis with expanded disability status scale of 3 to 6 were chosen. Subjects were selected by available and targeted sampling and were randomly divided into two experimental (n = 9) and control (n = 9) groups. Exercises were gait with rhythmic auditory stimulation by a metronome device, in addition to gait without stimulation for the experimental and control groups, respectively. Training was carried out for 3 weeks, with 30 min duration for each session 3 times a week. Stride length, stride time, double support time, cadence and gait speed were measured by motion analysis device. Results: There was a significant difference between stride length, stride time, double support time, cadence and gait speed in the experimental group, before and after the training. Furthermore, there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the enhancement of stride length, stride time, cadence and gait speed in favor of the experimental group. While this difference was not significant for double support time. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that rhythmic auditory stimulation is an effective rehabilitation method to improve gait kinematic parameters in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Direct brain recordings reveal impaired neural function in infants with single-suture craniosynostosis: a future modality for guiding management?

PubMed

Hashim, Peter W; Brooks, Eric D; Persing, John A; Reuman, Hannah; Naples, Adam; Travieso, Roberto; Terner, Jordan; Steinbacher, Derek; Landi, Nicole; Mayes, Linda; McPartland, James C

2015-01-01

Patients with single-suture craniosynostosis (SSC) are at an elevated risk for long-term learning disabilities. Such adverse outcomes indicate that the early development of neural processing in SSC may be abnormal. At present, however, the precise functional derangements of the developing brain remain largely unknown. Event-related potentials (ERPs) are a form of noninvasive neuroimaging that provide direct measurements of cortical activity and have shown value in predicting long-term cognitive functioning. The current study used ERPs to examine auditory processing in infants with SSC to help clarify the developmental onset of delays in this population. Fifteen infants with untreated SSC and 23 typically developing controls were evaluated. ERPs were recorded during the presentation of speech sounds. Analyses focused on the P150 and N450 components of auditory processing. Infants with SSC demonstrated attenuated P150 amplitudes relative to typically developing controls. No differences in the N450 component were identified between untreated SSC and controls. Infants with untreated SSC demonstrate abnormal speech sound processing. Atypicalities are detectable as early as 6 months of age and may represent precursors to long-term language delay. Electrophysiological assessments provide a precise examination of neural processing in SSC and hold potential as a future modality to examine the effects of surgical treatment on brain development.

Auditory Temporal Structure Processing in Dyslexia: Processing of Prosodic Phrase Boundaries Is Not Impaired in Children with Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geiser, Eveline; Kjelgaard, Margaret; Christodoulou, Joanna A.; Cyr, Abigail; Gabrieli, John D. E.

2014-01-01

Reading disability in children with dyslexia has been proposed to reflect impairment in auditory timing perception. We investigated one aspect of timing perception--"temporal grouping"--as present in prosodic phrase boundaries of natural speech, in age-matched groups of children, ages 6-8 years, with and without dyslexia. Prosodic phrase…

Auditory Neuroscience: Temporal Anticipation Enhances Cortical Processing

PubMed Central

Walker, Kerry M. M.; King, Andrew J.

2015-01-01

Summary A recent study shows that expectation about the timing of behaviorally-relevant sounds enhances the responses of neurons in the primary auditory cortex and improves the accuracy and speed with which animals respond to those sounds. PMID:21481759

FMRI investigation of cross-modal interactions in beat perception: Audition primes vision, but not vice versa

PubMed Central

Grahn, Jessica A.; Henry, Molly J.; McAuley, J. Devin

2011-01-01

How we measure time and integrate temporal cues from different sensory modalities are fundamental questions in neuroscience. Sensitivity to a “beat” (such as that routinely perceived in music) differs substantially between auditory and visual modalities. Here we examined beat sensitivity in each modality, and examined cross-modal influences, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to characterize brain activity during perception of auditory and visual rhythms. In separate fMRI sessions, participants listened to auditory sequences or watched visual sequences. The order of auditory and visual sequence presentation was counterbalanced so that cross-modal order effects could be investigated. Participants judged whether sequences were speeding up or slowing down, and the pattern of tempo judgments was used to derive a measure of sensitivity to an implied beat. As expected, participants were less sensitive to an implied beat in visual sequences than in auditory sequences. However, visual sequences produced a stronger sense of beat when preceded by auditory sequences with identical temporal structure. Moreover, increases in brain activity were observed in the bilateral putamen for visual sequences preceded by auditory sequences when compared to visual sequences without prior auditory exposure. No such order-dependent differences (behavioral or neural) were found for the auditory sequences. The results provide further evidence for the role of the basal ganglia in internal generation of the beat and suggest that an internal auditory rhythm representation may be activated during visual rhythm perception. PMID:20858544

DHA- Rich Fish Oil Improves Complex Reaction Time in Female Elite Soccer Players

PubMed Central

Guzmán, José F.; Esteve, Hector; Pablos, Carlos; Pablos, Ana; Blasco, Cristina; Villegas, José A.

2011-01-01

Omega-3 fatty acids (n-3) has shown to improve neuromotor function. This study examined the effects of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on complex reaction time, precision and efficiency, in female elite soccer players. 24 players from two Spanish female soccer Super League teams were randomly selected and assigned to two experimental groups, then administered, in a double-blind manner, 3.5 g·day-1 of either DHA-rich fish oil (FO =12) or olive oil (OO = 12) over 4 weeks of training. Two measurements (pre- and post-treatment) of complex reaction time and precision were taken. Participants had to press different buttons and pedals with left and right hands and feet, or stop responding, according to visual and auditory stimuli. Multivariate analysis of variance displayed an interaction between supplement administration (pre/post) and experimental group (FO/OO) on complex reaction time (FO pre = 0.713 ± 0.142 ms, FO post = 0.623 ± 0.109 ms, OO pre = 0.682 ± 1.132 ms, OO post = 0.715 ± 0.159 ms; p = 0.004) and efficiency (FO pre = 40.88 ± 17.41, FO post = 57.12 ± 11.05, OO pre = 49.52 ± 14.63, OO post = 49. 50 ± 11.01; p = 0.003). It was concluded that after 4 weeks of supplementation with FO, there was a significant improvement in the neuromotor function of female elite soccer players. Key points The results obtained from the study suggest that supplementation with DHA produced perceptual-motor benefits in female elite athletes. DHA could be a beneficial supplement in sports where decision making and reaction time efficiency are of importance. PMID:24149875

Impaired movement timing in neurological disorders: rehabilitation and treatment strategies.

PubMed

Hove, Michael J; Keller, Peter E

2015-03-01

Timing abnormalities have been reported in many neurological disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD). In PD, motor-timing impairments are especially debilitating in gait. Despite impaired audiomotor synchronization, PD patients' gait improves when they walk with an auditory metronome or with music. Building on that research, we make recommendations for optimizing sensory cues to improve the efficacy of rhythmic cuing in gait rehabilitation. Adaptive rhythmic metronomes (that synchronize with the patient's walking) might be especially effective. In a recent study we showed that adaptive metronomes synchronized consistently with PD patients' footsteps without requiring attention; this improved stability and reinstated healthy gait dynamics. Other strategies could help optimize sensory cues for gait rehabilitation. Groove music strongly engages the motor system and induces movement; bass-frequency tones are associated with movement and provide strong timing cues. Thus, groove and bass-frequency pulses could deliver potent rhythmic cues. These strategies capitalize on the close neural connections between auditory and motor networks; and auditory cues are typically preferred. However, moving visual cues greatly improve visuomotor synchronization and could warrant examination in gait rehabilitation. Together, a treatment approach that employs groove, auditory, bass-frequency, and adaptive (GABA) cues could help optimize rhythmic sensory cues for treating motor and timing deficits. © 2014 New York Academy of Sciences.

An initial investigation into the validity of a computer-based auditory processing assessment (Feather Squadron).

PubMed

Barker, Matthew D; Purdy, Suzanne C

2016-01-01

This research investigates a novel method for identifying and measuring school-aged children with poor auditory processing through a tablet computer. Feasibility and test-retest reliability are investigated by examining the percentage of Group 1 participants able to complete the tasks and developmental effects on performance. Concurrent validity was investigated against traditional tests of auditory processing using Group 2. There were 847 students aged 5 to 13 years in group 1, and 46 aged 5 to 14 years in group 2. Some tasks could not be completed by the youngest participants. Significant correlations were found between results of most auditory processing areas assessed by the Feather Squadron test and traditional auditory processing tests. Test-retest comparisons indicated good reliability for most of the Feather Squadron assessments and some of the traditional tests. The results indicate the Feather Squadron assessment is a time-efficient, feasible, concurrently valid, and reliable approach for measuring auditory processing in school-aged children. Clinically, this may be a useful option for audiologists when performing auditory processing assessments as it is a relatively fast, engaging, and easy way to assess auditory processing abilities. Research is needed to investigate further the construct validity of this new assessment by examining the association between performance on Feather Squadron and objective evoked potential, lesion studies, and/or functional imaging measures of auditory function.

Similar prevalence and magnitude of auditory-evoked and visually evoked activity in the frontal eye fields: implications for multisensory motor control.

PubMed

Caruso, Valeria C; Pages, Daniel S; Sommer, Marc A; Groh, Jennifer M

2016-06-01

Saccadic eye movements can be elicited by more than one type of sensory stimulus. This implies substantial transformations of signals originating in different sense organs as they reach a common motor output pathway. In this study, we compared the prevalence and magnitude of auditory- and visually evoked activity in a structure implicated in oculomotor processing, the primate frontal eye fields (FEF). We recorded from 324 single neurons while 2 monkeys performed delayed saccades to visual or auditory targets. We found that 64% of FEF neurons were active on presentation of auditory targets and 87% were active during auditory-guided saccades, compared with 75 and 84% for visual targets and saccades. As saccade onset approached, the average level of population activity in the FEF became indistinguishable on visual and auditory trials. FEF activity was better correlated with the movement vector than with the target location for both modalities. In summary, the large proportion of auditory-responsive neurons in the FEF, the similarity between visual and auditory activity levels at the time of the saccade, and the strong correlation between the activity and the saccade vector suggest that auditory signals undergo tailoring to match roughly the strength of visual signals present in the FEF, facilitating accessing of a common motor output pathway. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

Selective and Efficient Neural Coding of Communication Signals Depends on Early Acoustic and Social Environment

PubMed Central

Amin, Noopur; Gastpar, Michael; Theunissen, Frédéric E.

2013-01-01

Previous research has shown that postnatal exposure to simple, synthetic sounds can affect the sound representation in the auditory cortex as reflected by changes in the tonotopic map or other relatively simple tuning properties, such as AM tuning. However, their functional implications for neural processing in the generation of ethologically-based perception remain unexplored. Here we examined the effects of noise-rearing and social isolation on the neural processing of communication sounds such as species-specific song, in the primary auditory cortex analog of adult zebra finches. Our electrophysiological recordings reveal that neural tuning to simple frequency-based synthetic sounds is initially established in all the laminae independent of patterned acoustic experience; however, we provide the first evidence that early exposure to patterned sound statistics, such as those found in native sounds, is required for the subsequent emergence of neural selectivity for complex vocalizations and for shaping neural spiking precision in superficial and deep cortical laminae, and for creating efficient neural representations of song and a less redundant ensemble code in all the laminae. Our study also provides the first causal evidence for ‘sparse coding’, such that when the statistics of the stimuli were changed during rearing, as in noise-rearing, that the sparse or optimal representation for species-specific vocalizations disappeared. Taken together, these results imply that a layer-specific differential development of the auditory cortex requires patterned acoustic input, and a specialized and robust sensory representation of complex communication sounds in the auditory cortex requires a rich acoustic and social environment. PMID:23630587

Neural dynamics underlying attentional orienting to auditory representations in short-term memory.

PubMed

Backer, Kristina C; Binns, Malcolm A; Alain, Claude

2015-01-21

Sounds are ephemeral. Thus, coherent auditory perception depends on "hearing" back in time: retrospectively attending that which was lost externally but preserved in short-term memory (STM). Current theories of auditory attention assume that sound features are integrated into a perceptual object, that multiple objects can coexist in STM, and that attention can be deployed to an object in STM. Recording electroencephalography from humans, we tested these assumptions, elucidating feature-general and feature-specific neural correlates of auditory attention to STM. Alpha/beta oscillations and frontal and posterior event-related potentials indexed feature-general top-down attentional control to one of several coexisting auditory representations in STM. Particularly, task performance during attentional orienting was correlated with alpha/low-beta desynchronization (i.e., power suppression). However, attention to one feature could occur without simultaneous processing of the second feature of the representation. Therefore, auditory attention to memory relies on both feature-specific and feature-general neural dynamics. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/351307-12$15.00/0.

Reliance on auditory feedback in children with childhood apraxia of speech.

PubMed

Iuzzini-Seigel, Jenya; Hogan, Tiffany P; Guarino, Anthony J; Green, Jordan R

2015-01-01

Children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) have been hypothesized to continuously monitor their speech through auditory feedback to minimize speech errors. We used an auditory masking paradigm to determine the effect of attenuating auditory feedback on speech in 30 children: 9 with CAS, 10 with speech delay, and 11 with typical development. The masking only affected the speech of children with CAS as measured by voice onset time and vowel space area. These findings provide preliminary support for greater reliance on auditory feedback among children with CAS. Readers of this article should be able to (i) describe the motivation for investigating the role of auditory feedback in children with CAS; (ii) report the effects of feedback attenuation on speech production in children with CAS, speech delay, and typical development, and (iii) understand how the current findings may support a feedforward program deficit in children with CAS. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How do auditory cortex neurons represent communication sounds?

PubMed

Gaucher, Quentin; Huetz, Chloé; Gourévitch, Boris; Laudanski, Jonathan; Occelli, Florian; Edeline, Jean-Marc

2013-11-01

A major goal in auditory neuroscience is to characterize how communication sounds are represented at the cortical level. The present review aims at investigating the role of auditory cortex in the processing of speech, bird songs and other vocalizations, which all are spectrally and temporally highly structured sounds. Whereas earlier studies have simply looked for neurons exhibiting higher firing rates to particular conspecific vocalizations over their modified, artificially synthesized versions, more recent studies determined the coding capacity of temporal spike patterns, which are prominent in primary and non-primary areas (and also in non-auditory cortical areas). In several cases, this information seems to be correlated with the behavioral performance of human or animal subjects, suggesting that spike-timing based coding strategies might set the foundations of our perceptive abilities. Also, it is now clear that the responses of auditory cortex neurons are highly nonlinear and that their responses to natural stimuli cannot be predicted from their responses to artificial stimuli such as moving ripples and broadband noises. Since auditory cortex neurons cannot follow rapid fluctuations of the vocalizations envelope, they only respond at specific time points during communication sounds, which can serve as temporal markers for integrating the temporal and spectral processing taking place at subcortical relays. Thus, the temporal sparse code of auditory cortex neurons can be considered as a first step for generating high level representations of communication sounds independent of the acoustic characteristic of these sounds. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Communication Sounds and the Brain: New Directions and Perspectives". Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Engagement with the auditory processing system during targeted auditory cognitive training mediates changes in cognitive outcomes in individuals with schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Biagianti, Bruno; Fisher, Melissa; Neilands, Torsten B.; Loewy, Rachel; Vinogradov, Sophia

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND Individuals with schizophrenia who engage in targeted cognitive training (TCT) of the auditory system show generalized cognitive improvements. The high degree of variability in cognitive gains maybe due to individual differences in the level of engagement of the underlying neural system target. METHODS 131 individuals with schizophrenia underwent 40 hours of TCT. We identified target engagement of auditory system processing efficiency by modeling subject-specific trajectories of auditory processing speed (APS) over time. Lowess analysis, mixed models repeated measures analysis, and latent growth curve modeling were used to examine whether APS trajectories were moderated by age and illness duration, and mediated improvements in cognitive outcome measures. RESULTS We observed signifcant improvements in APS from baseline to 20 hours of training (initial change), followed by a flat APS trajectory (plateau) at subsequent time-points. Participants showed inter-individual variability in the steepness of the initial APS change and in the APS plateau achieved and sustained between 20–40 hours. We found that participants who achieved the fastest APS plateau, showed the greatest transfer effects to untrained cognitive domains. CONCLUSIONS There is a significant association between an individual's ability to generate and sustain auditory processing efficiency and their degree of cognitive improvement after TCT, independent of baseline neurocognition. APS plateau may therefore represent a behavioral measure of target engagement mediating treatment response. Future studies should examine the optimal plateau of auditory processing efficiency required to induce significant cognitive improvements, in the context of inter-individual differences in neural plasticity and sensory system efficiency that characterize schizophrenia. PMID:27617637

I can see what you are saying: Auditory labels reduce visual search times.

PubMed

Cho, Kit W

2016-10-01

The present study explored the self-directed-speech effect, the finding that relative to silent reading of a label (e.g., DOG), saying it aloud reduces visual search reaction times (RTs) for locating a target picture among distractors. Experiment 1 examined whether this effect is due to a confound in the differences in the number of cues in self-directed speech (two) vs. silent reading (one) and tested whether self-articulation is required for the effect. The results showed that self-articulation is not required and that merely hearing the auditory label reduces visual search RTs relative to silent reading. This finding also rules out the number of cues confound. Experiment 2 examined whether hearing an auditory label activates more prototypical features of the label's referent and whether the auditory-label benefit is moderated by the target's imagery concordance (the degree to which the target picture matches the mental picture that is activated by a written label for the target). When the target imagery concordance was high, RTs following the presentation of a high prototypicality picture or auditory cue were comparable and shorter than RTs following a visual label or low prototypicality picture cue. However, when the target imagery concordance was low, RTs following an auditory cue were shorter than the comparable RTs following the picture cues and visual-label cue. The results suggest that an auditory label activates both prototypical and atypical features of a concept and can facilitate visual search RTs even when compared to picture primes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multimodal lexical processing in auditory cortex is literacy skill dependent.

PubMed

McNorgan, Chris; Awati, Neha; Desroches, Amy S; Booth, James R

2014-09-01

Literacy is a uniquely human cross-modal cognitive process wherein visual orthographic representations become associated with auditory phonological representations through experience. Developmental studies provide insight into how experience-dependent changes in brain organization influence phonological processing as a function of literacy. Previous investigations show a synchrony-dependent influence of letter presentation on individual phoneme processing in superior temporal sulcus; others demonstrate recruitment of primary and associative auditory cortex during cross-modal processing. We sought to determine whether brain regions supporting phonological processing of larger lexical units (monosyllabic words) over larger time windows is sensitive to cross-modal information, and whether such effects are literacy dependent. Twenty-two children (age 8-14 years) made rhyming judgments for sequentially presented word and pseudoword pairs presented either unimodally (auditory- or visual-only) or cross-modally (audiovisual). Regression analyses examined the relationship between literacy and congruency effects (overlapping orthography and phonology vs. overlapping phonology-only). We extend previous findings by showing that higher literacy is correlated with greater congruency effects in auditory cortex (i.e., planum temporale) only for cross-modal processing. These skill effects were specific to known words and occurred over a large time window, suggesting that multimodal integration in posterior auditory cortex is critical for fluent reading. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Development of N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Subunits in Avian Auditory Brainstem

PubMed Central

TANG, YE-ZHONG; CARR, CATHERINE E.

2012-01-01

N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunit-specific probes were used to characterize developmental changes in the distribution of excitatory amino acid receptors in the chicken’s auditory brainstem nuclei. Although NR1 subunit expression does not change greatly during the development of the cochlear nuclei in the chicken (Tang and Carr [2004] Hear. Res 191:79 – 89), there are significant developmental changes in NR2 subunit expression. We used in situ hybridization against NR1, NR2A, NR2B, NR2C, and NR2D to compare NR1 and NR2 expression during development. All five NMDA subunits were expressed in the auditory brainstem before embryonic day (E) 10, when electrical activity and synaptic responses appear in the nucleus magnocellularis (NM) and the nucleus laminaris (NL). At this time, the dominant form of the receptor appeared to contain NR1 and NR2B. NR2A appeared to replace NR2B by E14, a time that coincides with synaptic refinement and evoked auditory responses. NR2C did not change greatly during auditory development, whereas NR2D increased from E10 and remained at fairly high levels into adulthood. Thus changes in NMDA NR2 receptor subunits may contribute to the development of auditory brainstem responses in the chick. PMID:17366608

Dynamic Correlations between Intrinsic Connectivity and Extrinsic Connectivity of the Auditory Cortex in Humans.

PubMed

Cui, Zhuang; Wang, Qian; Gao, Yayue; Wang, Jing; Wang, Mengyang; Teng, Pengfei; Guan, Yuguang; Zhou, Jian; Li, Tianfu; Luan, Guoming; Li, Liang

2017-01-01

The arrival of sound signals in the auditory cortex (AC) triggers both local and inter-regional signal propagations over time up to hundreds of milliseconds and builds up both intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) and extrinsic functional connectivity (eFC) of the AC. However, interactions between iFC and eFC are largely unknown. Using intracranial stereo-electroencephalographic recordings in people with drug-refractory epilepsy, this study mainly investigated the temporal dynamic of the relationships between iFC and eFC of the AC. The results showed that a Gaussian wideband-noise burst markedly elicited potentials in both the AC and numerous higher-order cortical regions outside the AC (non-auditory cortices). Granger causality analyses revealed that in the earlier time window, iFC of the AC was positively correlated with both eFC from the AC to the inferior temporal gyrus and that to the inferior parietal lobule. While in later periods, the iFC of the AC was positively correlated with eFC from the precentral gyrus to the AC and that from the insula to the AC. In conclusion, dual-directional interactions occur between iFC and eFC of the AC at different time windows following the sound stimulation and may form the foundation underlying various central auditory processes, including auditory sensory memory, object formation, integrations between sensory, perceptional, attentional, motor, emotional, and executive processes.

Babies in traffic: infant vocalizations and listener sex modulate auditory motion perception.

PubMed

Neuhoff, John G; Hamilton, Grace R; Gittleson, Amanda L; Mejia, Adolfo

2014-04-01

Infant vocalizations and "looming sounds" are classes of environmental stimuli that are critically important to survival but can have dramatically different emotional valences. Here, we simultaneously presented listeners with a stationary infant vocalization and a 3D virtual looming tone for which listeners made auditory time-to-arrival judgments. Negatively valenced infant cries produced more cautious (anticipatory) estimates of auditory arrival time of the tone over a no-vocalization control. Positively valenced laughs had the opposite effect, and across all conditions, men showed smaller anticipatory biases than women. In Experiment 2, vocalization-matched vocoded noise stimuli did not influence concurrent auditory time-to-arrival estimates compared with a control condition. In Experiment 3, listeners estimated the egocentric distance of a looming tone that stopped before arriving. For distant stopping points, women estimated the stopping point as closer when the tone was presented with an infant cry than when it was presented with a laugh. For near stopping points, women showed no differential effect of vocalization type. Men did not show differential effects of vocalization type at either distance. Our results support the idea that both the sex of the listener and the emotional valence of infant vocalizations can influence auditory motion perception and can modulate motor responses to other behaviorally relevant environmental sounds. We also find support for previous work that shows sex differences in emotion processing are diminished under conditions of higher stress.

Short-term memory stores organized by information domain.

PubMed

Noyce, Abigail L; Cestero, Nishmar; Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G; Somers, David C

2016-04-01

Vision and audition have complementary affinities, with vision excelling in spatial resolution and audition excelling in temporal resolution. Here, we investigated the relationships among the visual and auditory modalities and spatial and temporal short-term memory (STM) using change detection tasks. We created short sequences of visual or auditory items, such that each item within a sequence arose at a unique spatial location at a unique time. On each trial, two successive sequences were presented; subjects attended to either space (the sequence of locations) or time (the sequence of inter item intervals) and reported whether the patterns of locations or intervals were identical. Each subject completed blocks of unimodal trials (both sequences presented in the same modality) and crossmodal trials (Sequence 1 visual, Sequence 2 auditory, or vice versa) for both spatial and temporal tasks. We found a strong interaction between modality and task: Spatial performance was best on unimodal visual trials, whereas temporal performance was best on unimodal auditory trials. The order of modalities on crossmodal trials also mattered, suggesting that perceptual fidelity at encoding is critical to STM. Critically, no cost was attributable to crossmodal comparison: In both tasks, performance on crossmodal trials was as good as or better than on the weaker unimodal trials. STM representations of space and time can guide change detection in either the visual or the auditory modality, suggesting that the temporal or spatial organization of STM may supersede sensory-specific organization.

Auditory Perceptual Abilities Are Associated with Specific Auditory Experience

PubMed Central

Zaltz, Yael; Globerson, Eitan; Amir, Noam

2017-01-01

The extent to which auditory experience can shape general auditory perceptual abilities is still under constant debate. Some studies show that specific auditory expertise may have a general effect on auditory perceptual abilities, while others show a more limited influence, exhibited only in a relatively narrow range associated with the area of expertise. The current study addresses this issue by examining experience-dependent enhancement in perceptual abilities in the auditory domain. Three experiments were performed. In the first experiment, 12 pop and rock musicians and 15 non-musicians were tested in frequency discrimination (DLF), intensity discrimination, spectrum discrimination (DLS), and time discrimination (DLT). Results showed significant superiority of the musician group only for the DLF and DLT tasks, illuminating enhanced perceptual skills in the key features of pop music, in which miniscule changes in amplitude and spectrum are not critical to performance. The next two experiments attempted to differentiate between generalization and specificity in the influence of auditory experience, by comparing subgroups of specialists. First, seven guitar players and eight percussionists were tested in the DLF and DLT tasks that were found superior for musicians. Results showed superior abilities on the DLF task for guitar players, though no difference between the groups in DLT, demonstrating some dependency of auditory learning on the specific area of expertise. Subsequently, a third experiment was conducted, testing a possible influence of vowel density in native language on auditory perceptual abilities. Ten native speakers of German (a language characterized by a dense vowel system of 14 vowels), and 10 native speakers of Hebrew (characterized by a sparse vowel system of five vowels), were tested in a formant discrimination task. This is the linguistic equivalent of a DLS task. Results showed that German speakers had superior formant discrimination, demonstrating highly specific effects for auditory linguistic experience as well. Overall, results suggest that auditory superiority is associated with the specific auditory exposure. PMID:29238318

Absence of both auditory evoked potentials and auditory percepts dependent on timing cues.

PubMed

Starr, A; McPherson, D; Patterson, J; Don, M; Luxford, W; Shannon, R; Sininger, Y; Tonakawa, L; Waring, M

1991-06-01

An 11-yr-old girl had an absence of sensory components of auditory evoked potentials (brainstem, middle and long-latency) to click and tone burst stimuli that she could clearly hear. Psychoacoustic tests revealed a marked impairment of those auditory perceptions dependent on temporal cues, that is, lateralization of binaural clicks, change of binaural masked threshold with changes in signal phase, binaural beats, detection of paired monaural clicks, monaural detection of a silent gap in a sound, and monaural threshold elevation for short duration tones. In contrast, auditory functions reflecting intensity or frequency discriminations (difference limens) were only minimally impaired. Pure tone audiometry showed a moderate (50 dB) bilateral hearing loss with a disproportionate severe loss of word intelligibility. Those auditory evoked potentials that were preserved included (1) cochlear microphonics reflecting hair cell activity; (2) cortical sustained potentials reflecting processing of slowly changing signals; and (3) long-latency cognitive components (P300, processing negativity) reflecting endogenous auditory cognitive processes. Both the evoked potential and perceptual deficits are attributed to changes in temporal encoding of acoustic signals perhaps occurring at the synapse between hair cell and eighth nerve dendrites. The results from this patient are discussed in relation to previously published cases with absent auditory evoked potentials and preserved hearing.

The Role of Musical Experience in Hemispheric Lateralization of Global and Local Auditory Processing.

PubMed

Black, Emily; Stevenson, Jennifer L; Bish, Joel P

2017-08-01

The global precedence effect is a phenomenon in which global aspects of visual and auditory stimuli are processed before local aspects. Individuals with musical experience perform better on all aspects of auditory tasks compared with individuals with less musical experience. The hemispheric lateralization of this auditory processing is less well-defined. The present study aimed to replicate the global precedence effect with auditory stimuli and to explore the lateralization of global and local auditory processing in individuals with differing levels of musical experience. A total of 38 college students completed an auditory-directed attention task while electroencephalography was recorded. Individuals with low musical experience responded significantly faster and more accurately in global trials than in local trials regardless of condition, and significantly faster and more accurately when pitches traveled in the same direction (compatible condition) than when pitches traveled in two different directions (incompatible condition) consistent with a global precedence effect. In contrast, individuals with high musical experience showed less of a global precedence effect with regards to accuracy, but not in terms of reaction time, suggesting an increased ability to overcome global bias. Further, a difference in P300 latency between hemispheres was observed. These findings provide a preliminary neurological framework for auditory processing of individuals with differing degrees of musical experience.

Neurophysiological evidence of efference copies to inner speech

PubMed Central

Jack, Bradley N; Pearson, Daniel; Griffiths, Oren; Luque, David; Harris, Anthony WF; Spencer, Kevin M; Le Pelley, Mike E

2017-01-01

Efference copies refer to internal duplicates of movement-producing neural signals. Their primary function is to predict, and often suppress, the sensory consequences of willed movements. Efference copies have been almost exclusively investigated in the context of overt movements. The current electrophysiological study employed a novel design to show that inner speech – the silent production of words in one’s mind – is also associated with an efference copy. Participants produced an inner phoneme at a precisely specified time, at which an audible phoneme was concurrently presented. The production of the inner phoneme resulted in electrophysiological suppression, but only if the content of the inner phoneme matched the content of the audible phoneme. These results demonstrate that inner speech – a purely mental action – is associated with an efference copy with detailed auditory properties. These findings suggest that inner speech may ultimately reflect a special type of overt speech. PMID:29199947

Fitting neuron models to spike trains.

PubMed

Rossant, Cyrille; Goodman, Dan F M; Fontaine, Bertrand; Platkiewicz, Jonathan; Magnusson, Anna K; Brette, Romain

2011-01-01

Computational modeling is increasingly used to understand the function of neural circuits in systems neuroscience. These studies require models of individual neurons with realistic input-output properties. Recently, it was found that spiking models can accurately predict the precisely timed spike trains produced by cortical neurons in response to somatically injected currents, if properly fitted. This requires fitting techniques that are efficient and flexible enough to easily test different candidate models. We present a generic solution, based on the Brian simulator (a neural network simulator in Python), which allows the user to define and fit arbitrary neuron models to electrophysiological recordings. It relies on vectorization and parallel computing techniques to achieve efficiency. We demonstrate its use on neural recordings in the barrel cortex and in the auditory brainstem, and confirm that simple adaptive spiking models can accurately predict the response of cortical neurons. Finally, we show how a complex multicompartmental model can be reduced to a simple effective spiking model.

Vocalization frequency and duration are coded in separate hindbrain nuclei.

PubMed

Chagnaud, Boris P; Baker, Robert; Bass, Andrew H

2011-06-14

Temporal patterning is an essential feature of neural networks producing precisely timed behaviours such as vocalizations that are widely used in vertebrate social communication. Here we show that intrinsic and network properties of separate hindbrain neuronal populations encode the natural call attributes of frequency and duration in vocal fish. Intracellular structure/function analyses indicate that call duration is encoded by a sustained membrane depolarization in vocal prepacemaker neurons that innervate downstream pacemaker neurons. Pacemaker neurons, in turn, encode call frequency by rhythmic, ultrafast oscillations in their membrane potential. Pharmacological manipulations show prepacemaker activity to be independent of pacemaker function, thus accounting for natural variation in duration which is the predominant feature distinguishing call types. Prepacemaker neurons also innervate key hindbrain auditory nuclei thereby effectively serving as a call-duration corollary discharge. We propose that premotor compartmentalization of neurons coding distinct acoustic attributes is a fundamental trait of hindbrain vocal pattern generators among vertebrates.

Vocalization frequency and duration are coded in separate hindbrain nuclei

PubMed Central

Chagnaud, Boris P.; Baker, Robert; Bass, Andrew H.

2011-01-01

Temporal patterning is an essential feature of neural networks producing precisely timed behaviours such as vocalizations that are widely used in vertebrate social communication. Here we show that intrinsic and network properties of separate hindbrain neuronal populations encode the natural call attributes of frequency and duration in vocal fish. Intracellular structure/function analyses indicate that call duration is encoded by a sustained membrane depolarization in vocal prepacemaker neurons that innervate downstream pacemaker neurons. Pacemaker neurons, in turn, encode call frequency by rhythmic, ultrafast oscillations in their membrane potential. Pharmacological manipulations show prepacemaker activity to be independent of pacemaker function, thus accounting for natural variation in duration which is the predominant feature distinguishing call types. Prepacemaker neurons also innervate key hindbrain auditory nuclei thereby effectively serving as a call-duration corollary discharge. We propose that premotor compartmentalization of neurons coding distinct acoustic attributes is a fundamental trait of hindbrain vocal pattern generators among vertebrates. PMID:21673667

Mosaic evolution of the mammalian auditory periphery.

PubMed

Manley, Geoffrey A

2013-01-01

The classical mammalian auditory periphery, i.e., the type of middle ear and coiled cochlea seen in modern therian mammals, did not arise as one unit and did not arise in all mammals. It is also not the only kind of auditory periphery seen in modern mammals. This short review discusses the fact that the constituents of modern mammalian auditory peripheries arose at different times over an extremely long period of evolution (230 million years; Ma). It also attempts to answer questions as to the selective pressures that led to three-ossicle middle ears and the coiled cochlea. Mammalian middle ears arose de novo, without an intermediate, single-ossicle stage. This event was the result of changes in eating habits of ancestral animals, habits that were unrelated to hearing. The coiled cochlea arose only after 60 Ma of mammalian evolution, driven at least partly by a change in cochlear bone structure that improved impedance matching with the middle ear of that time. This change only occurred in the ancestors of therian mammals and not in other mammalian lineages. There is no single constellation of structural features of the auditory periphery that characterizes all mammals and not even all modern mammals.

Impaired Feedforward Control and Enhanced Feedback Control of Speech in Patients with Cerebellar Degeneration

PubMed Central

Agnew, Zarinah; Nagarajan, Srikantan; Houde, John; Ivry, Richard B.

2017-01-01

The cerebellum has been hypothesized to form a crucial part of the speech motor control network. Evidence for this comes from patients with cerebellar damage, who exhibit a variety of speech deficits, as well as imaging studies showing cerebellar activation during speech production in healthy individuals. To date, the precise role of the cerebellum in speech motor control remains unclear, as it has been implicated in both anticipatory (feedforward) and reactive (feedback) control. Here, we assess both anticipatory and reactive aspects of speech motor control, comparing the performance of patients with cerebellar degeneration and matched controls. Experiment 1 tested feedforward control by examining speech adaptation across trials in response to a consistent perturbation of auditory feedback. Experiment 2 tested feedback control, examining online corrections in response to inconsistent perturbations of auditory feedback. Both male and female patients and controls were tested. The patients were impaired in adapting their feedforward control system relative to controls, exhibiting an attenuated anticipatory response to the perturbation. In contrast, the patients produced even larger compensatory responses than controls, suggesting an increased reliance on sensory feedback to guide speech articulation in this population. Together, these results suggest that the cerebellum is crucial for maintaining accurate feedforward control of speech, but relatively uninvolved in feedback control. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Speech motor control is a complex activity that is thought to rely on both predictive, feedforward control as well as reactive, feedback control. While the cerebellum has been shown to be part of the speech motor control network, its functional contribution to feedback and feedforward control remains controversial. Here, we use real-time auditory perturbations of speech to show that patients with cerebellar degeneration are impaired in adapting feedforward control of speech but retain the ability to make online feedback corrections; indeed, the patients show an increased sensitivity to feedback. These results indicate that the cerebellum forms a crucial part of the feedforward control system for speech but is not essential for online, feedback control. PMID:28842410

Being First Matters: Topographical Representational Similarity Analysis of ERP Signals Reveals Separate Networks for Audiovisual Temporal Binding Depending on the Leading Sense.

PubMed

Cecere, Roberto; Gross, Joachim; Willis, Ashleigh; Thut, Gregor

2017-05-24

In multisensory integration, processing in one sensory modality is enhanced by complementary information from other modalities. Intersensory timing is crucial in this process because only inputs reaching the brain within a restricted temporal window are perceptually bound. Previous research in the audiovisual field has investigated various features of the temporal binding window, revealing asymmetries in its size and plasticity depending on the leading input: auditory-visual (AV) or visual-auditory (VA). Here, we tested whether separate neuronal mechanisms underlie this AV-VA dichotomy in humans. We recorded high-density EEG while participants performed an audiovisual simultaneity judgment task including various AV-VA asynchronies and unisensory control conditions (visual-only, auditory-only) and tested whether AV and VA processing generate different patterns of brain activity. After isolating the multisensory components of AV-VA event-related potentials (ERPs) from the sum of their unisensory constituents, we ran a time-resolved topographical representational similarity analysis (tRSA) comparing the AV and VA ERP maps. Spatial cross-correlation matrices were built from real data to index the similarity between the AV and VA maps at each time point (500 ms window after stimulus) and then correlated with two alternative similarity model matrices: AV maps = VA maps versus AV maps ≠ VA maps The tRSA results favored the AV maps ≠ VA maps model across all time points, suggesting that audiovisual temporal binding (indexed by synchrony perception) engages different neural pathways depending on the leading sense. The existence of such dual route supports recent theoretical accounts proposing that multiple binding mechanisms are implemented in the brain to accommodate different information parsing strategies in auditory and visual sensory systems. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Intersensory timing is a crucial aspect of multisensory integration, determining whether and how inputs in one modality enhance stimulus processing in another modality. Our research demonstrates that evaluating synchrony of auditory-leading (AV) versus visual-leading (VA) audiovisual stimulus pairs is characterized by two distinct patterns of brain activity. This suggests that audiovisual integration is not a unitary process and that different binding mechanisms are recruited in the brain based on the leading sense. These mechanisms may be relevant for supporting different classes of multisensory operations, for example, auditory enhancement of visual attention (AV) and visual enhancement of auditory speech (VA). Copyright © 2017 Cecere et al.

Blue-Enriched White Light Enhances Physiological Arousal But Not Behavioral Performance during Simulated Driving at Early Night

PubMed Central

Rodríguez-Morilla, Beatriz; Madrid, Juan A.; Molina, Enrique; Correa, Angel

2017-01-01

Vigilance usually deteriorates over prolonged driving at non-optimal times of day. Exposure to blue-enriched light has shown to enhance arousal, leading to behavioral benefits in some cognitive tasks. However, the cognitive effects of long-wavelength light have been less studied and its effects on driving performance remained to be addressed. We tested the effects of a blue-enriched white light (BWL) and a long-wavelength orange light (OL) vs. a control condition of dim light on subjective, physiological and behavioral measures at 21:45 h. Neurobehavioral tests included the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale and subjective mood scale, recording of distal-proximal temperature gradient (DPG, as index of physiological arousal), accuracy in simulated driving and reaction time in the auditory psychomotor vigilance task. The results showed that BWL decreased the DPG (reflecting enhanced arousal), while it did not improve reaction time or driving performance. Instead, blue light produced larger driving errors than OL, while performance in OL was stable along time on task. These data suggest that physiological arousal induced by light does not necessarily imply cognitive improvement. Indeed, excessive arousal might deteriorate accuracy in complex tasks requiring precision, such as driving. PMID:28690558

Analysis of impact/impulse noise for predicting noise induced hearing loss

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vipperman, Jeffrey S.; Prince, Mary M.; Flamm, Angela M.

2003-04-01

Studies indicate that the statistical properties and temporal structure of the sound signal are important in determining the extent of hearing hazard. As part of a pilot study to examine hearing conservation program effectiveness, NIOSH collected noise samples of impact noise sources in an automobile stamping plant, focusing on jobs with peak sound levels (Lpk) of greater than 120 dB. Digital tape recordings of sounds were collected using a Type I Precision Sound Level Meter and microphone connected to a DAT tape recorder. The events were archived and processed as .wav files to extract single events of interest on CD-R media and CD audio media. A preliminary analysis of sample wavelet files was conducted to characterize each event using metrics such as the number of impulses per unit time, the repetition rate or temporal pattern of these impulses, index of peakedness, crest factor, kurtosis, coefficient of kurtosis, rise time, fall time, and peak time. The spectrum, duration, and inverse of duration for each waveform were also computed. Finally, the data were evaluated with the Auditory Hazard Assessment Algorithm (AHAAH). Improvements to data collection for a future study examining different strategies for evaluating industrial noise exposure will be discussed.

Auditory temporal preparation induced by rhythmic cues during concurrent auditory working memory tasks.

PubMed

Cutanda, Diana; Correa, Ángel; Sanabria, Daniel

2015-06-01

The present study investigated whether participants can develop temporal preparation driven by auditory isochronous rhythms when concurrently performing an auditory working memory (WM) task. In Experiment 1, participants had to respond to an auditory target presented after a regular or an irregular sequence of auditory stimuli while concurrently performing a Sternberg-type WM task. Results showed that participants responded faster after regular compared with irregular rhythms and that this effect was not affected by WM load; however, the lack of a significant main effect of WM load made it difficult to draw any conclusion regarding the influence of the dual-task manipulation in Experiment 1. In order to enhance dual-task interference, Experiment 2 combined the auditory rhythm procedure with an auditory N-Back task, which required WM updating (monitoring and coding of the information) and was presumably more demanding than the mere rehearsal of the WM task used in Experiment 1. Results now clearly showed dual-task interference effects (slower reaction times [RTs] in the high- vs. the low-load condition). However, such interference did not affect temporal preparation induced by rhythms, with faster RTs after regular than after irregular sequences in the high-load and low-load conditions. These results revealed that secondary tasks demanding memory updating, relative to tasks just demanding rehearsal, produced larger interference effects on overall RTs in the auditory rhythm task. Nevertheless, rhythm regularity exerted a strong temporal preparation effect that survived the interference of the WM task even when both tasks competed for processing resources within the auditory modality. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Potentials evoked by chirp-modulated tones: a new technique to evaluate oscillatory activity in the auditory pathway.

PubMed

Artieda, J; Valencia, M; Alegre, M; Olaziregi, O; Urrestarazu, E; Iriarte, J

2004-03-01

Steady-state potentials are oscillatory responses generated by a rhythmic stimulation of a sensory pathway. The frequency of the response, which follows the frequency of stimulation, is maximal at a stimulus rate of 40 Hz for auditory stimuli. The exact cause of these maximal responses is not known, although some authors have suggested that they might be related to the 'working frequency' of the auditory cortex. Testing of the responses to different frequencies of stimulation may be lengthy if a single frequency is studied at a time. Our aim was to develop a fast technique to explore the oscillatory response to auditory stimuli, using a tone modulated in amplitude by a sinusoid whose frequency increases linearly in frequency ('chirp') from 1 to 120 Hz. Time-frequency transforms were used for the analysis of the evoked responses in 10 subjects. Also, we analyzed whether the peaks in these responses were due to increases of amplitude or to phase-locking phenomena, using single-sweep time-frequency transforms and inter-trial phase analysis. The pattern observed in the time-frequency transform of the chirp-evoked potential was very similar in all subjects: a diagonal band of energy was observed, corresponding to the frequency of modulation at each time instant. Two components were present in the band, one around 45 Hz (30-60 Hz) and a smaller one between 80 and 120 Hz. Inter-trial phase analysis showed that these components were mainly due to phase locking phenomena. A simultaneous testing of the amplitude-modulation-following oscillatory responses to auditory stimulation is feasible using a tone modulated in amplitude at increasing frequencies. The maximal energies found at stimulation frequencies around 40 Hz are probably due to increased phase-locking of the individual responses.

Perceptual Distortions in Pitch and Time Reveal Active Prediction and Support for an Auditory Pitch-Motion Hypothesis

PubMed Central

Henry, Molly J.; McAuley, J. Devin

2013-01-01

A number of accounts of human auditory perception assume that listeners use prior stimulus context to generate predictions about future stimulation. Here, we tested an auditory pitch-motion hypothesis that was developed from this perspective. Listeners judged either the time change (i.e., duration) or pitch change of a comparison frequency glide relative to a standard (referent) glide. Under a constant-velocity assumption, listeners were hypothesized to use the pitch velocity (Δf/Δt) of the standard glide to generate predictions about the pitch velocity of the comparison glide, leading to perceptual distortions along the to-be-judged dimension when the velocities of the two glides differed. These predictions were borne out in the pattern of relative points of subjective equality by a significant three-way interaction between the velocities of the two glides and task. In general, listeners’ judgments along the task-relevant dimension (pitch or time) were affected by expectations generated by the constant-velocity standard, but in an opposite manner for the two stimulus dimensions. When the comparison glide velocity was faster than the standard, listeners overestimated time change, but underestimated pitch change, whereas when the comparison glide velocity was slower than the standard, listeners underestimated time change, but overestimated pitch change. Perceptual distortions were least evident when the velocities of the standard and comparison glides were matched. Fits of an imputed velocity model further revealed increasingly larger distortions at faster velocities. The present findings provide support for the auditory pitch-motion hypothesis and add to a larger body of work revealing a role for active prediction in human auditory perception. PMID:23936462

Perceptual distortions in pitch and time reveal active prediction and support for an auditory pitch-motion hypothesis.

PubMed

Henry, Molly J; McAuley, J Devin

2013-01-01

A number of accounts of human auditory perception assume that listeners use prior stimulus context to generate predictions about future stimulation. Here, we tested an auditory pitch-motion hypothesis that was developed from this perspective. Listeners judged either the time change (i.e., duration) or pitch change of a comparison frequency glide relative to a standard (referent) glide. Under a constant-velocity assumption, listeners were hypothesized to use the pitch velocity (Δf/Δt) of the standard glide to generate predictions about the pitch velocity of the comparison glide, leading to perceptual distortions along the to-be-judged dimension when the velocities of the two glides differed. These predictions were borne out in the pattern of relative points of subjective equality by a significant three-way interaction between the velocities of the two glides and task. In general, listeners' judgments along the task-relevant dimension (pitch or time) were affected by expectations generated by the constant-velocity standard, but in an opposite manner for the two stimulus dimensions. When the comparison glide velocity was faster than the standard, listeners overestimated time change, but underestimated pitch change, whereas when the comparison glide velocity was slower than the standard, listeners underestimated time change, but overestimated pitch change. Perceptual distortions were least evident when the velocities of the standard and comparison glides were matched. Fits of an imputed velocity model further revealed increasingly larger distortions at faster velocities. The present findings provide support for the auditory pitch-motion hypothesis and add to a larger body of work revealing a role for active prediction in human auditory perception.

Basic auditory processing and sensitivity to prosodic structure in children with specific language impairments: a new look at a perceptual hypothesis

PubMed Central

Cumming, Ruth; Wilson, Angela; Goswami, Usha

2015-01-01

Children with specific language impairments (SLIs) show impaired perception and production of spoken language, and can also present with motor, auditory, and phonological difficulties. Recent auditory studies have shown impaired sensitivity to amplitude rise time (ART) in children with SLIs, along with non-speech rhythmic timing difficulties. Linguistically, these perceptual impairments should affect sensitivity to speech prosody and syllable stress. Here we used two tasks requiring sensitivity to prosodic structure, the DeeDee task and a stress misperception task, to investigate this hypothesis. We also measured auditory processing of ART, rising pitch and sound duration, in both speech (“ba”) and non-speech (tone) stimuli. Participants were 45 children with SLI aged on average 9 years and 50 age-matched controls. We report data for all the SLI children (N = 45, IQ varying), as well as for two independent SLI subgroupings with intact IQ. One subgroup, “Pure SLI,” had intact phonology and reading (N = 16), the other, “SLI PPR” (N = 15), had impaired phonology and reading. Problems with syllable stress and prosodic structure were found for all the group comparisons. Both sub-groups with intact IQ showed reduced sensitivity to ART in speech stimuli, but the PPR subgroup also showed reduced sensitivity to sound duration in speech stimuli. Individual differences in processing syllable stress were associated with auditory processing. These data support a new hypothesis, the “prosodic phrasing” hypothesis, which proposes that grammatical difficulties in SLI may reflect perceptual difficulties with global prosodic structure related to auditory impairments in processing amplitude rise time and duration. PMID:26217286

Cochlear implantation in children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder: A multicenter study on auditory performance and speech production outcomes.

PubMed

Daneshi, Ahmad; Mirsalehi, Marjan; Hashemi, Seyed Basir; Ajalloueyan, Mohammad; Rajati, Mohsen; Ghasemi, Mohammad Mahdi; Emamdjomeh, Hesamaldin; Asghari, Alimohamad; Mohammadi, Shabahang; Mohseni, Mohammad; Mohebbi, Saleh; Farhadi, Mohammad

2018-05-01

To evaluate the auditory performance and speech production outcome in children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD). The effect of age on the outcomes of the surgery at the time of implantation was also evaluated. Cochlear implantation was performed in 136 children with bilateral severe-to- profound hearing loss due to ANSD, at four tertiary academic centers. The patients were divided into two groups based on the age at the time of implantation; Group I: Children ≤24 months, and Group II: subjects >24 months. The categories of auditory performance (CAP) and speech intelligibility rating (SIR) scores were evaluated after the first and second years of implantation. The differences between the CAP and SIR scores in the two groups were assessed. The median CAP scores improved significantly after the cochlear implantation in all the patients (p value < 0.001). The improvement in the CAP scores during the first year in Group II was greater than Group I (p value: 0.007), but the improvement in CAP scores tended to be significantly higher in patients who were implanted at ≤24 months (p value < 0.001). There was no significant difference between two groups in SIR scores at first-year and second-year follow-ups. The evaluation of the SIR improvement revealed significantly higher values for Group I during the second-year follow-up (p value: 0.003). The auditory performance and speech production skills of the children with ANSD improved significantly after cochlear implantation, and this improvement was affected by age at the time of implantation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Auditory-visual object recognition time suggests specific processing for animal sounds.

PubMed

Suied, Clara; Viaud-Delmon, Isabelle

2009-01-01

Recognizing an object requires binding together several cues, which may be distributed across different sensory modalities, and ignoring competing information originating from other objects. In addition, knowledge of the semantic category of an object is fundamental to determine how we should react to it. Here we investigate the role of semantic categories in the processing of auditory-visual objects. We used an auditory-visual object-recognition task (go/no-go paradigm). We compared recognition times for two categories: a biologically relevant one (animals) and a non-biologically relevant one (means of transport). Participants were asked to react as fast as possible to target objects, presented in the visual and/or the auditory modality, and to withhold their response for distractor objects. A first main finding was that, when participants were presented with unimodal or bimodal congruent stimuli (an image and a sound from the same object), similar reaction times were observed for all object categories. Thus, there was no advantage in the speed of recognition for biologically relevant compared to non-biologically relevant objects. A second finding was that, in the presence of a biologically relevant auditory distractor, the processing of a target object was slowed down, whether or not it was itself biologically relevant. It seems impossible to effectively ignore an animal sound, even when it is irrelevant to the task. These results suggest a specific and mandatory processing of animal sounds, possibly due to phylogenetic memory and consistent with the idea that hearing is particularly efficient as an alerting sense. They also highlight the importance of taking into account the auditory modality when investigating the way object concepts of biologically relevant categories are stored and retrieved.

Auditory development after placement of bone-anchored hearing aids Softband among Chinese Mandarin-speaking children with bilateral aural atresia.

PubMed

Fan, Yue; Zhang, Ying; Wang, Suju; Chen, Xiaowei

2014-01-01

To evaluate auditory developments of Chinese Mandarin-speaking children with congenital bilateral aural atresia after using Bone-anchored hearing aids (Baha) Softband and to compare them with matched peers with normal hearing. Sixteen patients (age ranging from 3 months to 6 years) with bilateral aural atresia and 29 children with normal hearing (age ranging from 8 months to 6 years) were studied. Auditory development was assessed at three time intervals: baseline, 6 months and 12 months. Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (IT-MAIS) was conducted for children under 4 years old; Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS), Chinese Mandarin lexical neighborhood test (MLNT) and sound field pure tone audiometry (PTA) were used for children of 4-6 years old. Mean IT-MAIS scores were 41 ± 24%, 60 ± 22% and 73 ± 7%, respectively at three time intervals. Mean MAIS scores were 66 ± 7%, 90 ± 5%, and 99 ± 2%. Mean speech discrimination scores at the three time intervals were 74 ± 19%, 86 ± 16%, and 95 ± 4% with the easy disyllabic (D-E) list; 48 ± 18%, 73 ± 15%, and 81 ± 7% with the hard disyllabic (D-H) list; 55 ± 17%, 74 ± 22%, and 83 ± 14% with the easy monosyllabic(M-E) list; and 31 ± 14%, 61 ± 15%, and 71 ± 13% with the hard monosyllabic (M-H) list. Baha Softband is suitable for infants and young children with bilateral atresia. Results from these auditory development testing are encouraging. Baha Softband should be used as a bridge for surgical implantations when the temporal bone is thick enough. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Learning to Encode Timing: Mechanisms of Plasticity in the Auditory Brainstem

PubMed Central

Tzounopoulos, Thanos; Kraus, Nina

2009-01-01

Mechanisms of plasticity have traditionally been ascribed to higher-order sensory processing areas such as the cortex, whereas early sensory processing centers have been considered largely hard-wired. In agreement with this view, the auditory brainstem has been viewed as a nonplastic site, important for preserving temporal information and minimizing transmission delays. However, recent groundbreaking results from animal models and human studies have revealed remarkable evidence for cellular and behavioral mechanisms for learning and memory in the auditory brainstem. PMID:19477149

Comparing perceived auditory width to the visual image of a performing ensemble in contrasting bi-modal environmentsa)

PubMed Central

Valente, Daniel L.; Braasch, Jonas; Myrbeck, Shane A.

2012-01-01

Despite many studies investigating auditory spatial impressions in rooms, few have addressed the impact of simultaneous visual cues on localization and the perception of spaciousness. The current research presents an immersive audiovisual environment in which participants were instructed to make auditory width judgments in dynamic bi-modal settings. The results of these psychophysical tests suggest the importance of congruent audio visual presentation to the ecological interpretation of an auditory scene. Supporting data were accumulated in five rooms of ascending volumes and varying reverberation times. Participants were given an audiovisual matching test in which they were instructed to pan the auditory width of a performing ensemble to a varying set of audio and visual cues in rooms. Results show that both auditory and visual factors affect the collected responses and that the two sensory modalities coincide in distinct interactions. The greatest differences between the panned audio stimuli given a fixed visual width were found in the physical space with the largest volume and the greatest source distance. These results suggest, in this specific instance, a predominance of auditory cues in the spatial analysis of the bi-modal scene. PMID:22280585

Crossmodal attention switching: auditory dominance in temporal discrimination tasks.

PubMed

Lukas, Sarah; Philipp, Andrea M; Koch, Iring

2014-11-01

Visual stimuli are often processed more efficiently than accompanying stimuli in another modality. In line with this "visual dominance", earlier studies on attentional switching showed a clear benefit for visual stimuli in a bimodal visual-auditory modality-switch paradigm that required spatial stimulus localization in the relevant modality. The present study aimed to examine the generality of this visual dominance effect. The modality appropriateness hypothesis proposes that stimuli in different modalities are differentially effectively processed depending on the task dimension, so that processing of visual stimuli is favored in the dimension of space, whereas processing auditory stimuli is favored in the dimension of time. In the present study, we examined this proposition by using a temporal duration judgment in a bimodal visual-auditory switching paradigm. Two experiments demonstrated that crossmodal interference (i.e., temporal stimulus congruence) was larger for visual stimuli than for auditory stimuli, suggesting auditory dominance when performing temporal judgment tasks. However, attention switch costs were larger for the auditory modality than for visual modality, indicating a dissociation of the mechanisms underlying crossmodal competition in stimulus processing and modality-specific biasing of attentional set. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Auditory function in children with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

PubMed

Rance, Gary; Ryan, Monique M; Bayliss, Kristen; Gill, Kathryn; O'Sullivan, Caitlin; Whitechurch, Marny

2012-05-01

The peripheral manifestations of the inherited neuropathies are increasingly well characterized, but their effects upon cranial nerve function are not well understood. Hearing loss is recognized in a minority of children with this condition, but has not previously been systemically studied. A clear understanding of the prevalence and degree of auditory difficulties in this population is important as hearing impairment can impact upon speech/language development, social interaction ability and educational progress. The aim of this study was to investigate auditory pathway function, speech perception ability and everyday listening and communication in a group of school-aged children with inherited neuropathies. Twenty-six children with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease confirmed by genetic testing and physical examination participated. Eighteen had demyelinating neuropathies (Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 1) and eight had the axonal form (Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2). While each subject had normal or near-normal sound detection, individuals in both disease groups showed electrophysiological evidence of auditory neuropathy with delayed or low amplitude auditory brainstem responses. Auditory perception was also affected, with >60% of subjects with Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 1 and >85% of Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2 suffering impaired processing of auditory temporal (timing) cues and/or abnormal speech understanding in everyday listening conditions.

Musical training generalises across modalities and reveals efficient and adaptive mechanisms for reproducing temporal intervals.

PubMed

Aagten-Murphy, David; Cappagli, Giulia; Burr, David

2014-03-01

Expert musicians are able to time their actions accurately and consistently during a musical performance. We investigated how musical expertise influences the ability to reproduce auditory intervals and how this generalises across different techniques and sensory modalities. We first compared various reproduction strategies and interval length, to examine the effects in general and to optimise experimental conditions for testing the effect of music, and found that the effects were robust and consistent across different paradigms. Focussing on a 'ready-set-go' paradigm subjects reproduced time intervals drawn from distributions varying in total length (176, 352 or 704 ms) or in the number of discrete intervals within the total length (3, 5, 11 or 21 discrete intervals). Overall, Musicians performed more veridical than Non-Musicians, and all subjects reproduced auditory-defined intervals more accurately than visually-defined intervals. However, Non-Musicians, particularly with visual stimuli, consistently exhibited a substantial and systematic regression towards the mean interval. When subjects judged intervals from distributions of longer total length they tended to regress more towards the mean, while the ability to discriminate between discrete intervals within the distribution had little influence on subject error. These results are consistent with a Bayesian model that minimizes reproduction errors by incorporating a central tendency prior weighted by the subject's own temporal precision relative to the current distribution of intervals. Finally a strong correlation was observed between all durations of formal musical training and total reproduction errors in both modalities (accounting for 30% of the variance). Taken together these results demonstrate that formal musical training improves temporal reproduction, and that this improvement transfers from audition to vision. They further demonstrate the flexibility of sensorimotor mechanisms in adapting to different task conditions to minimise temporal estimation errors. © 2013.

Developing a system for blind acoustic source localization and separation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulkarni, Raghavendra

This dissertation presents innovate methodologies for locating, extracting, and separating multiple incoherent sound sources in three-dimensional (3D) space; and applications of the time reversal (TR) algorithm to pinpoint the hyper active neural activities inside the brain auditory structure that are correlated to the tinnitus pathology. Specifically, an acoustic modeling based method is developed for locating arbitrary and incoherent sound sources in 3D space in real time by using a minimal number of microphones, and the Point Source Separation (PSS) method is developed for extracting target signals from directly measured mixed signals. Combining these two approaches leads to a novel technology known as Blind Sources Localization and Separation (BSLS) that enables one to locate multiple incoherent sound signals in 3D space and separate original individual sources simultaneously, based on the directly measured mixed signals. These technologies have been validated through numerical simulations and experiments conducted in various non-ideal environments where there are non-negligible, unspecified sound reflections and reverberation as well as interferences from random background noise. Another innovation presented in this dissertation is concerned with applications of the TR algorithm to pinpoint the exact locations of hyper-active neurons in the brain auditory structure that are directly correlated to the tinnitus perception. Benchmark tests conducted on normal rats have confirmed the localization results provided by the TR algorithm. Results demonstrate that the spatial resolution of this source localization can be as high as the micrometer level. This high precision localization may lead to a paradigm shift in tinnitus diagnosis, which may in turn produce a more cost-effective treatment for tinnitus than any of the existing ones.

Structural Changes and Lack of HCN1 Channels in the Binaural Auditory Brainstem of the Naked Mole-Rat (Heterocephalus glaber).

PubMed

Gessele, Nikodemus; Garcia-Pino, Elisabet; Omerbašić, Damir; Park, Thomas J; Koch, Ursula

2016-01-01

Naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) live in large eu-social, underground colonies in narrow burrows and are exposed to a large repertoire of communication signals but negligible binaural sound localization cues, such as interaural time and intensity differences. We therefore asked whether monaural and binaural auditory brainstem nuclei in the naked mole-rat are differentially adjusted to this acoustic environment. Using antibody stainings against excitatory and inhibitory presynaptic structures, namely the vesicular glutamate transporter VGluT1 and the glycine transporter GlyT2 we identified all major auditory brainstem nuclei except the superior paraolivary nucleus in these animals. Naked mole-rats possess a well structured medial superior olive, with a similar synaptic arrangement to interaural-time-difference encoding animals. The neighboring lateral superior olive, which analyzes interaural intensity differences, is large and elongated, whereas the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body, which provides the contralateral inhibitory input to these binaural nuclei, is reduced in size. In contrast, the cochlear nucleus, the nuclei of the lateral lemniscus and the inferior colliculus are not considerably different when compared to other rodent species. Most interestingly, binaural auditory brainstem nuclei lack the membrane-bound hyperpolarization-activated channel HCN1, a voltage-gated ion channel that greatly contributes to the fast integration times in binaural nuclei of the superior olivary complex in other species. This suggests substantially lengthened membrane time constants and thus prolonged temporal integration of inputs in binaural auditory brainstem neurons and might be linked to the severely degenerated sound localization abilities in these animals.

The effects of auditory and visual cues on timing synchronicity for robotic rehabilitation.

PubMed

English, Brittney A; Howard, Ayanna M

2017-07-01

In this paper, we explore how the integration of auditory and visual cues can help teach the timing of motor skills for the purpose of motor function rehabilitation. We conducted a study using Amazon's Mechanical Turk in which 106 participants played a virtual therapy game requiring wrist movements. To validate that our results would translate to trends that could also be observed during robotic rehabilitation sessions, we recreated this experiment with 11 participants using a robotic wrist rehabilitation system as means to control the therapy game. During interaction with the therapy game, users were asked to learn and reconstruct a tapping sequence as defined by musical notes flashing on the screen. Participants were divided into 2 test groups: (1) control: participants only received visual cues to prompt them on the timing sequence, and (2) experimental: participants received both visual and auditory cues to prompt them on the timing sequence. To evaluate performance, the timing and length of the sequence were measured. Performance was determined by calculating the number of trials needed before the participant was able to master the specific aspect of the timing task. In the virtual experiment, the group that received visual and auditory cues was able to master all aspects of the timing task faster than the visual cue only group with p-values < 0.05. This trend was also verified for participants using the robotic arm exoskeleton in the physical experiment.

You can't stop the music: reduced auditory alpha power and coupling between auditory and memory regions facilitate the illusory perception of music during noise.

PubMed

Müller, Nadia; Keil, Julian; Obleser, Jonas; Schulz, Hannah; Grunwald, Thomas; Bernays, René-Ludwig; Huppertz, Hans-Jürgen; Weisz, Nathan

2013-10-01

Our brain has the capacity of providing an experience of hearing even in the absence of auditory stimulation. This can be seen as illusory conscious perception. While increasing evidence postulates that conscious perception requires specific brain states that systematically relate to specific patterns of oscillatory activity, the relationship between auditory illusions and oscillatory activity remains mostly unexplained. To investigate this we recorded brain activity with magnetoencephalography and collected intracranial data from epilepsy patients while participants listened to familiar as well as unknown music that was partly replaced by sections of pink noise. We hypothesized that participants have a stronger experience of hearing music throughout noise when the noise sections are embedded in familiar compared to unfamiliar music. This was supported by the behavioral results showing that participants rated the perception of music during noise as stronger when noise was presented in a familiar context. Time-frequency data show that the illusory perception of music is associated with a decrease in auditory alpha power pointing to increased auditory cortex excitability. Furthermore, the right auditory cortex is concurrently synchronized with the medial temporal lobe, putatively mediating memory aspects associated with the music illusion. We thus assume that neuronal activity in the highly excitable auditory cortex is shaped through extensive communication between the auditory cortex and the medial temporal lobe, thereby generating the illusion of hearing music during noise. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spatiotemporal differentiation in auditory and motor regions during auditory phoneme discrimination.

PubMed

Aerts, Annelies; Strobbe, Gregor; van Mierlo, Pieter; Hartsuiker, Robert J; Corthals, Paul; Santens, Patrick; De Letter, Miet

2017-06-01

Auditory phoneme discrimination (APD) is supported by both auditory and motor regions through a sensorimotor interface embedded in a fronto-temporo-parietal cortical network. However, the specific spatiotemporal organization of this network during APD with respect to different types of phonemic contrasts is still unclear. Here, we use source reconstruction, applied to event-related potentials in a group of 47 participants, to uncover a potential spatiotemporal differentiation in these brain regions during a passive and active APD task with respect to place of articulation (PoA), voicing and manner of articulation (MoA). Results demonstrate that in an early stage (50-110 ms), auditory, motor and sensorimotor regions elicit more activation during the passive and active APD task with MoA and active APD task with voicing compared to PoA. In a later stage (130-175 ms), the same auditory and motor regions elicit more activation during the APD task with PoA compared to MoA and voicing, yet only in the active condition, implying important timing differences. Degree of attention influences a frontal network during the APD task with PoA, whereas auditory regions are more affected during the APD task with MoA and voicing. Based on these findings, it can be carefully suggested that APD is supported by the integration of early activation of auditory-acoustic properties in superior temporal regions, more perpetuated for MoA and voicing, and later auditory-to-motor integration in sensorimotor areas, more perpetuated for PoA.

Seeing sounds and hearing colors: an event-related potential study of auditory-visual synesthesia.

PubMed

Goller, Aviva I; Otten, Leun J; Ward, Jamie

2009-10-01

In auditory-visual synesthesia, sounds automatically elicit conscious and reliable visual experiences. It is presently unknown whether this reflects early or late processes in the brain. It is also unknown whether adult audiovisual synesthesia resembles auditory-induced visual illusions that can sometimes occur in the general population or whether it resembles the electrophysiological deflection over occipital sites that has been noted in infancy and has been likened to synesthesia. Electrical brain activity was recorded from adult synesthetes and control participants who were played brief tones and required to monitor for an infrequent auditory target. The synesthetes were instructed to attend either to the auditory or to the visual (i.e., synesthetic) dimension of the tone, whereas the controls attended to the auditory dimension alone. There were clear differences between synesthetes and controls that emerged early (100 msec after tone onset). These differences tended to lie in deflections of the auditory-evoked potential (e.g., the auditory N1, P2, and N2) rather than the presence of an additional posterior deflection. The differences occurred irrespective of what the synesthetes attended to (although attention had a late effect). The results suggest that differences between synesthetes and others occur early in time, and that synesthesia is qualitatively different from similar effects found in infants and certain auditory-induced visual illusions in adults. In addition, we report two novel cases of synesthesia in which colors elicit sounds, and vice versa.

Demodulation processes in auditory perception

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feth, Lawrence L.

1994-08-01

The long range goal of this project is the understanding of human auditory processing of information conveyed by complex, time-varying signals such as speech, music or important environmental sounds. Our work is guided by the assumption that human auditory communication is a 'modulation - demodulation' process. That is, we assume that sound sources produce a complex stream of sound pressure waves with information encoded as variations ( modulations) of the signal amplitude and frequency. The listeners task then is one of demodulation. Much of past. psychoacoustics work has been based in what we characterize as 'spectrum picture processing.' Complex sounds are Fourier analyzed to produce an amplitude-by-frequency 'picture' and the perception process is modeled as if the listener were analyzing the spectral picture. This approach leads to studies such as 'profile analysis' and the power-spectrum model of masking. Our approach leads us to investigate time-varying, complex sounds. We refer to them as dynamic signals and we have developed auditory signal processing models to help guide our experimental work.

Effects of auditory selective attention on chirp evoked auditory steady state responses.

PubMed

Bohr, Andreas; Bernarding, Corinna; Strauss, Daniel J; Corona-Strauss, Farah I

2011-01-01

Auditory steady state responses (ASSRs) are frequently used to assess auditory function. Recently, the interest in effects of attention on ASSRs has increased. In this paper, we investigated for the first time possible effects of attention on AS-SRs evoked by amplitude modulated and frequency modulated chirps paradigms. Different paradigms were designed using chirps with low and high frequency content, and the stimulation was presented in a monaural and dichotic modality. A total of 10 young subjects participated in the study, they were instructed to ignore the stimuli and after a second repetition they had to detect a deviant stimulus. In the time domain analysis, we found enhanced amplitudes for the attended conditions. Furthermore, we noticed higher amplitudes values for the condition using frequency modulated low frequency chirps evoked by a monaural stimulation. The most difference between attended and unattended modality was exhibited at the dichotic case of the amplitude modulated condition using chirps with low frequency content.

Age-related delay in visual and auditory evoked responses is mediated by white- and grey-matter differences.

PubMed

Price, D; Tyler, L K; Neto Henriques, R; Campbell, K L; Williams, N; Treder, M S; Taylor, J R; Henson, R N A

2017-06-09

Slowing is a common feature of ageing, yet a direct relationship between neural slowing and brain atrophy is yet to be established in healthy humans. We combine magnetoencephalographic (MEG) measures of neural processing speed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of white and grey matter in a large population-derived cohort to investigate the relationship between age-related structural differences and visual evoked field (VEF) and auditory evoked field (AEF) delay across two different tasks. Here we use a novel technique to show that VEFs exhibit a constant delay, whereas AEFs exhibit delay that accumulates over time. White-matter (WM) microstructure in the optic radiation partially mediates visual delay, suggesting increased transmission time, whereas grey matter (GM) in auditory cortex partially mediates auditory delay, suggesting less efficient local processing. Our results demonstrate that age has dissociable effects on neural processing speed, and that these effects relate to different types of brain atrophy.

Age-related delay in visual and auditory evoked responses is mediated by white- and grey-matter differences

PubMed Central

Price, D.; Tyler, L. K.; Neto Henriques, R.; Campbell, K. L.; Williams, N.; Treder, M.S.; Taylor, J. R.; Brayne, Carol; Bullmore, Edward T.; Calder, Andrew C.; Cusack, Rhodri; Dalgleish, Tim; Duncan, John; Matthews, Fiona E.; Marslen-Wilson, William D.; Rowe, James B.; Shafto, Meredith A.; Cheung, Teresa; Davis, Simon; Geerligs, Linda; Kievit, Rogier; McCarrey, Anna; Mustafa, Abdur; Samu, David; Tsvetanov, Kamen A.; van Belle, Janna; Bates, Lauren; Emery, Tina; Erzinglioglu, Sharon; Gadie, Andrew; Gerbase, Sofia; Georgieva, Stanimira; Hanley, Claire; Parkin, Beth; Troy, David; Auer, Tibor; Correia, Marta; Gao, Lu; Green, Emma; Allen, Jodie; Amery, Gillian; Amunts, Liana; Barcroft, Anne; Castle, Amanda; Dias, Cheryl; Dowrick, Jonathan; Fair, Melissa; Fisher, Hayley; Goulding, Anna; Grewal, Adarsh; Hale, Geoff; Hilton, Andrew; Johnson, Frances; Johnston, Patricia; Kavanagh-Williamson, Thea; Kwasniewska, Magdalena; McMinn, Alison; Norman, Kim; Penrose, Jessica; Roby, Fiona; Rowland, Diane; Sargeant, John; Squire, Maggie; Stevens, Beth; Stoddart, Aldabra; Stone, Cheryl; Thompson, Tracy; Yazlik, Ozlem; Barnes, Dan; Dixon, Marie; Hillman, Jaya; Mitchell, Joanne; Villis, Laura; Henson, R. N. A.

2017-01-01

Slowing is a common feature of ageing, yet a direct relationship between neural slowing and brain atrophy is yet to be established in healthy humans. We combine magnetoencephalographic (MEG) measures of neural processing speed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of white and grey matter in a large population-derived cohort to investigate the relationship between age-related structural differences and visual evoked field (VEF) and auditory evoked field (AEF) delay across two different tasks. Here we use a novel technique to show that VEFs exhibit a constant delay, whereas AEFs exhibit delay that accumulates over time. White-matter (WM) microstructure in the optic radiation partially mediates visual delay, suggesting increased transmission time, whereas grey matter (GM) in auditory cortex partially mediates auditory delay, suggesting less efficient local processing. Our results demonstrate that age has dissociable effects on neural processing speed, and that these effects relate to different types of brain atrophy. PMID:28598417

Multistability in auditory stream segregation: a predictive coding view

PubMed Central

Winkler, István; Denham, Susan; Mill, Robert; Bőhm, Tamás M.; Bendixen, Alexandra

2012-01-01

Auditory stream segregation involves linking temporally separate acoustic events into one or more coherent sequences. For any non-trivial sequence of sounds, many alternative descriptions can be formed, only one or very few of which emerge in awareness at any time. Evidence from studies showing bi-/multistability in auditory streaming suggest that some, perhaps many of the alternative descriptions are represented in the brain in parallel and that they continuously vie for conscious perception. Here, based on a predictive coding view, we consider the nature of these sound representations and how they compete with each other. Predictive processing helps to maintain perceptual stability by signalling the continuation of previously established patterns as well as the emergence of new sound sources. It also provides a measure of how well each of the competing representations describes the current acoustic scene. This account of auditory stream segregation has been tested on perceptual data obtained in the auditory streaming paradigm. PMID:22371621

Impaired encoding of rapid pitch information underlies perception and memory deficits in congenital amusia.

PubMed

Albouy, Philippe; Cousineau, Marion; Caclin, Anne; Tillmann, Barbara; Peretz, Isabelle

2016-01-06

Recent theories suggest that the basis of neurodevelopmental auditory disorders such as dyslexia or specific language impairment might be a low-level sensory dysfunction. In the present study we test this hypothesis in congenital amusia, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severe deficits in the processing of pitch-based material. We manipulated the temporal characteristics of auditory stimuli and investigated the influence of the time given to encode pitch information on participants' performance in discrimination and short-term memory. Our results show that amusics' performance in such tasks scales with the duration available to encode acoustic information. This suggests that in auditory neuro-developmental disorders, abnormalities in early steps of the auditory processing can underlie the high-level deficits (here musical disabilities). Observing that the slowing down of temporal dynamics improves amusics' pitch abilities allows considering this approach as a potential tool for remediation in developmental auditory disorders.

Head-Up Auditory Displays for Traffic Collision Avoidance System Advisories: A Preliminary Investigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Begault, Durand R.

1993-01-01

The advantage of a head-up auditory display was evaluated in a preliminary experiment designed to measure and compare the acquisition time for capturing visual targets under two auditory conditions: standard one-earpiece presentation and two-earpiece three-dimensional (3D) audio presentation. Twelve commercial airline crews were tested under full mission simulation conditions at the NASA-Ames Man-Vehicle Systems Research Facility advanced concepts flight simulator. Scenario software generated visual targets corresponding to aircraft that would activate a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) aural advisory; the spatial auditory position was linked to the visual position with 3D audio presentation. Results showed that crew members using a 3D auditory display acquired targets approximately 2.2 s faster than did crew members who used one-earpiece head- sets, but there was no significant difference in the number of targets acquired.

The spectrotemporal filter mechanism of auditory selective attention

PubMed Central

Lakatos, Peter; Musacchia, Gabriella; O’Connell, Monica N.; Falchier, Arnaud Y.; Javitt, Daniel C.; Schroeder, Charles E.

2013-01-01

SUMMARY While we have convincing evidence that attention to auditory stimuli modulates neuronal responses at or before the level of primary auditory cortex (A1), the underlying physiological mechanisms are unknown. We found that attending to rhythmic auditory streams resulted in the entrainment of ongoing oscillatory activity reflecting rhythmic excitability fluctuations in A1. Strikingly, while the rhythm of the entrained oscillations in A1 neuronal ensembles reflected the temporal structure of the attended stream, the phase depended on the attended frequency content. Counter-phase entrainment across differently tuned A1 regions resulted in both the amplification and sharpening of responses at attended time points, in essence acting as a spectrotemporal filter mechanism. Our data suggest that selective attention generates a dynamically evolving model of attended auditory stimulus streams in the form of modulatory subthreshold oscillations across tonotopically organized neuronal ensembles in A1 that enhances the representation of attended stimuli. PMID:23439126

Engagement with the auditory processing system during targeted auditory cognitive training mediates changes in cognitive outcomes in individuals with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Biagianti, Bruno; Fisher, Melissa; Neilands, Torsten B; Loewy, Rachel; Vinogradov, Sophia

2016-11-01

Individuals with schizophrenia who engage in targeted cognitive training (TCT) of the auditory system show generalized cognitive improvements. The high degree of variability in cognitive gains maybe due to individual differences in the level of engagement of the underlying neural system target. 131 individuals with schizophrenia underwent 40 hours of TCT. We identified target engagement of auditory system processing efficiency by modeling subject-specific trajectories of auditory processing speed (APS) over time. Lowess analysis, mixed models repeated measures analysis, and latent growth curve modeling were used to examine whether APS trajectories were moderated by age and illness duration, and mediated improvements in cognitive outcome measures. We observed significant improvements in APS from baseline to 20 hours of training (initial change), followed by a flat APS trajectory (plateau) at subsequent time-points. Participants showed interindividual variability in the steepness of the initial APS change and in the APS plateau achieved and sustained between 20 and 40 hours. We found that participants who achieved the fastest APS plateau, showed the greatest transfer effects to untrained cognitive domains. There is a significant association between an individual's ability to generate and sustain auditory processing efficiency and their degree of cognitive improvement after TCT, independent of baseline neurocognition. APS plateau may therefore represent a behavioral measure of target engagement mediating treatment response. Future studies should examine the optimal plateau of auditory processing efficiency required to induce significant cognitive improvements, in the context of interindividual differences in neural plasticity and sensory system efficiency that characterize schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Changes in auditory memory performance following the use of frequency-modulated system in children with suspected auditory processing disorders.

PubMed

Umat, Cila; Mukari, Siti Z; Ezan, Nurul F; Din, Normah C

2011-08-01

To examine the changes in the short-term auditory memory following the use of frequency-modulated (FM) system in children with suspected auditory processing disorders (APDs), and also to compare the advantages of bilateral over unilateral FM fitting. This longitudinal study involved 53 children from Sekolah Kebangsaan Jalan Kuantan 2, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The study was conducted from September 2007 to October 2008 in the Department of Audiology and Speech Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The children's age was between 7-10 years old, and they were assigned into 3 groups: 15 in the control group (not fitted with FM); 19 in the unilateral; and 19 in the bilateral FM-fitting group. Subjects wore the FM system during school time for 12 weeks. Their working memory (WM), best learning (BL), and retention of information (ROI) were measured using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test at pre-fitting, post (after 12 weeks of FM usage), and at long term (one year after the usage of FM system ended). There were significant differences in the mean WM (p=0.001), BL (p=0.019), and ROI (p=0.005) scores at the different measurement times, in which the mean scores at long-term were consistently higher than at pre-fitting, despite similar performances at the baseline (p>0.05). There was no significant difference in performance between unilateral- and bilateral-fitting groups. The use of FM might give a long-term effect on improving selected short-term auditory memories of some children with suspected APDs. One may not need to use 2 FM receivers to receive advantages on auditory memory performance.

Cell-type specific short-term plasticity at auditory nerve synapses controls feed-forward inhibition in the dorsal cochlear nucleus.

PubMed

Sedlacek, Miloslav; Brenowitz, Stephan D

2014-01-01

Feed-forward inhibition (FFI) represents a powerful mechanism by which control of the timing and fidelity of action potentials in local synaptic circuits of various brain regions is achieved. In the cochlear nucleus, the auditory nerve provides excitation to both principal neurons and inhibitory interneurons. Here, we investigated the synaptic circuit associated with fusiform cells (FCs), principal neurons of the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) that receive excitation from auditory nerve fibers and inhibition from tuberculoventral cells (TVCs) on their basal dendrites in the deep layer of DCN. Despite the importance of these inputs in regulating fusiform cell firing behavior, the mechanisms determining the balance of excitation and FFI in this circuit are not well understood. Therefore, we examined the timing and plasticity of auditory nerve driven FFI onto FCs. We find that in some FCs, excitatory and inhibitory components of FFI had the same stimulation thresholds indicating they could be triggered by activation of the same fibers. In other FCs, excitation and inhibition exhibit different stimulus thresholds, suggesting FCs and TVCs might be activated by different sets of fibers. In addition, we find that during repetitive activation, synapses formed by the auditory nerve onto TVCs and FCs exhibit distinct modes of short-term plasticity. Feed-forward inhibitory post-synaptic currents (IPSCs) in FCs exhibit short-term depression because of prominent synaptic depression at the auditory nerve-TVC synapse. Depression of this feedforward inhibitory input causes a shift in the balance of fusiform cell synaptic input towards greater excitation and suggests that fusiform cell spike output will be enhanced by physiological patterns of auditory nerve activity.

Visual and kinesthetic locomotor imagery training integrated with auditory step rhythm for walking performance of patients with chronic stroke.

PubMed

Kim, Jin-Seop; Oh, Duck-Won; Kim, Suhn-Yeop; Choi, Jong-Duk

2011-02-01

To compare the effect of visual and kinesthetic locomotor imagery training on walking performance and to determine the clinical feasibility of incorporating auditory step rhythm into the training. Randomized crossover trial. Laboratory of a Department of Physical Therapy. Fifteen subjects with post-stroke hemiparesis. Four locomotor imagery trainings on walking performance: visual locomotor imagery training, kinesthetic locomotor imagery training, visual locomotor imagery training with auditory step rhythm and kinesthetic locomotor imagery training with auditory step rhythm. The timed up-and-go test and electromyographic and kinematic analyses of the affected lower limb during one gait cycle. After the interventions, significant differences were found in the timed up-and-go test results between the visual locomotor imagery training (25.69 ± 16.16 to 23.97 ± 14.30) and the kinesthetic locomotor imagery training with auditory step rhythm (22.68 ± 12.35 to 15.77 ± 8.58) (P < 0.05). During the swing and stance phases, the kinesthetic locomotor imagery training exhibited significantly increased activation in a greater number of muscles and increased angular displacement of the knee and ankle joints compared with the visual locomotor imagery training, and these effects were more prominent when auditory step rhythm was integrated into each form of locomotor imagery training. The activation of the hamstring during the swing phase and the gastrocnemius during the stance phase, as well as kinematic data of the knee joint, were significantly different for posttest values between the visual locomotor imagery training and the kinesthetic locomotor imagery training with auditory step rhythm (P < 0.05). The therapeutic effect may be further enhanced in the kinesthetic locomotor imagery training than in the visual locomotor imagery training. The auditory step rhythm together with the locomotor imagery training produces a greater positive effect in improving the walking performance of patients with post-stroke hemiparesis.

Exploring the role of auditory analysis in atypical compared to typical language development.

PubMed

Grube, Manon; Cooper, Freya E; Kumar, Sukhbinder; Kelly, Tom; Griffiths, Timothy D

2014-02-01

The relationship between auditory processing and language skills has been debated for decades. Previous findings have been inconsistent, both in typically developing and impaired subjects, including those with dyslexia or specific language impairment. Whether correlations between auditory and language skills are consistent between different populations has hardly been addressed at all. The present work presents an exploratory approach of testing for patterns of correlations in a range of measures of auditory processing. In a recent study, we reported findings from a large cohort of eleven-year olds on a range of auditory measures and the data supported a specific role for the processing of short sequences in pitch and time in typical language development. Here we tested whether a group of individuals with dyslexic traits (DT group; n = 28) from the same year group would show the same pattern of correlations between auditory and language skills as the typically developing group (TD group; n = 173). Regarding the raw scores, the DT group showed a significantly poorer performance on the language but not the auditory measures, including measures of pitch, time and rhythm, and timbre (modulation). In terms of correlations, there was a tendency to decrease in correlations between short-sequence processing and language skills, contrasted by a significant increase in correlation for basic, single-sound processing, in particular in the domain of modulation. The data support the notion that the fundamental relationship between auditory and language skills might differ in atypical compared to typical language development, with the implication that merging data or drawing inference between populations might be problematic. Further examination of the relationship between both basic sound feature analysis and music-like sound analysis and language skills in impaired populations might allow the development of appropriate training strategies. These might include types of musical training to augment language skills via their common bases in sound sequence analysis. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Irregular Speech Rate Dissociates Auditory Cortical Entrainment, Evoked Responses, and Frontal Alpha

PubMed Central

Kayser, Stephanie J.; Ince, Robin A.A.; Gross, Joachim

2015-01-01

The entrainment of slow rhythmic auditory cortical activity to the temporal regularities in speech is considered to be a central mechanism underlying auditory perception. Previous work has shown that entrainment is reduced when the quality of the acoustic input is degraded, but has also linked rhythmic activity at similar time scales to the encoding of temporal expectations. To understand these bottom-up and top-down contributions to rhythmic entrainment, we manipulated the temporal predictive structure of speech by parametrically altering the distribution of pauses between syllables or words, thereby rendering the local speech rate irregular while preserving intelligibility and the envelope fluctuations of the acoustic signal. Recording EEG activity in human participants, we found that this manipulation did not alter neural processes reflecting the encoding of individual sound transients, such as evoked potentials. However, the manipulation significantly reduced the fidelity of auditory delta (but not theta) band entrainment to the speech envelope. It also reduced left frontal alpha power and this alpha reduction was predictive of the reduced delta entrainment across participants. Our results show that rhythmic auditory entrainment in delta and theta bands reflect functionally distinct processes. Furthermore, they reveal that delta entrainment is under top-down control and likely reflects prefrontal processes that are sensitive to acoustical regularities rather than the bottom-up encoding of acoustic features. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The entrainment of rhythmic auditory cortical activity to the speech envelope is considered to be critical for hearing. Previous work has proposed divergent views in which entrainment reflects either early evoked responses related to sound encoding or high-level processes related to expectation or cognitive selection. Using a manipulation of speech rate, we dissociated auditory entrainment at different time scales. Specifically, our results suggest that delta entrainment is controlled by frontal alpha mechanisms and thus support the notion that rhythmic auditory cortical entrainment is shaped by top-down mechanisms. PMID:26538641

Human Time-Frequency Acuity Beats the Fourier Uncertainty Principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oppenheim, Jacob N.; Magnasco, Marcelo O.

2013-01-01

The time-frequency uncertainty principle states that the product of the temporal and frequency extents of a signal cannot be smaller than 1/(4π). We study human ability to simultaneously judge the frequency and the timing of a sound. Our subjects often exceeded the uncertainty limit, sometimes by more than tenfold, mostly through remarkable timing acuity. Our results establish a lower bound for the nonlinearity and complexity of the algorithms employed by our brains in parsing transient sounds, rule out simple “linear filter” models of early auditory processing, and highlight timing acuity as a central feature in auditory object processing.

Home-based Early Intervention on Auditory and Speech Development in Mandarin-speaking Deaf Infants and Toddlers with Chronological Aged 7-24 Months.

PubMed

Yang, Ying; Liu, Yue-Hui; Fu, Ming-Fu; Li, Chun-Lin; Wang, Li-Yan; Wang, Qi; Sun, Xi-Bin

2015-08-20

Early auditory and speech development in home-based early intervention of infants and toddlers with hearing loss younger than 2 years are still spare in China. This study aimed to observe the development of auditory and speech in deaf infants and toddlers who were fitted with hearing aids and/or received cochlear implantation between the chronological ages of 7-24 months, and analyze the effect of chronological age and recovery time on auditory and speech development in the course of home-based early intervention. This longitudinal study included 55 hearing impaired children with severe and profound binaural deafness, who were divided into Group A (7-12 months), Group B (13-18 months) and Group C (19-24 months) based on the chronological age. Categories auditory performance (CAP) and speech intelligibility rating scale (SIR) were used to evaluate auditory and speech development at baseline and 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months of habilitation. Descriptive statistics were used to describe demographic features and were analyzed by repeated measures analysis of variance. With 24 months of hearing intervention, 78% of the patients were able to understand common phrases and conversation without lip-reading, 96% of the patients were intelligible to a listener. In three groups, children showed the rapid growth of trend features in each period of habilitation. CAP and SIR scores have developed rapidly within 24 months after fitted auxiliary device in Group A, which performed much better auditory and speech abilities than Group B (P < 0.05) and Group C (P < 0.05). Group B achieved better results than Group C, whereas no significant differences were observed between Group B and Group C (P > 0.05). The data suggested the early hearing intervention and home-based habilitation benefit auditory and speech development. Chronological age and recovery time may be major factors for aural verbal outcomes in hearing impaired children. The development of auditory and speech in hearing impaired children may be relatively crucial in thefirst year's habilitation after fitted with the auxiliary device.

Performance breakdown in optimal stimulus decoding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kostal, Lubomir; Lansky, Petr; Pilarski, Stevan

2015-06-01

Objective. One of the primary goals of neuroscience is to understand how neurons encode and process information about their environment. The problem is often approached indirectly by examining the degree to which the neuronal response reflects the stimulus feature of interest. Approach. In this context, the methods of signal estimation and detection theory provide the theoretical limits on the decoding accuracy with which the stimulus can be identified. The Cramér-Rao lower bound on the decoding precision is widely used, since it can be evaluated easily once the mathematical model of the stimulus-response relationship is determined. However, little is known about the behavior of different decoding schemes with respect to the bound if the neuronal population size is limited. Main results. We show that under broad conditions the optimal decoding displays a threshold-like shift in performance in dependence on the population size. The onset of the threshold determines a critical range where a small increment in size, signal-to-noise ratio or observation time yields a dramatic gain in the decoding precision. Significance. We demonstrate the existence of such threshold regions in early auditory and olfactory information coding. We discuss the origin of the threshold effect and its impact on the design of effective coding approaches in terms of relevant population size.

Performance breakdown in optimal stimulus decoding.

PubMed

Lubomir Kostal; Lansky, Petr; Pilarski, Stevan

2015-06-01

One of the primary goals of neuroscience is to understand how neurons encode and process information about their environment. The problem is often approached indirectly by examining the degree to which the neuronal response reflects the stimulus feature of interest. In this context, the methods of signal estimation and detection theory provide the theoretical limits on the decoding accuracy with which the stimulus can be identified. The Cramér-Rao lower bound on the decoding precision is widely used, since it can be evaluated easily once the mathematical model of the stimulus-response relationship is determined. However, little is known about the behavior of different decoding schemes with respect to the bound if the neuronal population size is limited. We show that under broad conditions the optimal decoding displays a threshold-like shift in performance in dependence on the population size. The onset of the threshold determines a critical range where a small increment in size, signal-to-noise ratio or observation time yields a dramatic gain in the decoding precision. We demonstrate the existence of such threshold regions in early auditory and olfactory information coding. We discuss the origin of the threshold effect and its impact on the design of effective coding approaches in terms of relevant population size.

Auditory brainstem activity and development evoked by apical versus basal cochlear implant electrode stimulation in children.

PubMed

Gordon, K A; Papsin, B C; Harrison, R V

2007-08-01

The role of apical versus basal cochlear implant electrode stimulation on central auditory development was examined. We hypothesized that, in children with early onset deafness, auditory development evoked by basal electrode stimulation would differ from that evoked more apically. Responses of the auditory nerve and brainstem, evoked by an apical and a basal implant electrode, were measured over the first year of cochlear implant use in 50 children with early onset severe to profound deafness who used hearing aids prior to implantation. Responses at initial stimulation were of larger amplitude and shorter latency when evoked by the apical electrode. No significant effects of residual hearing or age were found on initial response amplitudes or latencies. With implant use, responses evoked by both electrodes showed decreases in wave and interwave latencies reflecting decreased neural conduction time through the brainstem. Apical versus basal differences persisted with implant experience with one exception; eIII-eV interlatency differences decreased with implant use. Acute stimulation shows prolongation of basally versus apically evoked auditory nerve and brainstem responses in children with severe to profound deafness. Interwave latencies reflecting neural conduction along the caudal and rostral portions of the brainstem decreased over the first year of implant use. Differences in neural conduction times evoked by apical versus basal electrode stimulation persisted in the caudal but not rostral brainstem. Activity-dependent changes of the auditory brainstem occur in response to both apical and basal cochlear implant electrode stimulation.

Interactions across Multiple Stimulus Dimensions in Primary Auditory Cortex.

PubMed

Sloas, David C; Zhuo, Ran; Xue, Hongbo; Chambers, Anna R; Kolaczyk, Eric; Polley, Daniel B; Sen, Kamal

2016-01-01

Although sensory cortex is thought to be important for the perception of complex objects, its specific role in representing complex stimuli remains unknown. Complex objects are rich in information along multiple stimulus dimensions. The position of cortex in the sensory hierarchy suggests that cortical neurons may integrate across these dimensions to form a more gestalt representation of auditory objects. Yet, studies of cortical neurons typically explore single or few dimensions due to the difficulty of determining optimal stimuli in a high dimensional stimulus space. Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) provide a potentially powerful approach for exploring multidimensional stimulus spaces based on real-time spike feedback, but two important issues arise in their application. First, it is unclear whether it is necessary to characterize cortical responses to multidimensional stimuli or whether it suffices to characterize cortical responses to a single dimension at a time. Second, quantitative methods for analyzing complex multidimensional data from an EA are lacking. Here, we apply a statistical method for nonlinear regression, the generalized additive model (GAM), to address these issues. The GAM quantitatively describes the dependence between neural response and all stimulus dimensions. We find that auditory cortical neurons in mice are sensitive to interactions across dimensions. These interactions are diverse across the population, indicating significant integration across stimulus dimensions in auditory cortex. This result strongly motivates using multidimensional stimuli in auditory cortex. Together, the EA and the GAM provide a novel quantitative paradigm for investigating neural coding of complex multidimensional stimuli in auditory and other sensory cortices.

The role of primary auditory and visual cortices in temporal processing: A tDCS approach.

PubMed

Mioni, G; Grondin, S; Forgione, M; Fracasso, V; Mapelli, D; Stablum, F

2016-10-15

Many studies showed that visual stimuli are frequently experienced as shorter than equivalent auditory stimuli. These findings suggest that timing is distributed across many brain areas and that "different clocks" might be involved in temporal processing. The aim of this study is to investigate, with the application of tDCS over V1 and A1, the specific role of primary sensory cortices (either visual or auditory) in temporal processing. Forty-eight University students were included in the study. Twenty-four participants were stimulated over A1 and 24 participants were stimulated over V1. Participants performed time bisection tasks, in the visual and the auditory modalities, involving standard durations lasting 300ms (short) and 900ms (long). When tDCS was delivered over A1, no effect of stimulation was observed on perceived duration but we observed higher temporal variability under anodic stimulation compared to sham and higher variability in the visual compared to the auditory modality. When tDCS was delivered over V1, an under-estimation of perceived duration and higher variability was observed in the visual compared to the auditory modality. Our results showed more variability of visual temporal processing under tDCS stimulation. These results suggest a modality independent role of A1 in temporal processing and a modality specific role of V1 in the processing of temporal intervals in the visual modality. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Transmodal comparison of auditory, motor, and visual post-processing with and without intentional short-term memory maintenance.

PubMed

Bender, Stephan; Behringer, Stephanie; Freitag, Christine M; Resch, Franz; Weisbrod, Matthias

2010-12-01

To elucidate the contributions of modality-dependent post-processing in auditory, motor and visual cortical areas to short-term memory. We compared late negative waves (N700) during the post-processing of single lateralized stimuli which were separated by long intertrial intervals across the auditory, motor and visual modalities. Tasks either required or competed with attention to post-processing of preceding events, i.e. active short-term memory maintenance. N700 indicated that cortical post-processing exceeded short movements as well as short auditory or visual stimuli for over half a second without intentional short-term memory maintenance. Modality-specific topographies pointed towards sensory (respectively motor) generators with comparable time-courses across the different modalities. Lateralization and amplitude of auditory/motor/visual N700 were enhanced by active short-term memory maintenance compared to attention to current perceptions or passive stimulation. The memory-related N700 increase followed the characteristic time-course and modality-specific topography of the N700 without intentional memory-maintenance. Memory-maintenance-related lateralized negative potentials may be related to a less lateralised modality-dependent post-processing N700 component which occurs also without intentional memory maintenance (automatic memory trace or effortless attraction of attention). Encoding to short-term memory may involve controlled attention to modality-dependent post-processing. Similar short-term memory processes may exist in the auditory, motor and visual systems. Copyright © 2010 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Audio-vocal system regulation in children with autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Russo, Nicole; Larson, Charles; Kraus, Nina

2008-06-01

Do children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) respond similarly to perturbations in auditory feedback as typically developing (TD) children? Presentation of pitch-shifted voice auditory feedback to vocalizing participants reveals a close coupling between the processing of auditory feedback and vocal motor control. This paradigm was used to test the hypothesis that abnormalities in the audio-vocal system would negatively impact ASD compensatory responses to perturbed auditory feedback. Voice fundamental frequency (F(0)) was measured while children produced an /a/ sound into a microphone. The voice signal was fed back to the subjects in real time through headphones. During production, the feedback was pitch shifted (-100 cents, 200 ms) at random intervals for 80 trials. Averaged voice F(0) responses to pitch-shifted stimuli were calculated and correlated with both mental and language abilities as tested via standardized tests. A subset of children with ASD produced larger responses to perturbed auditory feedback than TD children, while the other children with ASD produced significantly lower response magnitudes. Furthermore, robust relationships between language ability, response magnitude and time of peak magnitude were identified. Because auditory feedback helps to stabilize voice F(0) (a major acoustic cue of prosody) and individuals with ASD have problems with prosody, this study identified potential mechanisms of dysfunction in the audio-vocal system for voice pitch regulation in some children with ASD. Objectively quantifying this deficit may inform both the assessment of a subgroup of ASD children with prosody deficits, as well as remediation strategies that incorporate pitch training.

A Dynamic Compressive Gammachirp Auditory Filterbank

PubMed Central

Irino, Toshio; Patterson, Roy D.

2008-01-01

It is now common to use knowledge about human auditory processing in the development of audio signal processors. Until recently, however, such systems were limited by their linearity. The auditory filter system is known to be level-dependent as evidenced by psychophysical data on masking, compression, and two-tone suppression. However, there were no analysis/synthesis schemes with nonlinear filterbanks. This paper describe18300060s such a scheme based on the compressive gammachirp (cGC) auditory filter. It was developed to extend the gammatone filter concept to accommodate the changes in psychophysical filter shape that are observed to occur with changes in stimulus level in simultaneous, tone-in-noise masking. In models of simultaneous noise masking, the temporal dynamics of the filtering can be ignored. Analysis/synthesis systems, however, are intended for use with speech sounds where the glottal cycle can be long with respect to auditory time constants, and so they require specification of the temporal dynamics of auditory filter. In this paper, we describe a fast-acting level control circuit for the cGC filter and show how psychophysical data involving two-tone suppression and compression can be used to estimate the parameter values for this dynamic version of the cGC filter (referred to as the “dcGC” filter). One important advantage of analysis/synthesis systems with a dcGC filterbank is that they can inherit previously refined signal processing algorithms developed with conventional short-time Fourier transforms (STFTs) and linear filterbanks. PMID:19330044

Audiovocal Integration in Adults Who Stutter

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loucks, Torrey; Chon, HeeCheong; Han, Woojae

2012-01-01

Background: Altered auditory feedback can facilitate speech fluency in adults who stutter. However, other findings suggest that adults who stutter show anomalies in "audiovocal integration", such as longer phonation reaction times to auditory stimuli and less effective pitch tracking. Aims: To study audiovocal integration in adults who stutter…

Auditory memory function in expert chess players.

PubMed

Fattahi, Fariba; Geshani, Ahmad; Jafari, Zahra; Jalaie, Shohreh; Salman Mahini, Mona

2015-01-01

Chess is a game that involves many aspects of high level cognition such as memory, attention, focus and problem solving. Long term practice of chess can improve cognition performances and behavioral skills. Auditory memory, as a kind of memory, can be influenced by strengthening processes following long term chess playing like other behavioral skills because of common processing pathways in the brain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the auditory memory function of expert chess players using the Persian version of dichotic auditory-verbal memory test. The Persian version of dichotic auditory-verbal memory test was performed for 30 expert chess players aged 20-35 years and 30 non chess players who were matched by different conditions; the participants in both groups were randomly selected. The performance of the two groups was compared by independent samples t-test using SPSS version 21. The mean score of dichotic auditory-verbal memory test between the two groups, expert chess players and non-chess players, revealed a significant difference (p≤ 0.001). The difference between the ears scores for expert chess players (p= 0.023) and non-chess players (p= 0.013) was significant. Gender had no effect on the test results. Auditory memory function in expert chess players was significantly better compared to non-chess players. It seems that increased auditory memory function is related to strengthening cognitive performances due to playing chess for a long time.

Improving Dorsal Stream Function in Dyslexics by Training Figure/Ground Motion Discrimination Improves Attention, Reading Fluency, and Working Memory.

PubMed

Lawton, Teri

2016-01-01

There is an ongoing debate about whether the cause of dyslexia is based on linguistic, auditory, or visual timing deficits. To investigate this issue three interventions were compared in 58 dyslexics in second grade (7 years on average), two targeting the temporal dynamics (timing) of either the auditory or visual pathways with a third reading intervention (control group) targeting linguistic word building. Visual pathway training in dyslexics to improve direction-discrimination of moving test patterns relative to a stationary background (figure/ground discrimination) significantly improved attention, reading fluency, both speed and comprehension, phonological processing, and both auditory and visual working memory relative to controls, whereas auditory training to improve phonological processing did not improve these academic skills significantly more than found for controls. This study supports the hypothesis that faulty timing in synchronizing the activity of magnocellular with parvocellular visual pathways is a fundamental cause of dyslexia, and argues against the assumption that reading deficiencies in dyslexia are caused by phonological deficits. This study demonstrates that visual movement direction-discrimination can be used to not only detect dyslexia early, but also for its successful treatment, so that reading problems do not prevent children from readily learning.

How auditory discontinuities and linguistic experience affect the perception of speech and non-speech in English- and Spanish-speaking listeners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hay, Jessica F.; Holt, Lori L.; Lotto, Andrew J.; Diehl, Randy L.

2005-04-01

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of long-term linguistic experience on the perception of non-speech sounds in English and Spanish speakers. Research using tone-onset-time (TOT) stimuli, a type of non-speech analogue of voice-onset-time (VOT) stimuli, has suggested that there is an underlying auditory basis for the perception of stop consonants based on a threshold for detecting onset asynchronies in the vicinity of +20 ms. For English listeners, stop consonant labeling boundaries are congruent with the positive auditory discontinuity, while Spanish speakers place their VOT labeling boundaries and discrimination peaks in the vicinity of 0 ms VOT. The present study addresses the question of whether long-term linguistic experience with different VOT categories affects the perception of non-speech stimuli that are analogous in their acoustic timing characteristics. A series of synthetic VOT stimuli and TOT stimuli were created for this study. Using language appropriate labeling and ABX discrimination tasks, labeling boundaries (VOT) and discrimination peaks (VOT and TOT) are assessed for 24 monolingual English speakers and 24 monolingual Spanish speakers. The interplay between language experience and auditory biases are discussed. [Work supported by NIDCD.

An experimental study on target recognition using white canes.

PubMed

Nunokawa, Kiyohiko; Ino, Shuichi

2010-01-01

To understand basic tactile perception using white canes, we compared tapping (two times) and pushing (two times) methods using the index finger and using a white cane, with and without accompanying auditory information. Participants were six visually impaired individuals who used a white cane to walk independently in their daily lives. For each of the tapping and pushing and sound or no sound conditions, participants gave magnitude estimates for the hardness of rubber panels. Results indicated that using a white cane produces sensitivity levels equal to using a finger when accompanied by auditory information, and suggested that when using a white cane to estimate the hardness of a target, it is most effective to have two different modalities of tactile and auditory information derived from tapping.

Prelingual auditory-perceptual skills as indicators of initial oral language development in deaf children with cochlear implants.

PubMed

Pianesi, Federica; Scorpecci, Alessandro; Giannantonio, Sara; Micardi, Mariella; Resca, Alessandra; Marsella, Pasquale

2016-03-01

To assess when prelingually deaf children with a cochlear implant (CI) achieve the First Milestone of Oral Language, to study the progression of their prelingual auditory skills in the first year after CI and to investigate a possible correlation between such skills and the timing of initial oral language development. The sample included 44 prelingually deaf children (23 M and 21 F) from the same tertiary care institution, who received unilateral or bilateral cochlear implants. Achievement of the First Milestone of Oral Language (FMOL) was defined as speech comprehension of at least 50 words and speech production of a minimum of 10 words, as established by administration of a validated Italian test for the assessment of initial language competence in infants. Prelingual auditory-perceptual skills were assessed over time by means of a test battery consisting of: the Infant Toddler Meaningful Integration Scale (IT-MAIS); the Infant Listening Progress Profile (ILiP) and the Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP). On average, the 44 children received their CI at 24±9 months and experienced FMOL after 8±4 months of continuous CI use. The IT-MAIS, ILiP and CAP scores increased significantly over time, the greatest improvement occurring between baseline and six months of CI use. On multivariate regression analysis, age at diagnosis and age at CI did not appear to bear correlation with FMOL timing; instead, the only variables contributing to its variance were IT-MAIS and ILiP scores after six months of CI use, accounting for 43% and 55%, respectively. Prelingual auditory skills of implanted children assessed via a test battery six months after CI treatment, can act as indicators of the timing of initial oral language development. Accordingly, the period from CI switch-on to six months can be considered as a window of opportunity for appropriate intervention in children failing to show the expected progression of their auditory skills and who would have higher risk of delayed oral language development. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

How visual cues for when to listen aid selective auditory attention.

PubMed

Varghese, Lenny A; Ozmeral, Erol J; Best, Virginia; Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G

2012-06-01

Visual cues are known to aid auditory processing when they provide direct information about signal content, as in lip reading. However, some studies hint that visual cues also aid auditory perception by guiding attention to the target in a mixture of similar sounds. The current study directly tests this idea for complex, nonspeech auditory signals, using a visual cue providing only timing information about the target. Listeners were asked to identify a target zebra finch bird song played at a random time within a longer, competing masker. Two different maskers were used: noise and a chorus of competing bird songs. On half of all trials, a visual cue indicated the timing of the target within the masker. For the noise masker, the visual cue did not affect performance when target and masker were from the same location, but improved performance when target and masker were in different locations. In contrast, for the chorus masker, visual cues improved performance only when target and masker were perceived as coming from the same direction. These results suggest that simple visual cues for when to listen improve target identification by enhancing sounds near the threshold of audibility when the target is energetically masked and by enhancing segregation when it is difficult to direct selective attention to the target. Visual cues help little when target and masker already differ in attributes that enable listeners to engage selective auditory attention effectively, including differences in spectrotemporal structure and in perceived location.

MEGALEX: A megastudy of visual and auditory word recognition.

PubMed

Ferrand, Ludovic; Méot, Alain; Spinelli, Elsa; New, Boris; Pallier, Christophe; Bonin, Patrick; Dufau, Stéphane; Mathôt, Sebastiaan; Grainger, Jonathan

2018-06-01

Using the megastudy approach, we report a new database (MEGALEX) of visual and auditory lexical decision times and accuracy rates for tens of thousands of words. We collected visual lexical decision data for 28,466 French words and the same number of pseudowords, and auditory lexical decision data for 17,876 French words and the same number of pseudowords (synthesized tokens were used for the auditory modality). This constitutes the first large-scale database for auditory lexical decision, and the first database to enable a direct comparison of word recognition in different modalities. Different regression analyses were conducted to illustrate potential ways to exploit this megastudy database. First, we compared the proportions of variance accounted for by five word frequency measures. Second, we conducted item-level regression analyses to examine the relative importance of the lexical variables influencing performance in the different modalities (visual and auditory). Finally, we compared the similarities and differences between the two modalities. All data are freely available on our website ( https://sedufau.shinyapps.io/megalex/ ) and are searchable at www.lexique.org , inside the Open Lexique search engine.

Non-linear Relationship between BOLD Activation and Amplitude of Beta Oscillations in the Supplementary Motor Area during Rhythmic Finger Tapping and Internal Timing.

PubMed

Gompf, Florian; Pflug, Anja; Laufs, Helmut; Kell, Christian A

2017-01-01

Functional imaging studies using BOLD contrasts have consistently reported activation of the supplementary motor area (SMA) both during motor and internal timing tasks. Opposing findings, however, have been shown for the modulation of beta oscillations in the SMA. While movement suppresses beta oscillations in the SMA, motor and non-motor tasks that rely on internal timing increase the amplitude of beta oscillations in the SMA. These independent observations suggest that the relationship between beta oscillations and BOLD activation is more complex than previously thought. Here we set out to investigate this rapport by examining beta oscillations in the SMA during movement with varying degrees of internal timing demands. In a simultaneous EEG-fMRI experiment, 20 healthy right-handed subjects performed an auditory-paced finger-tapping task. Internal timing was operationalized by including conditions with taps on every fourth auditory beat, which necessitates generation of a slow internal rhythm, while tapping to every auditory beat reflected simple auditory-motor synchronization. In the SMA, BOLD activity increased and power in both the low and the high beta band decreased expectedly during each condition compared to baseline. Internal timing was associated with a reduced desynchronization of low beta oscillations compared to conditions without internal timing demands. In parallel with this relative beta power increase, internal timing activated the SMA more strongly in terms of BOLD. This documents a task-dependent non-linear relationship between BOLD and beta-oscillations in the SMA. We discuss different roles of beta synchronization and desynchronization in active processing within the same cortical region.

Regulation of Conduction Time along Axons

PubMed Central

Seidl, Armin H.

2013-01-01

Timely delivery of information is essential for proper function of the nervous system. Precise regulation of nerve conduction velocity is needed for correct exertion of motor skills, sensory integration and cognitive functions. In vertebrates, the rapid transmission of signals along nerve fibers is made possible by the myelination of axons and the resulting saltatory conduction in between nodes of Ranvier. Myelin is a specialization of glia cells and is provided by oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system. Myelination not only maximizes conduction velocity, but also provides a means to systematically regulate conduction times in the nervous system. Systematic regulation of conduction velocity along axons, and thus systematic regulation of conduction time in between neural areas, is a common occurrence in the nervous system. To date, little is understood about the mechanism that underlies systematic conduction velocity regulation and conduction time synchrony. Node assembly, internode distance (node spacing) and axon diameter - all parameters determining the speed of signal propagation along axons - are controlled by myelinating glia. Therefore, an interaction between glial cells and neurons has been suggested. This review summarizes examples of neural systems in which conduction velocity is regulated by anatomical variations along axons. While functional implications in these systems are not always clear, recent studies in the auditory system of birds and mammals present examples of conduction velocity regulation in systems with high temporal precision and a defined biological function. Together these findings suggest an active process that shapes the interaction between axons and myelinating glia to control conduction velocity along axons. Future studies involving these systems may provide further insight into how specific conduction times in the brain are established and maintained in development. Throughout the text, conduction velocity is used for the speed of signal propagation, i.e. the speed at which an action potential travels. Conduction time refers to the time it takes for a specific signal to travel from its origin to its target, i.e. neuronal cell body to axonal terminal. PMID:23820043

Efficacy of Individual Computer-Based Auditory Training for People with Hearing Loss: A Systematic Review of the Evidence

PubMed Central

Henshaw, Helen; Ferguson, Melanie A.

2013-01-01

Background Auditory training involves active listening to auditory stimuli and aims to improve performance in auditory tasks. As such, auditory training is a potential intervention for the management of people with hearing loss. Objective This systematic review (PROSPERO 2011: CRD42011001406) evaluated the published evidence-base for the efficacy of individual computer-based auditory training to improve speech intelligibility, cognition and communication abilities in adults with hearing loss, with or without hearing aids or cochlear implants. Methods A systematic search of eight databases and key journals identified 229 articles published since 1996, 13 of which met the inclusion criteria. Data were independently extracted and reviewed by the two authors. Study quality was assessed using ten pre-defined scientific and intervention-specific measures. Results Auditory training resulted in improved performance for trained tasks in 9/10 articles that reported on-task outcomes. Although significant generalisation of learning was shown to untrained measures of speech intelligibility (11/13 articles), cognition (1/1 articles) and self-reported hearing abilities (1/2 articles), improvements were small and not robust. Where reported, compliance with computer-based auditory training was high, and retention of learning was shown at post-training follow-ups. Published evidence was of very-low to moderate study quality. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that published evidence for the efficacy of individual computer-based auditory training for adults with hearing loss is not robust and therefore cannot be reliably used to guide intervention at this time. We identify a need for high-quality evidence to further examine the efficacy of computer-based auditory training for people with hearing loss. PMID:23675431

Binaural speech processing in individuals with auditory neuropathy.

PubMed

Rance, G; Ryan, M M; Carew, P; Corben, L A; Yiu, E; Tan, J; Delatycki, M B

2012-12-13

Auditory neuropathy disrupts the neural representation of sound and may therefore impair processes contingent upon inter-aural integration. The aims of this study were to investigate binaural auditory processing in individuals with axonal (Friedreich ataxia) and demyelinating (Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A) auditory neuropathy and to evaluate the relationship between the degree of auditory deficit and overall clinical severity in patients with neuropathic disorders. Twenty-three subjects with genetically confirmed Friedreich ataxia and 12 subjects with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A underwent psychophysical evaluation of basic auditory processing (intensity discrimination/temporal resolution) and binaural speech perception assessment using the Listening in Spatialized Noise test. Age, gender and hearing-level-matched controls were also tested. Speech perception in noise for individuals with auditory neuropathy was abnormal for each listening condition, but was particularly affected in circumstances where binaural processing might have improved perception through spatial segregation. Ability to use spatial cues was correlated with temporal resolution suggesting that the binaural-processing deficit was the result of disordered representation of timing cues in the left and right auditory nerves. Spatial processing was also related to overall disease severity (as measured by the Friedreich Ataxia Rating Scale and Charcot-Marie-Tooth Neuropathy Score) suggesting that the degree of neural dysfunction in the auditory system accurately reflects generalized neuropathic changes. Measures of binaural speech processing show promise for application in the neurology clinic. In individuals with auditory neuropathy due to both axonal and demyelinating mechanisms the assessment provides a measure of functional hearing ability, a biomarker capable of tracking the natural history of progressive disease and a potential means of evaluating the effectiveness of interventions. Copyright © 2012 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Behavioural evidence for separate mechanisms of audiovisual temporal binding as a function of leading sensory modality.

PubMed

Cecere, Roberto; Gross, Joachim; Thut, Gregor

2016-06-01

The ability to integrate auditory and visual information is critical for effective perception and interaction with the environment, and is thought to be abnormal in some clinical populations. Several studies have investigated the time window over which audiovisual events are integrated, also called the temporal binding window, and revealed asymmetries depending on the order of audiovisual input (i.e. the leading sense). When judging audiovisual simultaneity, the binding window appears narrower and non-malleable for auditory-leading stimulus pairs and wider and trainable for visual-leading pairs. Here we specifically examined the level of independence of binding mechanisms when auditory-before-visual vs. visual-before-auditory input is bound. Three groups of healthy participants practiced audiovisual simultaneity detection with feedback, selectively training on auditory-leading stimulus pairs (group 1), visual-leading stimulus pairs (group 2) or both (group 3). Subsequently, we tested for learning transfer (crossover) from trained stimulus pairs to non-trained pairs with opposite audiovisual input. Our data confirmed the known asymmetry in size and trainability for auditory-visual vs. visual-auditory binding windows. More importantly, practicing one type of audiovisual integration (e.g. auditory-visual) did not affect the other type (e.g. visual-auditory), even if trainable by within-condition practice. Together, these results provide crucial evidence that audiovisual temporal binding for auditory-leading vs. visual-leading stimulus pairs are independent, possibly tapping into different circuits for audiovisual integration due to engagement of different multisensory sampling mechanisms depending on leading sense. Our results have implications for informing the study of multisensory interactions in healthy participants and clinical populations with dysfunctional multisensory integration. © 2016 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience published by Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Auditory short-term memory in the primate auditory cortex.

PubMed

Scott, Brian H; Mishkin, Mortimer

2016-06-01

Sounds are fleeting, and assembling the sequence of inputs at the ear into a coherent percept requires auditory memory across various time scales. Auditory short-term memory comprises at least two components: an active ׳working memory' bolstered by rehearsal, and a sensory trace that may be passively retained. Working memory relies on representations recalled from long-term memory, and their rehearsal may require phonological mechanisms unique to humans. The sensory component, passive short-term memory (pSTM), is tractable to study in nonhuman primates, whose brain architecture and behavioral repertoire are comparable to our own. This review discusses recent advances in the behavioral and neurophysiological study of auditory memory with a focus on single-unit recordings from macaque monkeys performing delayed-match-to-sample (DMS) tasks. Monkeys appear to employ pSTM to solve these tasks, as evidenced by the impact of interfering stimuli on memory performance. In several regards, pSTM in monkeys resembles pitch memory in humans, and may engage similar neural mechanisms. Neural correlates of DMS performance have been observed throughout the auditory and prefrontal cortex, defining a network of areas supporting auditory STM with parallels to that supporting visual STM. These correlates include persistent neural firing, or a suppression of firing, during the delay period of the memory task, as well as suppression or (less commonly) enhancement of sensory responses when a sound is repeated as a ׳match' stimulus. Auditory STM is supported by a distributed temporo-frontal network in which sensitivity to stimulus history is an intrinsic feature of auditory processing. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Auditory working memory. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Towards neural correlates of auditory stimulus processing: A simultaneous auditory evoked potentials and functional magnetic resonance study using an odd-ball paradigm

PubMed Central

Milner, Rafał; Rusiniak, Mateusz; Lewandowska, Monika; Wolak, Tomasz; Ganc, Małgorzata; Piątkowska-Janko, Ewa; Bogorodzki, Piotr; Skarżyński, Henryk

2014-01-01

Background The neural underpinnings of auditory information processing have often been investigated using the odd-ball paradigm, in which infrequent sounds (deviants) are presented within a regular train of frequent stimuli (standards). Traditionally, this paradigm has been applied using either high temporal resolution (EEG) or high spatial resolution (fMRI, PET). However, used separately, these techniques cannot provide information on both the location and time course of particular neural processes. The goal of this study was to investigate the neural correlates of auditory processes with a fine spatio-temporal resolution. A simultaneous auditory evoked potentials (AEP) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique (AEP-fMRI), together with an odd-ball paradigm, were used. Material/Methods Six healthy volunteers, aged 20–35 years, participated in an odd-ball simultaneous AEP-fMRI experiment. AEP in response to acoustic stimuli were used to model bioelectric intracerebral generators, and electrophysiological results were integrated with fMRI data. Results fMRI activation evoked by standard stimuli was found to occur mainly in the primary auditory cortex. Activity in these regions overlapped with intracerebral bioelectric sources (dipoles) of the N1 component. Dipoles of the N1/P2 complex in response to standard stimuli were also found in the auditory pathway between the thalamus and the auditory cortex. Deviant stimuli induced fMRI activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus, insula, and parietal lobes. Conclusions The present study showed that neural processes evoked by standard stimuli occur predominantly in subcortical and cortical structures of the auditory pathway. Deviants activate areas non-specific for auditory information processing. PMID:24413019

Developmental and cross-modal plasticity in deafness: evidence from the P1 and N1 event related potentials in cochlear implanted children.

PubMed

Sharma, Anu; Campbell, Julia; Cardon, Garrett

2015-02-01

Cortical development is dependent on extrinsic stimulation. As such, sensory deprivation, as in congenital deafness, can dramatically alter functional connectivity and growth in the auditory system. Cochlear implants ameliorate deprivation-induced delays in maturation by directly stimulating the central nervous system, and thereby restoring auditory input. The scenario in which hearing is lost due to deafness and then reestablished via a cochlear implant provides a window into the development of the central auditory system. Converging evidence from electrophysiologic and brain imaging studies of deaf animals and children fitted with cochlear implants has allowed us to elucidate the details of the time course for auditory cortical maturation under conditions of deprivation. Here, we review how the P1 cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) provides useful insight into sensitive period cut-offs for development of the primary auditory cortex in deaf children fitted with cochlear implants. Additionally, we present new data on similar sensitive period dynamics in higher-order auditory cortices, as measured by the N1 CAEP in cochlear implant recipients. Furthermore, cortical re-organization, secondary to sensory deprivation, may take the form of compensatory cross-modal plasticity. We provide new case-study evidence that cross-modal re-organization, in which intact sensory modalities (i.e., vision and somatosensation) recruit cortical regions associated with deficient sensory modalities (i.e., auditory) in cochlear implanted children may influence their behavioral outcomes with the implant. Improvements in our understanding of developmental neuroplasticity in the auditory system should lead to harnessing central auditory plasticity for superior clinical technique. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Synaptic integration in dendrites: exceptional need for speed

PubMed Central

Golding, Nace L; Oertel, Donata

2012-01-01

Some neurons in the mammalian auditory system are able to detect and report the coincident firing of inputs with remarkable temporal precision. A strong, low-voltage-activated potassium conductance (gKL) at the cell body and dendrites gives these neurons sensitivity to the rate of depolarization by EPSPs, allowing neurons to assess the coincidence of the rising slopes of unitary EPSPs. Two groups of neurons in the brain stem, octopus cells in the posteroventral cochlear nucleus and principal cells of the medial superior olive (MSO), extract acoustic information by assessing coincident firing of their inputs over a submillisecond timescale and convey that information at rates of up to 1000 spikes s−1. Octopus cells detect the coincident activation of groups of auditory nerve fibres by broadband transient sounds, compensating for the travelling wave delay by dendritic filtering, while MSO neurons detect coincident activation of similarly tuned neurons from each of the two ears through separate dendritic tufts. Each makes use of filtering that is introduced by the spatial distribution of inputs on dendrites. PMID:22930273

Cortical encoding and neurophysiological tracking of intensity and pitch cues signaling English stress patterns in native and nonnative speakers.

PubMed

Chung, Wei-Lun; Bidelman, Gavin M

2016-01-01

We examined cross-language differences in neural encoding and tracking of intensity and pitch cues signaling English stress patterns. Auditory mismatch negativities (MMNs) were recorded in English and Mandarin listeners in response to contrastive English pseudowords whose primary stress occurred either on the first or second syllable (i.e., "nocTICity" vs. "NOCticity"). The contrastive syllable stress elicited two consecutive MMNs in both language groups, but English speakers demonstrated larger responses to stress patterns than Mandarin speakers. Correlations between the amplitude of ERPs and continuous changes in the running intensity and pitch of speech assessed how well each language group's brain activity tracked these salient acoustic features of lexical stress. We found that English speakers' neural responses tracked intensity changes in speech more closely than Mandarin speakers (higher brain-acoustic correlation). Findings demonstrate more robust and precise processing of English stress (intensity) patterns in early auditory cortical responses of native relative to nonnative speakers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Attention failures versus misplaced diligence: separating attention lapses from speed-accuracy trade-offs.

PubMed

Seli, Paul; Cheyne, James Allan; Smilek, Daniel

2012-03-01

In two studies of a GO-NOGO task assessing sustained attention, we examined the effects of (1) altering speed-accuracy trade-offs through instructions (emphasizing both speed and accuracy or accuracy only) and (2) auditory alerts distributed throughout the task. Instructions emphasizing accuracy reduced errors and changed the distribution of GO trial RTs. Additionally, correlations between errors and increasing RTs produced a U-function; excessively fast and slow RTs accounted for much of the variance of errors. Contrary to previous reports, alerts increased errors and RT variability. The results suggest that (1) standard instructions for sustained attention tasks, emphasizing speed and accuracy equally, produce errors arising from attempts to conform to the misleading requirement for speed, which become conflated with attention-lapse produced errors and (2) auditory alerts have complex, and sometimes deleterious, effects on attention. We argue that instructions emphasizing accuracy provide a more precise assessment of attention lapses in sustained attention tasks. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of the influence of memory content of auditory stimuli on the memory content of EEG signal

PubMed Central

Namazi, Hamidreza; Kulish, Vladimir V.

2016-01-01

One of the major challenges in brain research is to relate the structural features of the auditory stimulus to structural features of Electroencephalogram (EEG) signal. Memory content is an important feature of EEG signal and accordingly the brain. On the other hand, the memory content can also be considered in case of stimulus. Beside all works done on analysis of the effect of stimuli on human EEG and brain memory, no work discussed about the stimulus memory and also the relationship that may exist between the memory content of stimulus and the memory content of EEG signal. For this purpose we consider the Hurst exponent as the measure of memory. This study reveals the plasticity of human EEG signals in relation to the auditory stimuli. For the first time we demonstrated that the memory content of an EEG signal shifts towards the memory content of the auditory stimulus used. The results of this analysis showed that an auditory stimulus with higher memory content causes a larger increment in the memory content of an EEG signal. For the verification of this result, we benefit from approximate entropy as indicator of time series randomness. The capability, observed in this research, can be further investigated in relation to human memory. PMID:27528219

Multisensory integration across the senses in young and old adults

PubMed Central

Mahoney, Jeannette R.; Li, Po Ching Clara; Oh-Park, Mooyeon; Verghese, Joe; Holtzer, Roee

2011-01-01

Stimuli are processed concurrently and across multiple sensory inputs. Here we directly compared the effect of multisensory integration (MSI) on reaction time across three paired sensory inputs in eighteen young (M=19.17 yrs) and eighteen old (M=76.44 yrs) individuals. Participants were determined to be non-demented and without any medical or psychiatric conditions that would affect their performance. Participants responded to randomly presented unisensory (auditory, visual, somatosensory) stimuli and three paired sensory inputs consisting of auditory-somatosensory (AS) auditory-visual (AV) and visual-somatosensory (VS) stimuli. Results revealed that reaction time (RT) to all multisensory pairings was significantly faster than those elicited to the constituent unisensory conditions across age groups; findings that could not be accounted for by simple probability summation. Both young and old participants responded the fastest to multisensory pairings containing somatosensory input. Compared to younger adults, older adults demonstrated a significantly greater RT benefit when processing concurrent VS information. In terms of co-activation, older adults demonstrated a significant increase in the magnitude of visual-somatosensory co-activation (i.e., multisensory integration), while younger adults demonstrated a significant increase in the magnitude of auditory-visual and auditory-somatosensory co-activation. This study provides first evidence in support of the facilitative effect of pairing somatosensory with visual stimuli in older adults. PMID:22024545

Analysis of the influence of memory content of auditory stimuli on the memory content of EEG signal.

PubMed

Namazi, Hamidreza; Khosrowabadi, Reza; Hussaini, Jamal; Habibi, Shaghayegh; Farid, Ali Akhavan; Kulish, Vladimir V

2016-08-30

One of the major challenges in brain research is to relate the structural features of the auditory stimulus to structural features of Electroencephalogram (EEG) signal. Memory content is an important feature of EEG signal and accordingly the brain. On the other hand, the memory content can also be considered in case of stimulus. Beside all works done on analysis of the effect of stimuli on human EEG and brain memory, no work discussed about the stimulus memory and also the relationship that may exist between the memory content of stimulus and the memory content of EEG signal. For this purpose we consider the Hurst exponent as the measure of memory. This study reveals the plasticity of human EEG signals in relation to the auditory stimuli. For the first time we demonstrated that the memory content of an EEG signal shifts towards the memory content of the auditory stimulus used. The results of this analysis showed that an auditory stimulus with higher memory content causes a larger increment in the memory content of an EEG signal. For the verification of this result, we benefit from approximate entropy as indicator of time series randomness. The capability, observed in this research, can be further investigated in relation to human memory.

Source analysis of auditory steady-state responses in acoustic and electric hearing.

PubMed

Luke, Robert; De Vos, Astrid; Wouters, Jan

2017-02-15

Speech is a complex signal containing a broad variety of acoustic information. For accurate speech reception, the listener must perceive modulations over a range of envelope frequencies. Perception of these modulations is particularly important for cochlear implant (CI) users, as all commercial devices use envelope coding strategies. Prolonged deafness affects the auditory pathway. However, little is known of how cochlear implantation affects the neural processing of modulated stimuli. This study investigates and contrasts the neural processing of envelope rate modulated signals in acoustic and CI listeners. Auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs) are used to study the neural processing of amplitude modulated (AM) signals. A beamforming technique is applied to determine the increase in neural activity relative to a control condition, with particular attention paid to defining the accuracy and precision of this technique relative to other tomographies. In a cohort of 44 acoustic listeners, the location, activity and hemispheric lateralisation of ASSRs is characterised while systematically varying the modulation rate (4, 10, 20, 40 and 80Hz) and stimulation ear (right, left and bilateral). We demonstrate a complex pattern of laterality depending on both modulation rate and stimulation ear that is consistent with, and extends, existing literature. We present a novel extension to the beamforming method which facilitates source analysis of electrically evoked auditory steady-state responses (EASSRs). In a cohort of 5 right implanted unilateral CI users, the neural activity is determined for the 40Hz rate and compared to the acoustic cohort. Results indicate that CI users activate typical thalamic locations for 40Hz stimuli. However, complementary to studies of transient stimuli, the CI population has atypical hemispheric laterality, preferentially activating the contralateral hemisphere. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Effect of Eight Weekly Aerobic Training Program on Auditory Reaction Time and MaxVO[subscript 2] in Visual Impairments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taskin, Cengiz

2016-01-01

The aim of study was to examine the effect of eight weekly aerobic exercises on auditory reaction time and MaxVO[subscript 2] in visual impairments. Forty visual impairment children that have blind 3 classification from the Turkey, experimental group; (age = 15.60 ± 1.10 years; height = 164.15 ± 4.88 cm; weight = 66.60 ± 4.77 kg) for twenty…

Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potential Study in Children with Autistic Disorder.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Virginia; Wong, Sik Nin

1991-01-01

Brainstem auditory evoked potentials were compared in 109 children with infantile autism, 38 with autistic condition, 19 with mental retardation, and 20 normal children. Children with infantile autism or autistic condition had significantly longer brainstem transmission time than normal children suggesting neurological damage as the basis of…

Masking Level Difference Response Norms from Learning Disabled Individuals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waryas, Paul A.; Battin, R. Ray

1985-01-01

The study presents normative data on Masking Level Difference (an improvement of the auditory processing of interaural time/intensity differences between signals and masking noises) for 90 learning disabled persons (4-35 years old). It was concluded that the MLD may quickly screen for auditory processing problems. (CL)

Using a Function Generator to Produce Auditory and Visual Demonstrations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woods, Charles B.

1998-01-01

Identifies a function generator as an instrument that produces time-varying electrical signals of frequency, wavelength, and amplitude. Sending these signals to a speaker or a light-emitting diode can demonstrate how specific characteristics of auditory or visual stimuli relate to perceptual experiences. Provides specific instructions for using…

Effect of Auditory Motion Velocity on Reaction Time and Cortical Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Getzmann, Stephan

2009-01-01

The study investigated the processing of sound motion, employing a psychophysical motion discrimination task in combination with electroencephalography. Following stationary auditory stimulation from a central space position, the onset of left- and rightward motion elicited a specific cortical response that was lateralized to the hemisphere…

Generating synchrony from the asynchronous: compensation for cochlear traveling wave delays by the dendrites of individual brainstem neurons

PubMed Central

McGinley, Matthew J.; Liberman, M. Charles; Bal, Ramazan; Oertel, Donata

2012-01-01

Broadband transient sounds, such as clicks and consonants, activate a traveling wave in the cochlea. This wave evokes firing in auditory nerve fibers that are tuned to high frequencies several milliseconds earlier than in fibers tuned to low frequencies. Despite this substantial traveling wave delay, octopus cells in the brainstem receive broadband input and respond to clicks with submillisecond temporal precision. The dendrites of octopus cells lie perpendicular to the tonotopically organized array of auditory nerve fibers, placing the earliest arriving inputs most distally and the latest arriving closest to the soma. Here, we test the hypothesis that the topographic arrangement of synaptic inputs on dendrites of octopus cells allows octopus cells to compensate the traveling wave delay. We show that in mice the full cochlear traveling wave delay is 1.6 ms. Because the dendrites of each octopus cell spread across about one third of the tonotopic axis, a click evokes a soma directed sweep of synaptic input lasting 0.5 ms in individual octopus cells. Morphologically and biophysically realistic, computational models of octopus cells show that soma-directed sweeps with durations matching in vivo measurements result in the largest and sharpest somatic excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs). A low input resistance and activation of a low-voltage-activated potassium conductance that are characteristic of octopus cells are important determinants of sweep sensitivity. We conclude that octopus cells have dendritic morphologies and biophysics tailored to accomplish the precise encoding of broadband transient sounds. PMID:22764237

The effect of postsurgical pain on attentional processing in horses.

PubMed

Dodds, Louise; Knight, Laura; Allen, Kate; Murrell, Joanna

2017-07-01

To investigate the effect of postsurgical pain on the performance of horses in a novel object and auditory startle task. Prospective clinical study. Twenty horses undergoing different types of surgery and 16 control horses that did not undergo surgery. The interaction of 36 horses with novel objects and a response to an auditory stimulus were measured at two time points; the day before surgery (T1) and the day after surgery (T2) for surgical horses (G1), and at a similar time interval for control horses (G2). Pain and sedation were measured using simple descriptive scales at the time the tests were carried out. Total time or score attributed to each of the behavioural categories was compared between groups (G1 and G2) for each test and between tests (T1 and T2) for each group. The median (range) time spent interacting with novel objects was reduced in G1 from 58 (6-367) seconds in T1 to 12 (0-495) seconds in T2 (p=0.0005). In G2 the change in interaction time between T1 and T2 was not statistically significant. Median (range) total auditory score was 7 (3-12) and 10 (1-12) in G1 and G2, respectively, at T1, decreasing to 6 (0-10) in G1 after surgery and 9.5 (1-12) in G2 (p=0.0003 and p=0.94, respectively). There was a difference in total auditory score between G1 and G2 at T2 (p=0.0169), with the score being lower in G1 than G2. Postsurgical pain negatively impacts attention towards novel objects and causes a decreased responsiveness to an auditory startle test. In horses, tasks demanding attention may be useful as a biomarker of pain. Copyright © 2017 Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists and American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia. All rights reserved.

Technical aspects of a demonstration tape for three-dimensional sound displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Begault, Durand R.; Wenzel, Elizabeth M.

1990-01-01

This document was developed to accompany an audio cassette that demonstrates work in three-dimensional auditory displays, developed at the Ames Research Center Aerospace Human Factors Division. It provides a text version of the audio material, and covers the theoretical and technical issues of spatial auditory displays in greater depth than on the cassette. The technical procedures used in the production of the audio demonstration are documented, including the methods for simulating rotorcraft radio communication, synthesizing auditory icons, and using the Convolvotron, a real-time spatialization device.

Auditory short-term memory in the primate auditory cortex

PubMed Central

Scott, Brian H.; Mishkin, Mortimer

2015-01-01

Sounds are fleeting, and assembling the sequence of inputs at the ear into a coherent percept requires auditory memory across various time scales. Auditory short-term memory comprises at least two components: an active ‘working memory’ bolstered by rehearsal, and a sensory trace that may be passively retained. Working memory relies on representations recalled from long-term memory, and their rehearsal may require phonological mechanisms unique to humans. The sensory component, passive short-term memory (pSTM), is tractable to study in nonhuman primates, whose brain architecture and behavioral repertoire are comparable to our own. This review discusses recent advances in the behavioral and neurophysiological study of auditory memory with a focus on single-unit recordings from macaque monkeys performing delayed-match-to-sample (DMS) tasks. Monkeys appear to employ pSTM to solve these tasks, as evidenced by the impact of interfering stimuli on memory performance. In several regards, pSTM in monkeys resembles pitch memory in humans, and may engage similar neural mechanisms. Neural correlates of DMS performance have been observed throughout the auditory and prefrontal cortex, defining a network of areas supporting auditory STM with parallels to that supporting visual STM. These correlates include persistent neural firing, or a suppression of firing, during the delay period of the memory task, as well as suppression or (less commonly) enhancement of sensory responses when a sound is repeated as a ‘match’ stimulus. Auditory STM is supported by a distributed temporo-frontal network in which sensitivity to stimulus history is an intrinsic feature of auditory processing. PMID:26541581

Auditory short-term memory activation during score reading.

PubMed

Simoens, Veerle L; Tervaniemi, Mari

2013-01-01

Performing music on the basis of reading a score requires reading ahead of what is being played in order to anticipate the necessary actions to produce the notes. Score reading thus not only involves the decoding of a visual score and the comparison to the auditory feedback, but also short-term storage of the musical information due to the delay of the auditory feedback during reading ahead. This study investigates the mechanisms of encoding of musical information in short-term memory during such a complicated procedure. There were three parts in this study. First, professional musicians participated in an electroencephalographic (EEG) experiment to study the slow wave potentials during a time interval of short-term memory storage in a situation that requires cross-modal translation and short-term storage of visual material to be compared with delayed auditory material, as it is the case in music score reading. This delayed visual-to-auditory matching task was compared with delayed visual-visual and auditory-auditory matching tasks in terms of EEG topography and voltage amplitudes. Second, an additional behavioural experiment was performed to determine which type of distractor would be the most interfering with the score reading-like task. Third, the self-reported strategies of the participants were also analyzed. All three parts of this study point towards the same conclusion according to which during music score reading, the musician most likely first translates the visual score into an auditory cue, probably starting around 700 or 1300 ms, ready for storage and delayed comparison with the auditory feedback.

Exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone above USA standards are associated with auditory brainstem dysmorphology and abnormal auditory brainstem evoked potentials in healthy young dogs.

PubMed

Calderón-Garcidueñas, Lilian; González-González, Luis O; Kulesza, Randy J; Fech, Tatiana M; Pérez-Guillé, Gabriela; Luna, Miguel Angel Jiménez-Bravo; Soriano-Rosales, Rosa Eugenia; Solorio, Edelmira; Miramontes-Higuera, José de Jesús; Gómez-Maqueo Chew, Aline; Bernal-Morúa, Alexia F; Mukherjee, Partha S; Torres-Jardón, Ricardo; Mills, Paul C; Wilson, Wayne J; Pérez-Guillé, Beatriz; D'Angiulli, Amedeo

2017-10-01

Delayed central conduction times in the auditory brainstem have been observed in Mexico City (MC) healthy children exposed to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and ozone (O 3 ) above the current United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) standards. MC children have α synuclein brainstem accumulation and medial superior olivary complex (MSO) dysmorphology. The present study used a dog model to investigate the potential effects of air pollution on the function and morphology of the auditory brainstem. Twenty-four dogs living in clean air v MC, average age 37.1 ± 26.3 months, underwent brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) measurements. Eight dogs (4 MC, 4 Controls) were analysed for auditory brainstem morphology and histopathology. MC dogs showed ventral cochlear nuclei hypotrophy and MSO dysmorphology with a significant decrease in cell body size, decreased neuronal packing density with regions in the nucleus devoid of neurons and marked gliosis. MC dogs showed significant delayed BAEP absolute wave I, III and V latencies compared to controls. MC dogs show auditory nuclei dysmorphology and BAEPs consistent with an alteration of the generator sites of the auditory brainstem response waveform. This study puts forward the usefulness of BAEPs to study auditory brainstem neurodegenerative changes associated with air pollution in dogs. Recognition of the role of non-invasive BAEPs in urban dogs is warranted to elucidate novel neurodegenerative pathways link to air pollution and a promising early diagnostic strategy for Alzheimer's Disease. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Contextual modulation of primary visual cortex by auditory signals.

PubMed

Petro, L S; Paton, A T; Muckli, L

2017-02-19

Early visual cortex receives non-feedforward input from lateral and top-down connections (Muckli & Petro 2013 Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 23, 195-201. (doi:10.1016/j.conb.2013.01.020)), including long-range projections from auditory areas. Early visual cortex can code for high-level auditory information, with neural patterns representing natural sound stimulation (Vetter et al. 2014 Curr. Biol. 24, 1256-1262. (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.04.020)). We discuss a number of questions arising from these findings. What is the adaptive function of bimodal representations in visual cortex? What type of information projects from auditory to visual cortex? What are the anatomical constraints of auditory information in V1, for example, periphery versus fovea, superficial versus deep cortical layers? Is there a putative neural mechanism we can infer from human neuroimaging data and recent theoretical accounts of cortex? We also present data showing we can read out high-level auditory information from the activation patterns of early visual cortex even when visual cortex receives simple visual stimulation, suggesting independent channels for visual and auditory signals in V1. We speculate which cellular mechanisms allow V1 to be contextually modulated by auditory input to facilitate perception, cognition and behaviour. Beyond cortical feedback that facilitates perception, we argue that there is also feedback serving counterfactual processing during imagery, dreaming and mind wandering, which is not relevant for immediate perception but for behaviour and cognition over a longer time frame.This article is part of the themed issue 'Auditory and visual scene analysis'. © 2017 The Authors.

Contextual modulation of primary visual cortex by auditory signals

PubMed Central

Paton, A. T.

2017-01-01

Early visual cortex receives non-feedforward input from lateral and top-down connections (Muckli & Petro 2013 Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 23, 195–201. (doi:10.1016/j.conb.2013.01.020)), including long-range projections from auditory areas. Early visual cortex can code for high-level auditory information, with neural patterns representing natural sound stimulation (Vetter et al. 2014 Curr. Biol. 24, 1256–1262. (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.04.020)). We discuss a number of questions arising from these findings. What is the adaptive function of bimodal representations in visual cortex? What type of information projects from auditory to visual cortex? What are the anatomical constraints of auditory information in V1, for example, periphery versus fovea, superficial versus deep cortical layers? Is there a putative neural mechanism we can infer from human neuroimaging data and recent theoretical accounts of cortex? We also present data showing we can read out high-level auditory information from the activation patterns of early visual cortex even when visual cortex receives simple visual stimulation, suggesting independent channels for visual and auditory signals in V1. We speculate which cellular mechanisms allow V1 to be contextually modulated by auditory input to facilitate perception, cognition and behaviour. Beyond cortical feedback that facilitates perception, we argue that there is also feedback serving counterfactual processing during imagery, dreaming and mind wandering, which is not relevant for immediate perception but for behaviour and cognition over a longer time frame. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Auditory and visual scene analysis’. PMID:28044015

Auditory Short-Term Memory Activation during Score Reading

PubMed Central

Simoens, Veerle L.; Tervaniemi, Mari

2013-01-01

Performing music on the basis of reading a score requires reading ahead of what is being played in order to anticipate the necessary actions to produce the notes. Score reading thus not only involves the decoding of a visual score and the comparison to the auditory feedback, but also short-term storage of the musical information due to the delay of the auditory feedback during reading ahead. This study investigates the mechanisms of encoding of musical information in short-term memory during such a complicated procedure. There were three parts in this study. First, professional musicians participated in an electroencephalographic (EEG) experiment to study the slow wave potentials during a time interval of short-term memory storage in a situation that requires cross-modal translation and short-term storage of visual material to be compared with delayed auditory material, as it is the case in music score reading. This delayed visual-to-auditory matching task was compared with delayed visual-visual and auditory-auditory matching tasks in terms of EEG topography and voltage amplitudes. Second, an additional behavioural experiment was performed to determine which type of distractor would be the most interfering with the score reading-like task. Third, the self-reported strategies of the participants were also analyzed. All three parts of this study point towards the same conclusion according to which during music score reading, the musician most likely first translates the visual score into an auditory cue, probably starting around 700 or 1300 ms, ready for storage and delayed comparison with the auditory feedback. PMID:23326487

The effect of superior auditory skills on vocal accuracy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amir, Ofer; Amir, Noam; Kishon-Rabin, Liat

2003-02-01

The relationship between auditory perception and vocal production has been typically investigated by evaluating the effect of either altered or degraded auditory feedback on speech production in either normal hearing or hearing-impaired individuals. Our goal in the present study was to examine this relationship in individuals with superior auditory abilities. Thirteen professional musicians and thirteen nonmusicians, with no vocal or singing training, participated in this study. For vocal production accuracy, subjects were presented with three tones. They were asked to reproduce the pitch using the vowel /a/. This procedure was repeated three times. The fundamental frequency of each production was measured using an autocorrelation pitch detection algorithm designed for this study. The musicians' superior auditory abilities (compared to the nonmusicians) were established in a frequency discrimination task reported elsewhere. Results indicate that (a) musicians had better vocal production accuracy than nonmusicians (production errors of 1/2 a semitone compared to 1.3 semitones, respectively); (b) frequency discrimination thresholds explain 43% of the variance of the production data, and (c) all subjects with superior frequency discrimination thresholds showed accurate vocal production; the reverse relationship, however, does not hold true. In this study we provide empirical evidence to the importance of auditory feedback on vocal production in listeners with superior auditory skills.

It's about time: Presentation in honor of Ira Hirsh

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grant, Ken

2002-05-01

Over his long and illustrious career, Ira Hirsh has returned time and time again to his interest in the temporal aspects of pattern perception. Although Hirsh has studied and published articles and books pertaining to many aspects of the auditory system, such as sound conduction in the ear, cochlear mechanics, masking, auditory localization, psychoacoustic behavior in animals, speech perception, medical and audiological applications, coupling between psychophysics and physiology, and ecological acoustics, it is his work on auditory timing of simple and complex rhythmic patterns, the backbone of speech and music, that are at the heart of his more recent work. Here, we will focus on several aspects of temporal processing of simple and complex signals, both within and across sensory systems. Data will be reviewed on temporal order judgments of simple tones, and simultaneity judgments and intelligibility of unimodal and bimodal complex stimuli where stimulus components are presented either synchronously or asynchronously. Differences in the symmetry and shape of ``temporal windows'' derived from these data sets will be highlighted.

Neural responses in the primary auditory cortex of freely behaving cats while discriminating fast and slow click-trains.

PubMed

Dong, Chao; Qin, Ling; Liu, Yongchun; Zhang, Xinan; Sato, Yu

2011-01-01

Repeated acoustic events are ubiquitous temporal features of natural sounds. To reveal the neural representation of the sound repetition rate, a number of electrophysiological studies have been conducted on various mammals and it has been proposed that both the spike-time and firing rate of primary auditory cortex (A1) neurons encode the repetition rate. However, previous studies rarely examined how the experimental animals perceive the difference in the sound repetition rate, and a caveat to these experiments is that they compared physiological data obtained from animals with psychophysical data obtained from humans. In this study, for the first time, we directly investigated acoustic perception and the underlying neural mechanisms in the same experimental animal by examining spike activities in the A1 of free-moving cats while performing a Go/No-go task to discriminate the click-trains at different repetition rates (12.5-200 Hz). As reported by previous studies on passively listening animals, A1 neurons showed both synchronized and non-synchronized responses to the click-trains. We further found that the neural performance estimated from the precise temporal information of synchronized units was good enough to distinguish all 16.7-200 Hz from the 12.5 Hz repetition rate; however, the cats showed declining behavioral performance with the decrease of the target repetition rate, indicating an increase of difficulty in discriminating two slower click-trains. Such behavioral performance was well explained by the firing rate of some synchronized and non-synchronized units. Trial-by-trial analysis indicated that A1 activity was not affected by the cat's judgment of behavioral response. Our results suggest that the main function of A1 is to effectively represent temporal signals using both spike timing and firing rate, while the cats may read out the rate-coding information to perform the task in this experiment.

Effect of age at cochlear implantation on auditory and speech development of children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Liu, Yuying; Dong, Ruijuan; Li, Yuling; Xu, Tianqiu; Li, Yongxin; Chen, Xueqing; Gong, Shusheng

2014-12-01

To evaluate the auditory and speech abilities in children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) after cochlear implantation (CI) and determine the role of age at implantation. Ten children participated in this retrospective case series study. All children had evidence of ANSD. All subjects had no cochlear nerve deficiency on magnetic resonance imaging and had used the cochlear implants for a period of 12-84 months. We divided our children into two groups: children who underwent implantation before 24 months of age and children who underwent implantation after 24 months of age. Their auditory and speech abilities were evaluated using the following: behavioral audiometry, the Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP), the Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS), the Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (IT-MAIS), the Standard-Chinese version of the Monosyllabic Lexical Neighborhood Test (LNT), the Multisyllabic Lexical Neighborhood Test (MLNT), the Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR) and the Meaningful Use of Speech Scale (MUSS). All children showed progress in their auditory and language abilities. The 4-frequency average hearing level (HL) (500Hz, 1000Hz, 2000Hz and 4000Hz) of aided hearing thresholds ranged from 17.5 to 57.5dB HL. All children developed time-related auditory perception and speech skills. Scores of children with ANSD who received cochlear implants before 24 months tended to be better than those of children who received cochlear implants after 24 months. Seven children completed the Mandarin Lexical Neighborhood Test. Approximately half of the children showed improved open-set speech recognition. Cochlear implantation is helpful for children with ANSD and may be a good optional treatment for many ANSD children. In addition, children with ANSD fitted with cochlear implants before 24 months tended to acquire auditory and speech skills better than children fitted with cochlear implants after 24 months. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Great Expectations: Is there Evidence for Predictive Coding in Auditory Cortex?

PubMed

Heilbron, Micha; Chait, Maria

2017-08-04

Predictive coding is possibly one of the most influential, comprehensive, and controversial theories of neural function. While proponents praise its explanatory potential, critics object that key tenets of the theory are untested or even untestable. The present article critically examines existing evidence for predictive coding in the auditory modality. Specifically, we identify five key assumptions of the theory and evaluate each in the light of animal, human and modeling studies of auditory pattern processing. For the first two assumptions - that neural responses are shaped by expectations and that these expectations are hierarchically organized - animal and human studies provide compelling evidence. The anticipatory, predictive nature of these expectations also enjoys empirical support, especially from studies on unexpected stimulus omission. However, for the existence of separate error and prediction neurons, a key assumption of the theory, evidence is lacking. More work exists on the proposed oscillatory signatures of predictive coding, and on the relation between attention and precision. However, results on these latter two assumptions are mixed or contradictory. Looking to the future, more collaboration between human and animal studies, aided by model-based analyses will be needed to test specific assumptions and implementations of predictive coding - and, as such, help determine whether this popular grand theory can fulfill its expectations. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Dopaminergic Contributions to Vocal Learning

PubMed Central

Hoffmann, Lukas A.; Saravanan, Varun; Wood, Alynda N.; He, Li

2016-01-01

Although the brain relies on auditory information to calibrate vocal behavior, the neural substrates of vocal learning remain unclear. Here we demonstrate that lesions of the dopaminergic inputs to a basal ganglia nucleus in a songbird species (Bengalese finches, Lonchura striata var. domestica) greatly reduced the magnitude of vocal learning driven by disruptive auditory feedback in a negative reinforcement task. These lesions produced no measureable effects on the quality of vocal performance or the amount of song produced. Our results suggest that dopaminergic inputs to the basal ganglia selectively mediate reinforcement-driven vocal plasticity. In contrast, dopaminergic lesions produced no measurable effects on the birds' ability to restore song acoustics to baseline following the cessation of reinforcement training, suggesting that different forms of vocal plasticity may use different neural mechanisms. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT During skill learning, the brain relies on sensory feedback to improve motor performance. However, the neural basis of sensorimotor learning is poorly understood. Here, we investigate the role of the neurotransmitter dopamine in regulating vocal learning in the Bengalese finch, a songbird with an extremely precise singing behavior that can nevertheless be reshaped dramatically by auditory feedback. Our findings show that reduction of dopamine inputs to a region of the songbird basal ganglia greatly impairs vocal learning but has no detectable effect on vocal performance. These results suggest a specific role for dopamine in regulating vocal plasticity. PMID:26888928

Expertise-dependent motor somatotopy of music perception.

PubMed

Furukawa, Yuta; Uehara, Kazumasa; Furuya, Shinichi

2017-05-22

Precise mapping between sound and motion underlies successful communication and information transmission in speech and musical performance. Formation of the map typically undergoes plastic changes in the neuronal network between auditory and motor regions through training. However, to what extent the map is somatotopically-tuned so that auditory information can specifically modulate the corticospinal system responsible for the relevant motor action has not been elucidated. Here we addressed this issue by assessing the excitability of corticospinal system including the primary motor cortex (M1) innervating the hand intrinsic muscles by means of transcranial magnetic stimulation while trained pianists and musically-untrained individuals (non-musicians) were listening to either piano tones or noise. M1 excitability was evaluated at two anatomically-independent muscles of the hand. The results demonstrated elevation of M1 excitability at not all but one specific muscle while listening to piano tones in the pianists, but no excitability change in both of the muscles in the non-musicians. However, listening to noise did not elicit any changes of M1 excitability at both muscles in both the pianists and the non-musicians. These findings indicate that auditory information representing the trained motor action tunes M1 excitability in a non-uniform, somatotopically-specific manner, which is likely associated with multimodal experiences in musical training. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Auditory memory function in expert chess players

PubMed Central

Fattahi, Fariba; Geshani, Ahmad; Jafari, Zahra; Jalaie, Shohreh; Salman Mahini, Mona

2015-01-01

Background: Chess is a game that involves many aspects of high level cognition such as memory, attention, focus and problem solving. Long term practice of chess can improve cognition performances and behavioral skills. Auditory memory, as a kind of memory, can be influenced by strengthening processes following long term chess playing like other behavioral skills because of common processing pathways in the brain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the auditory memory function of expert chess players using the Persian version of dichotic auditory-verbal memory test. Methods: The Persian version of dichotic auditory-verbal memory test was performed for 30 expert chess players aged 20-35 years and 30 non chess players who were matched by different conditions; the participants in both groups were randomly selected. The performance of the two groups was compared by independent samples t-test using SPSS version 21. Results: The mean score of dichotic auditory-verbal memory test between the two groups, expert chess players and non-chess players, revealed a significant difference (p≤ 0.001). The difference between the ears scores for expert chess players (p= 0.023) and non-chess players (p= 0.013) was significant. Gender had no effect on the test results. Conclusion: Auditory memory function in expert chess players was significantly better compared to non-chess players. It seems that increased auditory memory function is related to strengthening cognitive performances due to playing chess for a long time. PMID:26793666

A Brief Period of Postnatal Visual Deprivation Alters the Balance between Auditory and Visual Attention.

PubMed

de Heering, Adélaïde; Dormal, Giulia; Pelland, Maxime; Lewis, Terri; Maurer, Daphne; Collignon, Olivier

2016-11-21

Is a short and transient period of visual deprivation early in life sufficient to induce lifelong changes in how we attend to, and integrate, simple visual and auditory information [1, 2]? This question is of crucial importance given the recent demonstration in both animals and humans that a period of blindness early in life permanently affects the brain networks dedicated to visual, auditory, and multisensory processing [1-16]. To address this issue, we compared a group of adults who had been treated for congenital bilateral cataracts during early infancy with a group of normally sighted controls on a task requiring simple detection of lateralized visual and auditory targets, presented alone or in combination. Redundancy gains obtained from the audiovisual conditions were similar between groups and surpassed the reaction time distribution predicted by Miller's race model. However, in comparison to controls, cataract-reversal patients were faster at processing simple auditory targets and showed differences in how they shifted attention across modalities. Specifically, they were faster at switching attention from visual to auditory inputs than in the reverse situation, while an opposite pattern was observed for controls. Overall, these results reveal that the absence of visual input during the first months of life does not prevent the development of audiovisual integration but enhances the salience of simple auditory inputs, leading to a different crossmodal distribution of attentional resources between auditory and visual stimuli. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural plasticity and its initiating conditions in tinnitus.

PubMed

Roberts, L E

2018-03-01

Deafferentation caused by cochlear pathology (which can be hidden from the audiogram) activates forms of neural plasticity in auditory pathways, generating tinnitus and its associated conditions including hyperacusis. This article discusses tinnitus mechanisms and suggests how these mechanisms may relate to those involved in normal auditory information processing. Research findings from animal models of tinnitus and from electromagnetic imaging of tinnitus patients are reviewed which pertain to the role of deafferentation and neural plasticity in tinnitus and hyperacusis. Auditory neurons compensate for deafferentation by increasing their input/output functions (gain) at multiple levels of the auditory system. Forms of homeostatic plasticity are believed to be responsible for this neural change, which increases the spontaneous and driven activity of neurons in central auditory structures in animals expressing behavioral evidence of tinnitus. Another tinnitus correlate, increased neural synchrony among the affected neurons, is forged by spike-timing-dependent neural plasticity in auditory pathways. Slow oscillations generated by bursting thalamic neurons verified in tinnitus animals appear to modulate neural plasticity in the cortex, integrating tinnitus neural activity with information in brain regions supporting memory, emotion, and consciousness which exhibit increased metabolic activity in tinnitus patients. The latter process may be induced by transient auditory events in normal processing but it persists in tinnitus, driven by phantom signals from the auditory pathway. Several tinnitus therapies attempt to suppress tinnitus through plasticity, but repeated sessions will likely be needed to prevent tinnitus activity from returning owing to deafferentation as its initiating condition.

Sustained Perceptual Deficits from Transient Sensory Deprivation

PubMed Central

Sanes, Dan H.

2015-01-01

Sensory pathways display heightened plasticity during development, yet the perceptual consequences of early experience are generally assessed in adulthood. This approach does not allow one to identify transient perceptual changes that may be linked to the central plasticity observed in juvenile animals. Here, we determined whether a brief period of bilateral auditory deprivation affects sound perception in developing and adult gerbils. Animals were reared with bilateral earplugs, either from postnatal day 11 (P11) to postnatal day 23 (P23) (a manipulation previously found to disrupt gerbil cortical properties), or from P23-P35. Fifteen days after earplug removal and restoration of normal thresholds, animals were tested on their ability to detect the presence of amplitude modulation (AM), a temporal cue that supports vocal communication. Animals reared with earplugs from P11-P23 displayed elevated AM detection thresholds, compared with age-matched controls. In contrast, an identical period of earplug rearing at a later age (P23-P35) did not impair auditory perception. Although the AM thresholds of earplug-reared juveniles improved during a week of repeated testing, a subset of juveniles continued to display a perceptual deficit. Furthermore, although the perceptual deficits induced by transient earplug rearing had resolved for most animals by adulthood, a subset of adults displayed impaired performance. Control experiments indicated that earplugging did not disrupt the integrity of the auditory periphery. Together, our results suggest that P11-P23 encompasses a critical period during which sensory deprivation disrupts central mechanisms that support auditory perceptual skills. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Sensory systems are particularly malleable during development. This heightened degree of plasticity is beneficial because it enables the acquisition of complex skills, such as music or language. However, this plasticity comes with a cost: nervous system development displays an increased vulnerability to the sensory environment. Here, we identify a precise developmental window during which mild hearing loss affects the maturation of an auditory perceptual cue that is known to support animal communication, including human speech. Furthermore, animals reared with transient hearing loss display deficits in perceptual learning. Our results suggest that speech and language delays associated with transient or permanent childhood hearing loss may be accounted for, in part, by deficits in central auditory processing mechanisms. PMID:26224865

Contextual processing in unpredictable auditory environments: the limited resource model of auditory refractoriness in the rhesus

PubMed Central

Gurnsey, Kate; Salisbury, Dean; Sweet, Robert A.

2016-01-01

Auditory refractoriness refers to the finding of smaller electroencephalographic (EEG) responses to tones preceded by shorter periods of silence. To date, its physiological mechanisms remain unclear, limiting the insights gained from findings of abnormal refractoriness in individuals with schizophrenia. To resolve this roadblock, we studied auditory refractoriness in the rhesus, one of the most important animal models of auditory function, using grids of up to 32 chronically implanted cranial EEG electrodes. Four macaques passively listened to sounds whose identity and timing was random, thus preventing animals from forming valid predictions about upcoming sounds. Stimulus onset asynchrony ranged between 0.2 and 12.8 s, thus encompassing the clinically relevant timescale of refractoriness. Our results show refractoriness in all 8 previously identified middle- and long-latency components that peaked between 14 and 170 ms after tone onset. Refractoriness may reflect the formation and gradual decay of a basic sensory memory trace that may be mirrored by the expenditure and gradual recovery of a limited physiological resource that determines generator excitability. For all 8 components, results were consistent with the assumption that processing of each tone expends ∼65% of the available resource. Differences between components are caused by how quickly the resource recovers. Recovery time constants of different components ranged between 0.5 and 2 s. This work provides a solid conceptual, methodological, and computational foundation to dissect the physiological mechanisms of auditory refractoriness in the rhesus. Such knowledge may, in turn, help develop novel pharmacological, mechanism-targeted interventions. PMID:27512021

EEG phase reset due to auditory attention: an inverse time-scale approach.

PubMed

Low, Yin Fen; Strauss, Daniel J

2009-08-01

We propose a novel tool to evaluate the electroencephalograph (EEG) phase reset due to auditory attention by utilizing an inverse analysis of the instantaneous phase for the first time. EEGs were acquired through auditory attention experiments with a maximum entropy stimulation paradigm. We examined single sweeps of auditory late response (ALR) with the complex continuous wavelet transform. The phase in the frequency band that is associated with auditory attention (6-10 Hz, termed as theta-alpha border) was reset to the mean phase of the averaged EEGs. The inverse transform was applied to reconstruct the phase-modified signal. We found significant enhancement of the N100 wave in the reconstructed signal. Analysis of the phase noise shows the effects of phase jittering on the generation of the N100 wave implying that a preferred phase is necessary to generate the event-related potential (ERP). Power spectrum analysis shows a remarkable increase of evoked power but little change of total power after stabilizing the phase of EEGs. Furthermore, by resetting the phase only at the theta border of no attention data to the mean phase of attention data yields a result that resembles attention data. These results show strong connections between EEGs and ERP, in particular, we suggest that the presentation of an auditory stimulus triggers the phase reset process at the theta-alpha border which leads to the emergence of the N100 wave. It is concluded that our study reinforces other studies on the importance of the EEG in ERP genesis.

Rhythms that Speed You Up

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanabria, Daniel; Capizzi, Mariagrazia; Correa, Angel

2011-01-01

This study investigates whether a rhythm can orient attention to specific moments enhancing people's reaction times (RT). We used a modified version of the temporal orienting paradigm in which an auditory isochronous rhythm was presented prior to an auditory single target. The rhythm could have a fast pace (450 ms Inter-Onset-Interval or IOI) or a…

Discussion: Changes in Vocal Production and Auditory Perception after Hair Cell Regeneration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryals, Brenda M.; Dooling, Robert J.

2000-01-01

A bird study found that with sufficient time and training after hair cell and hearing loss and hair cell regeneration, the mature avian auditory system can accommodate input from a newly regenerated periphery sufficiently to allow for recognition of previously familiar vocalizations and the learning of new complex acoustic classifications.…

Exploring Auditory Saltation Using the "Reduced-Rabbit" Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Getzmann, Stephan

2009-01-01

Sensory saltation is a spatiotemporal illusion in which the judged positions of stimuli are shifted toward subsequent stimuli that follow closely in time. So far, studies on saltation in the auditory domain have usually employed subjective rating techniques, making it difficult to exactly quantify the extent of saltation. In this study, temporal…

Basic Auditory Processing Deficits in Dyslexia: Systematic Review of the Behavioral and Event-Related Potential/Field Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hämäläinen, Jarmo A.; Salminen, Hanne K.; Leppänen, Paavo H. T.

2013-01-01

A review of research that uses behavioral, electroencephalographic, and/or magnetoencephalographic methods to investigate auditory processing deficits in individuals with dyslexia is presented. Findings show that measures of frequency, rise time, and duration discrimination as well as amplitude modulation and frequency modulation detection were…

Auditory Temporal Conditioning in Neonates.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franz, W. K.; And Others

Twenty normal newborns, approximately 36 hours old, were tested using an auditory temporal conditioning paradigm which consisted of a slow rise, 75 db tone played for five seconds every 25 seconds, ten times. Responses to the tones were measured by instantaneous, beat-to-beat heartrate; and the test trial was designated as the 2 1/2-second period…

Delayed Auditory Feedback and Movement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pfordresher, Peter Q.; Dalla Bella, Simone

2011-01-01

It is well known that timing of rhythm production is disrupted by delayed auditory feedback (DAF), and that disruption varies with delay length. We tested the hypothesis that disruption depends on the state of the movement trajectory at the onset of DAF. Participants tapped isochronous rhythms at a rate specified by a metronome while hearing DAF…

Auditory Learning Using a Portable Real-Time Vocoder: Preliminary Findings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Casserly, Elizabeth D.; Pisoni, David B.

2015-01-01

Purpose: Although traditional study of auditory training has been in controlled laboratory settings, interest has been increasing in more interactive options. The authors examine whether such interactive training can result in short-term perceptual learning, and the range of perceptual skills it impacts. Method: Experiments 1 (N = 37) and 2 (N =…

Neural signature of the conscious processing of auditory regularities

PubMed Central

Bekinschtein, Tristan A.; Dehaene, Stanislas; Rohaut, Benjamin; Tadel, François; Cohen, Laurent; Naccache, Lionel

2009-01-01

Can conscious processing be inferred from neurophysiological measurements? Some models stipulate that the active maintenance of perceptual representations across time requires consciousness. Capitalizing on this assumption, we designed an auditory paradigm that evaluates cerebral responses to violations of temporal regularities that are either local in time or global across several seconds. Local violations led to an early response in auditory cortex, independent of attention or the presence of a concurrent visual task, whereas global violations led to a late and spatially distributed response that was only present when subjects were attentive and aware of the violations. We could detect the global effect in individual subjects using functional MRI and both scalp and intracerebral event-related potentials. Recordings from 8 noncommunicating patients with disorders of consciousness confirmed that only conscious individuals presented a global effect. Taken together these observations suggest that the presence of the global effect is a signature of conscious processing, although it can be absent in conscious subjects who are not aware of the global auditory regularities. This simple electrophysiological marker could thus serve as a useful clinical tool. PMID:19164526

The perception of microsound and its musical implications.

PubMed

Roads, Curtis

2003-11-01

Sound particles or microsounds last only a few milliseconds, near the threshold of auditory perception. We can easily analyze the physical properties of sound particles either individually or in masses. However, correlating these properties with human perception remains complicated. One cannot speak of a single time frame, or a "time constant" for the auditory system. The hearing mechanism involves many different agents, each of which operates on its own timescale. The signals being sent by diverse hearing agents are integrated by the brain into a coherent auditory picture. The pioneer of "sound quanta," Dennis Gabor (1900-1979), suggested that at least two mechanisms are at work in microevent detection: one that isolates events, and another that ascertains their pitch. Human hearing imposes a certain minimum duration in order to establish a firm sense of pitch, amplitude, and timbre. This paper traces disparate strands of literature on the topic and summarizes their meaning. Specifically, we examine the perception of intensity and pitch of microsounds, the phenomena of tone fusion and fission, temporal auditory acuity, and preattentive perception. The final section examines the musical implications of microsonic analysis, synthesis, and transformation.

Time-compressed spoken word primes crossmodally enhance processing of semantically congruent visual targets.

PubMed

Mahr, Angela; Wentura, Dirk

2014-02-01

Findings from three experiments support the conclusion that auditory primes facilitate the processing of related targets. In Experiments 1 and 2, we employed a crossmodal Stroop color identification task with auditory color words (as primes) and visual color patches (as targets). Responses were faster for congruent priming, in comparison to neutral or incongruent priming. This effect also emerged for different levels of time compression of the auditory primes (to 30 % and 10 % of the original length; i.e., 120 and 40 ms) and turned out to be even more pronounced under high-perceptual-load conditions (Exps. 1 and 2). In Experiment 3, target-present or -absent decisions for brief target displays had to be made, thereby ruling out response-priming processes as a cause of the congruency effects. Nevertheless, target detection (d') was increased by congruent primes (30 % compression) in comparison to incongruent or neutral primes. Our results suggest semantic object-based auditory-visual interactions, which rapidly increase the denoted target object's salience. This would apply, in particular, to complex visual scenes.

Simultaneous acquisition of multiple auditory-motor transformations in speech

PubMed Central

Rochet-Capellan, Amelie; Ostry, David J.

2011-01-01

The brain easily generates the movement that is needed in a given situation. Yet surprisingly, the results of experimental studies suggest that it is difficult to acquire more than one skill at a time. To do so, it has generally been necessary to link the required movement to arbitrary cues. In the present study, we show that speech motor learning provides an informative model for the acquisition of multiple sensorimotor skills. During training, subjects are required to repeat aloud individual words in random order while auditory feedback is altered in real-time in different ways for the different words. We find that subjects can quite readily and simultaneously modify their speech movements to correct for these different auditory transformations. This multiple learning occurs effortlessly without explicit cues and without any apparent awareness of the perturbation. The ability to simultaneously learn several different auditory-motor transformations is consistent with the idea that in speech motor learning, the brain acquires instance specific memories. The results support the hypothesis that speech motor learning is fundamentally local. PMID:21325534

Multimodal information Management: Evaluation of Auditory and Haptic Cues for NextGen Communication Displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Begault, Durand R.; Bittner, Rachel M.; Anderson, Mark R.

2012-01-01

Auditory communication displays within the NextGen data link system may use multiple synthetic speech messages replacing traditional ATC and company communications. The design of an interface for selecting amongst multiple incoming messages can impact both performance (time to select, audit and release a message) and preference. Two design factors were evaluated: physical pressure-sensitive switches versus flat panel "virtual switches", and the presence or absence of auditory feedback from switch contact. Performance with stimuli using physical switches was 1.2 s faster than virtual switches (2.0 s vs. 3.2 s); auditory feedback provided a 0.54 s performance advantage (2.33 s vs. 2.87 s). There was no interaction between these variables. Preference data were highly correlated with performance.

[Value of cumulative electrodermal responses in subliminal auditory perception. A preliminary study].

PubMed

Borgeat, F; Pannetier, M F

1982-01-01

This exploratory study examined the usefulness of averaging electrodermal potential responses for research on subliminal auditory perception. Eighteen female subjects were exposed to three kinds (emotional, neutral and 1000 Hz tone) of auditory stimulation which were repeated six times at three intensities (detection threshold, 10 dB under this threshold and 10 dB above identification threshold). Analysis of electrodermal potential responses showed that the number of responses was related to the emotionality of subliminal stimuli presented at detection threshold but not at 10 dB under it. The data interpretation proposed refers to perceptual defence theory. This study indicates that electrodermal response count constitutes a useful measure for subliminal auditory perception research, but averaging those responses was not shown to bring additional information.

Differential Gene Expression During Compensatory Sprouting of Dendrites in the Auditory System of the Cricket Gryllus bimaculatus

PubMed Central

Horch, Hadley W.; McCarthy, Sarah S.; Johansen, Susan L.; Harris, James M.

2013-01-01

Neurons that lose their pre-synaptic partners due to injury usually retract or die. However, when the auditory interneurons of the cricket are denervated, dendrites respond by growing across the midline and forming novel synapses with the opposite auditory afferents. Suppression subtractive hybridization was used to detect transcriptional changes three days after denervation. This is a stage at which we demonstrate robust compensatory dendritic sprouting. While 49 unique candidates were downregulated, no sufficiently upregulated candidates were identified at this time point. Several candidates identified in this study are known to influence the translation and degradation of proteins in other systems. The potential role of these factors in the compensatory sprouting of cricket auditory interneurons in response to denervation is discussed. PMID:19453768

Unraveling the principles of auditory cortical processing: can we learn from the visual system?

PubMed Central

King, Andrew J; Nelken, Israel

2013-01-01

Studies of auditory cortex are often driven by the assumption, derived from our better understanding of visual cortex, that basic physical properties of sounds are represented there before being used by higher-level areas for determining sound-source identity and location. However, we only have a limited appreciation of what the cortex adds to the extensive subcortical processing of auditory information, which can account for many perceptual abilities. This is partly because of the approaches that have dominated the study of auditory cortical processing to date, and future progress will unquestionably profit from the adoption of methods that have provided valuable insights into the neural basis of visual perception. At the same time, we propose that there are unique operating principles employed by the auditory cortex that relate largely to the simultaneous and sequential processing of previously derived features and that therefore need to be studied and understood in their own right. PMID:19471268

Development of auditory sensitivity in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brittan-Powell, Elizabeth F.; Dooling, Robert J.

2004-06-01

Auditory feedback influences the development of vocalizations in songbirds and parrots; however, little is known about the development of hearing in these birds. The auditory brainstem response was used to track the development of auditory sensitivity in budgerigars from hatch to 6 weeks of age. Responses were first obtained from 1-week-old at high stimulation levels at frequencies at or below 2 kHz, showing that budgerigars do not hear well at hatch. Over the next week, thresholds improved markedly, and responses were obtained for almost all test frequencies throughout the range of hearing by 14 days. By 3 weeks posthatch, birds' best sensitivity shifted from 2 to 2.86 kHz, and the shape of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) audiogram became similar to that of adult budgerigars. About a week before leaving the nest, ABR audiograms of young budgerigars are very similar to those of adult birds. These data complement what is known about vocal development in budgerigars and show that hearing is fully developed by the time that vocal learning begins.

Integration of auditory and visual communication information in the primate ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.

PubMed

Sugihara, Tadashi; Diltz, Mark D; Averbeck, Bruno B; Romanski, Lizabeth M

2006-10-25

The integration of auditory and visual stimuli is crucial for recognizing objects, communicating effectively, and navigating through our complex world. Although the frontal lobes are involved in memory, communication, and language, there has been no evidence that the integration of communication information occurs at the single-cell level in the frontal lobes. Here, we show that neurons in the macaque ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) integrate audiovisual communication stimuli. The multisensory interactions included both enhancement and suppression of a predominantly auditory or a predominantly visual response, although multisensory suppression was the more common mode of response. The multisensory neurons were distributed across the VLPFC and within previously identified unimodal auditory and visual regions (O'Scalaidhe et al., 1997; Romanski and Goldman-Rakic, 2002). Thus, our study demonstrates, for the first time, that single prefrontal neurons integrate communication information from the auditory and visual domains, suggesting that these neurons are an important node in the cortical network responsible for communication.

Integration of Auditory and Visual Communication Information in the Primate Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex

PubMed Central

Sugihara, Tadashi; Diltz, Mark D.; Averbeck, Bruno B.; Romanski, Lizabeth M.

2009-01-01

The integration of auditory and visual stimuli is crucial for recognizing objects, communicating effectively, and navigating through our complex world. Although the frontal lobes are involved in memory, communication, and language, there has been no evidence that the integration of communication information occurs at the single-cell level in the frontal lobes. Here, we show that neurons in the macaque ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) integrate audiovisual communication stimuli. The multisensory interactions included both enhancement and suppression of a predominantly auditory or a predominantly visual response, although multisensory suppression was the more common mode of response. The multisensory neurons were distributed across the VLPFC and within previously identified unimodal auditory and visual regions (O’Scalaidhe et al., 1997; Romanski and Goldman-Rakic, 2002). Thus, our study demonstrates, for the first time, that single prefrontal neurons integrate communication information from the auditory and visual domains, suggesting that these neurons are an important node in the cortical network responsible for communication. PMID:17065454

Auditory memory can be object based.

PubMed

Dyson, Benjamin J; Ishfaq, Feraz

2008-04-01

Identifying how memories are organized remains a fundamental issue in psychology. Previous work has shown that visual short-term memory is organized according to the object of origin, with participants being better at retrieving multiple pieces of information from the same object than from different objects. However, it is not yet clear whether similar memory structures are employed for other modalities, such as audition. Under analogous conditions in the auditory domain, we found that short-term memories for sound can also be organized according to object, with a same-object advantage being demonstrated for the retrieval of information in an auditory scene defined by two complex sounds overlapping in both space and time. Our results provide support for the notion of an auditory object, in addition to the continued identification of similar processing constraints across visual and auditory domains. The identification of modality-independent organizational principles of memory, such as object-based coding, suggests possible mechanisms by which the human processing system remembers multimodal experiences.

Non-linear Relationship between BOLD Activation and Amplitude of Beta Oscillations in the Supplementary Motor Area during Rhythmic Finger Tapping and Internal Timing

PubMed Central

Gompf, Florian; Pflug, Anja; Laufs, Helmut; Kell, Christian A.

2017-01-01

Functional imaging studies using BOLD contrasts have consistently reported activation of the supplementary motor area (SMA) both during motor and internal timing tasks. Opposing findings, however, have been shown for the modulation of beta oscillations in the SMA. While movement suppresses beta oscillations in the SMA, motor and non-motor tasks that rely on internal timing increase the amplitude of beta oscillations in the SMA. These independent observations suggest that the relationship between beta oscillations and BOLD activation is more complex than previously thought. Here we set out to investigate this rapport by examining beta oscillations in the SMA during movement with varying degrees of internal timing demands. In a simultaneous EEG-fMRI experiment, 20 healthy right-handed subjects performed an auditory-paced finger-tapping task. Internal timing was operationalized by including conditions with taps on every fourth auditory beat, which necessitates generation of a slow internal rhythm, while tapping to every auditory beat reflected simple auditory-motor synchronization. In the SMA, BOLD activity increased and power in both the low and the high beta band decreased expectedly during each condition compared to baseline. Internal timing was associated with a reduced desynchronization of low beta oscillations compared to conditions without internal timing demands. In parallel with this relative beta power increase, internal timing activated the SMA more strongly in terms of BOLD. This documents a task-dependent non-linear relationship between BOLD and beta-oscillations in the SMA. We discuss different roles of beta synchronization and desynchronization in active processing within the same cortical region. PMID:29249950

Hearing Shapes: Event-related Potentials Reveal the Time Course of Auditory-Visual Sensory Substitution.

PubMed

Graulty, Christian; Papaioannou, Orestis; Bauer, Phoebe; Pitts, Michael A; Canseco-Gonzalez, Enriqueta

2018-04-01

In auditory-visual sensory substitution, visual information (e.g., shape) can be extracted through strictly auditory input (e.g., soundscapes). Previous studies have shown that image-to-sound conversions that follow simple rules [such as the Meijer algorithm; Meijer, P. B. L. An experimental system for auditory image representation. Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 39, 111-121, 1992] are highly intuitive and rapidly learned by both blind and sighted individuals. A number of recent fMRI studies have begun to explore the neuroplastic changes that result from sensory substitution training. However, the time course of cross-sensory information transfer in sensory substitution is largely unexplored and may offer insights into the underlying neural mechanisms. In this study, we recorded ERPs to soundscapes before and after sighted participants were trained with the Meijer algorithm. We compared these posttraining versus pretraining ERP differences with those of a control group who received the same set of 80 auditory/visual stimuli but with arbitrary pairings during training. Our behavioral results confirmed the rapid acquisition of cross-sensory mappings, and the group trained with the Meijer algorithm was able to generalize their learning to novel soundscapes at impressive levels of accuracy. The ERP results revealed an early cross-sensory learning effect (150-210 msec) that was significantly enhanced in the algorithm-trained group compared with the control group as well as a later difference (420-480 msec) that was unique to the algorithm-trained group. These ERP modulations are consistent with previous fMRI results and provide additional insight into the time course of cross-sensory information transfer in sensory substitution.

Comparison between treadmill training with rhythmic auditory stimulation and ground walking with rhythmic auditory stimulation on gait ability in chronic stroke patients: A pilot study.

PubMed

Park, Jin; Park, So-yeon; Kim, Yong-wook; Woo, Youngkeun

2015-01-01

Generally, treadmill training is very effective intervention, and rhythmic auditory stimulation is designed to feedback during gait training in stroke patients. The purpose of this study was to compare the gait abilities in chronic stroke patients following either treadmill walking training with rhythmic auditory stimulation (TRAS) or over ground walking training with rhythmic auditory stimulation (ORAS). Nineteen subjects were divided into two groups: a TRAS group (9 subjects) and an ORAS group (10 subjects). Temporal and spatial gait parameters and motor recovery ability were measured before and after the training period. Gait ability was measured by the Biodex Gait trainer treadmill system, Timed up and go test (TUG), 6 meter walking distance (6MWD) and Functional gait assessment (FGA). After the training periods, the TRAS group showed a significant improvement in walking speed, step cycle, step length of the unaffected limb, coefficient of variation, 6MWD, and, FGA when compared to the ORAS group (p <  0.05). Treadmill walking training during the rhythmic auditory stimulation may be useful for rehabilitation of patients with chronic stroke.

Absence of auditory 'global interference' in autism.

PubMed

Foxton, Jessica M; Stewart, Mary E; Barnard, Louise; Rodgers, Jacqui; Young, Allan H; O'Brien, Gregory; Griffiths, Timothy D

2003-12-01

There has been considerable recent interest in the cognitive style of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). One theory, that of weak central coherence, concerns an inability to combine stimulus details into a coherent whole. Here we test this theory in the case of sound patterns, using a new definition of the details (local structure) and the coherent whole (global structure). Thirteen individuals with a diagnosis of autism or Asperger's syndrome and 15 control participants were administered auditory tests, where they were required to match local pitch direction changes between two auditory sequences. When the other local features of the sequence pairs were altered (the actual pitches and relative time points of pitch direction change), the control participants obtained lower scores compared with when these details were left unchanged. This can be attributed to interference from the global structure, defined as the combination of the local auditory details. In contrast, the participants with ASD did not obtain lower scores in the presence of such mismatches. This was attributed to the absence of interference from an auditory coherent whole. The results are consistent with the presence of abnormal interactions between local and global auditory perception in ASD.

(A)musicality in Williams syndrome: examining relationships among auditory perception, musical skill, and emotional responsiveness to music.

PubMed

Lense, Miriam D; Shivers, Carolyn M; Dykens, Elisabeth M

2013-01-01

Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic, neurodevelopmental disorder, is of keen interest to music cognition researchers because of its characteristic auditory sensitivities and emotional responsiveness to music. However, actual musical perception and production abilities are more variable. We examined musicality in WS through the lens of amusia and explored how their musical perception abilities related to their auditory sensitivities, musical production skills, and emotional responsiveness to music. In our sample of 73 adolescents and adults with WS, 11% met criteria for amusia, which is higher than the 4% prevalence rate reported in the typically developing (TD) population. Amusia was not related to auditory sensitivities but was related to musical training. Performance on the amusia measure strongly predicted musical skill but not emotional responsiveness to music, which was better predicted by general auditory sensitivities. This study represents the first time amusia has been examined in a population with a known neurodevelopmental genetic disorder with a range of cognitive abilities. Results have implications for the relationships across different levels of auditory processing, musical skill development, and emotional responsiveness to music, as well as the understanding of gene-brain-behavior relationships in individuals with WS and TD individuals with and without amusia.

Auditory access, language access, and implicit sequence learning in deaf children.

PubMed

Hall, Matthew L; Eigsti, Inge-Marie; Bortfeld, Heather; Lillo-Martin, Diane

2018-05-01

Developmental psychology plays a central role in shaping evidence-based best practices for prelingually deaf children. The Auditory Scaffolding Hypothesis (Conway et al., 2009) asserts that a lack of auditory stimulation in deaf children leads to impoverished implicit sequence learning abilities, measured via an artificial grammar learning (AGL) task. However, prior research is confounded by a lack of both auditory and language input. The current study examines implicit learning in deaf children who were (Deaf native signers) or were not (oral cochlear implant users) exposed to language from birth, and in hearing children, using both AGL and Serial Reaction Time (SRT) tasks. Neither deaf nor hearing children across the three groups show evidence of implicit learning on the AGL task, but all three groups show robust implicit learning on the SRT task. These findings argue against the Auditory Scaffolding Hypothesis, and suggest that implicit sequence learning may be resilient to both auditory and language deprivation, within the tested limits. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/EeqfQqlVHLI [Correction added on 07 August 2017, after first online publication: The video abstract link was added.]. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Brainstem auditory-evoked potentials as an objective tool for evaluating hearing dysfunction in traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Lew, Henry L; Lee, Eun Ha; Miyoshi, Yasushi; Chang, Douglas G; Date, Elaine S; Jerger, James F

2004-03-01

Because of the violent nature of traumatic brain injury, traumatic brain injury patients are susceptible to various types of trauma involving the auditory system. We report a case of a 55-yr-old man who presented with communication problems after traumatic brain injury. Initial results from behavioral audiometry and Weber/Rinne tests were not reliable because of poor cooperation. He was transferred to our service for inpatient rehabilitation, where review of the initial head computed tomographic scan showed only left temporal bone fracture. Brainstem auditory-evoked potential was then performed to evaluate his hearing function. The results showed bilateral absence of auditory-evoked responses, which strongly suggested bilateral deafness. This finding led to a follow-up computed tomographic scan, with focus on bilateral temporal bones. A subtle transverse fracture of the right temporal bone was then detected, in addition to the left temporal bone fracture previously identified. Like children with hearing impairment, traumatic brain injury patients may not be able to verbalize their auditory deficits in a timely manner. If hearing loss is suspected in a patient who is unable to participate in traditional behavioral audiometric testing, brainstem auditory-evoked potential may be an option for evaluating hearing dysfunction.

Improving Dorsal Stream Function in Dyslexics by Training Figure/Ground Motion Discrimination Improves Attention, Reading Fluency, and Working Memory

PubMed Central

Lawton, Teri

2016-01-01

There is an ongoing debate about whether the cause of dyslexia is based on linguistic, auditory, or visual timing deficits. To investigate this issue three interventions were compared in 58 dyslexics in second grade (7 years on average), two targeting the temporal dynamics (timing) of either the auditory or visual pathways with a third reading intervention (control group) targeting linguistic word building. Visual pathway training in dyslexics to improve direction-discrimination of moving test patterns relative to a stationary background (figure/ground discrimination) significantly improved attention, reading fluency, both speed and comprehension, phonological processing, and both auditory and visual working memory relative to controls, whereas auditory training to improve phonological processing did not improve these academic skills significantly more than found for controls. This study supports the hypothesis that faulty timing in synchronizing the activity of magnocellular with parvocellular visual pathways is a fundamental cause of dyslexia, and argues against the assumption that reading deficiencies in dyslexia are caused by phonological deficits. This study demonstrates that visual movement direction-discrimination can be used to not only detect dyslexia early, but also for its successful treatment, so that reading problems do not prevent children from readily learning. PMID:27551263

Direct Recordings of Pitch Responses from Human Auditory Cortex

PubMed Central

Griffiths, Timothy D.; Kumar, Sukhbinder; Sedley, William; Nourski, Kirill V.; Kawasaki, Hiroto; Oya, Hiroyuki; Patterson, Roy D.; Brugge, John F.; Howard, Matthew A.

2010-01-01

Summary Pitch is a fundamental percept with a complex relationship to the associated sound structure [1]. Pitch perception requires brain representation of both the structure of the stimulus and the pitch that is perceived. We describe direct recordings of local field potentials from human auditory cortex made while subjects perceived the transition between noise and a noise with a regular repetitive structure in the time domain at the millisecond level called regular-interval noise (RIN) [2]. RIN is perceived to have a pitch when the rate is above the lower limit of pitch [3], at approximately 30 Hz. Sustained time-locked responses are observed to be related to the temporal regularity of the stimulus, commonly emphasized as a relevant stimulus feature in models of pitch perception (e.g., [1]). Sustained oscillatory responses are also demonstrated in the high gamma range (80–120 Hz). The regularity responses occur irrespective of whether the response is associated with pitch perception. In contrast, the oscillatory responses only occur for pitch. Both responses occur in primary auditory cortex and adjacent nonprimary areas. The research suggests that two types of pitch-related activity occur in humans in early auditory cortex: time-locked neural correlates of stimulus regularity and an oscillatory response related to the pitch percept. PMID:20605456

Validation of auditory detection response task method for assessing the attentional effects of cognitive load.

PubMed

Stojmenova, Kristina; Sodnik, Jaka

2018-07-04

There are 3 standardized versions of the Detection Response Task (DRT), 2 using visual stimuli (remote DRT and head-mounted DRT) and one using tactile stimuli. In this article, we present a study that proposes and validates a type of auditory signal to be used as DRT stimulus and evaluate the proposed auditory version of this method by comparing it with the standardized visual and tactile version. This was a within-subject design study performed in a driving simulator with 24 participants. Each participant performed 8 2-min-long driving sessions in which they had to perform 3 different tasks: driving, answering to DRT stimuli, and performing a cognitive task (n-back task). Presence of additional cognitive load and type of DRT stimuli were defined as independent variables. DRT response times and hit rates, n-back task performance, and pupil size were observed as dependent variables. Significant changes in pupil size for trials with a cognitive task compared to trials without showed that cognitive load was induced properly. Each DRT version showed a significant increase in response times and a decrease in hit rates for trials with a secondary cognitive task compared to trials without. Similar and significantly better results in differences in response times and hit rates were obtained for the auditory and tactile version compared to the visual version. There were no significant differences in performance rate between the trials without DRT stimuli compared to trials with and among the trials with different DRT stimuli modalities. The results from this study show that the auditory DRT version, using the signal implementation suggested in this article, is sensitive to the effects of cognitive load on driver's attention and is significantly better than the remote visual and tactile version for auditory-vocal cognitive (n-back) secondary tasks.

Congenital Disorders of Platelet Function and Number.

PubMed

Sharma, Ruchika; Perez Botero, Juliana; Jobe, Shawn M

2018-06-01

Mucocutaneous bleeding symptoms and/or persistent thrombocytopenia occur in individuals with congenital disorders of platelet function and number. Apart from bleeding, these disorders are often associated with additional hematologic and clinical manifestations, including auditory, immunologic, and oncologic disease. Autosomal recessive, dominant, and X-linked inheritance patterns have been demonstrated. Precise delineation of the molecular cause of the platelet disorder can aid the pediatrician in the detection and prevention of specific disorder-associated manifestations and guide appropriate treatment and anticipatory care for the patient and family. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The plastic ear and perceptual relearning in auditory spatial perception

PubMed Central

Carlile, Simon

2014-01-01

The auditory system of adult listeners has been shown to accommodate to altered spectral cues to sound location which presumably provides the basis for recalibration to changes in the shape of the ear over a life time. Here we review the role of auditory and non-auditory inputs to the perception of sound location and consider a range of recent experiments looking at the role of non-auditory inputs in the process of accommodation to these altered spectral cues. A number of studies have used small ear molds to modify the spectral cues that result in significant degradation in localization performance. Following chronic exposure (10–60 days) performance recovers to some extent and recent work has demonstrated that this occurs for both audio-visual and audio-only regions of space. This begs the questions as to the teacher signal for this remarkable functional plasticity in the adult nervous system. Following a brief review of influence of the motor state in auditory localization, we consider the potential role of auditory-motor learning in the perceptual recalibration of the spectral cues. Several recent studies have considered how multi-modal and sensory-motor feedback might influence accommodation to altered spectral cues produced by ear molds or through virtual auditory space stimulation using non-individualized spectral cues. The work with ear molds demonstrates that a relatively short period of training involving audio-motor feedback (5–10 days) significantly improved both the rate and extent of accommodation to altered spectral cues. This has significant implications not only for the mechanisms by which this complex sensory information is encoded to provide spatial cues but also for adaptive training to altered auditory inputs. The review concludes by considering the implications for rehabilitative training with hearing aids and cochlear prosthesis. PMID:25147497

The relation between working memory capacity and auditory lateralization in children with auditory processing disorders.

PubMed

Moossavi, Abdollah; Mehrkian, Saiedeh; Lotfi, Yones; Faghihzadeh, Soghrat; sajedi, Hamed

2014-11-01

Auditory processing disorder (APD) describes a complex and heterogeneous disorder characterized by poor speech perception, especially in noisy environments. APD may be responsible for a range of sensory processing deficits associated with learning difficulties. There is no general consensus about the nature of APD and how the disorder should be assessed or managed. This study assessed the effect of cognition abilities (working memory capacity) on sound lateralization in children with auditory processing disorders, in order to determine how "auditory cognition" interacts with APD. The participants in this cross-sectional comparative study were 20 typically developing and 17 children with a diagnosed auditory processing disorder (9-11 years old). Sound lateralization abilities investigated using inter-aural time (ITD) differences and inter-aural intensity (IID) differences with two stimuli (high pass and low pass noise) in nine perceived positions. Working memory capacity was evaluated using the non-word repetition, and forward and backward digits span tasks. Linear regression was employed to measure the degree of association between working memory capacity and localization tests between the two groups. Children in the APD group had consistently lower scores than typically developing subjects in lateralization and working memory capacity measures. The results showed working memory capacity had significantly negative correlation with ITD errors especially with high pass noise stimulus but not with IID errors in APD children. The study highlights the impact of working memory capacity on auditory lateralization. The finding of this research indicates that the extent to which working memory influences auditory processing depend on the type of auditory processing and the nature of stimulus/listening situation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effects of auditory hallucination symptom management programme for people with schizophrenia: a quasi-experimental design.

PubMed

Yang, Chiu-Yueh; Lee, Tien-Hao; Lo, Su-Chen; Beckstead, Jason W

2015-12-01

To examine the effectiveness of an auditory hallucinatory symptom management programme in patients with chronic schizophrenia. Thirty per cent of chronic schizophrenia patients are still disturbed by hallucinations, which influence their psychological and social well-being, even when they take medication regularly. Fifty-eight people experiencing schizophrenia with auditory hallucinations from psychiatric inpatient rehabilitation wards in northern Taiwan participated in the study, with 29 in the experimental group and 29 in the control group. The experimental group received an auditory hallucinatory symptom management programme. The auditory hallucinatory symptom management programme involved 60-minute meetings once a week, for a total of 10 meetings. The control group received routine care, which included free recreation for 40 minutes and walking for 20 minutes. The participants completed three self-report questionnaires: the Beck Depressive Inventory II, the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Characteristics of Auditory Hallucinations Questionnaire. Data were collected at baseline, immediately following the intervention and at 3 months and 6 months post intervention. Data collection occurred between March 2010-May 2013. The experimental group showed a non-significant improvement in anxiety symptoms over time. Generalized estimating equations revealed that the experimental group achieved a greater drop in Characteristics of Auditory Hallucinations Questionnaire score than the controls at three and 6 months post intervention. Beck Depressive Inventory II scores in the experimental group (n = 29) had significantly improved in 3 months. The auditory hallucinatory symptom management programme seems to be effective in improving auditory hallucinatory symptoms and depressive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Visual Information Present in Infragranular Layers of Mouse Auditory Cortex.

PubMed

Morrill, Ryan J; Hasenstaub, Andrea R

2018-03-14

The cerebral cortex is a major hub for the convergence and integration of signals from across the sensory modalities; sensory cortices, including primary regions, are no exception. Here we show that visual stimuli influence neural firing in the auditory cortex of awake male and female mice, using multisite probes to sample single units across multiple cortical layers. We demonstrate that visual stimuli influence firing in both primary and secondary auditory cortex. We then determine the laminar location of recording sites through electrode track tracing with fluorescent dye and optogenetic identification using layer-specific markers. Spiking responses to visual stimulation occur deep in auditory cortex and are particularly prominent in layer 6. Visual modulation of firing rate occurs more frequently at areas with secondary-like auditory responses than those with primary-like responses. Auditory cortical responses to drifting visual gratings are not orientation-tuned, unlike visual cortex responses. The deepest cortical layers thus appear to be an important locus for cross-modal integration in auditory cortex. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The deepest layers of the auditory cortex are often considered its most enigmatic, possessing a wide range of cell morphologies and atypical sensory responses. Here we show that, in mouse auditory cortex, these layers represent a locus of cross-modal convergence, containing many units responsive to visual stimuli. Our results suggest that this visual signal conveys the presence and timing of a stimulus rather than specifics about that stimulus, such as its orientation. These results shed light on both how and what types of cross-modal information is integrated at the earliest stages of sensory cortical processing. Copyright © 2018 the authors 0270-6474/18/382854-09$15.00/0.

Inattentional Deafness: Visual Load Leads to Time-Specific Suppression of Auditory Evoked Responses

PubMed Central

Molloy, Katharine; Griffiths, Timothy D.; Lavie, Nilli

2015-01-01

Due to capacity limits on perception, conditions of high perceptual load lead to reduced processing of unattended stimuli (Lavie et al., 2014). Accumulating work demonstrates the effects of visual perceptual load on visual cortex responses, but the effects on auditory processing remain poorly understood. Here we establish the neural mechanisms underlying “inattentional deafness”—the failure to perceive auditory stimuli under high visual perceptual load. Participants performed a visual search task of low (target dissimilar to nontarget items) or high (target similar to nontarget items) load. On a random subset (50%) of trials, irrelevant tones were presented concurrently with the visual stimuli. Brain activity was recorded with magnetoencephalography, and time-locked responses to the visual search array and to the incidental presence of unattended tones were assessed. High, compared to low, perceptual load led to increased early visual evoked responses (within 100 ms from onset). This was accompanied by reduced early (∼100 ms from tone onset) auditory evoked activity in superior temporal sulcus and posterior middle temporal gyrus. A later suppression of the P3 “awareness” response to the tones was also observed under high load. A behavioral experiment revealed reduced tone detection sensitivity under high visual load, indicating that the reduction in neural responses was indeed associated with reduced awareness of the sounds. These findings support a neural account of shared audiovisual resources, which, when depleted under load, leads to failures of sensory perception and awareness. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The present work clarifies the neural underpinning of inattentional deafness under high visual load. The findings of near-simultaneous load effects on both visual and auditory evoked responses suggest shared audiovisual processing capacity. Temporary depletion of shared capacity in perceptually demanding visual tasks leads to a momentary reduction in sensory processing of auditory stimuli, resulting in inattentional deafness. The dynamic “push–pull” pattern of load effects on visual and auditory processing furthers our understanding of both the neural mechanisms of attention and of cross-modal effects across visual and auditory processing. These results also offer an explanation for many previous failures to find cross-modal effects in experiments where the visual load effects may not have coincided directly with auditory sensory processing. PMID:26658858

Effect of hearing loss on semantic access by auditory and audiovisual speech in children.

PubMed

Jerger, Susan; Tye-Murray, Nancy; Damian, Markus F; Abdi, Hervé

2013-01-01

This research studied whether the mode of input (auditory versus audiovisual) influenced semantic access by speech in children with sensorineural hearing impairment (HI). Participants, 31 children with HI and 62 children with normal hearing (NH), were tested with the authors' new multimodal picture word task. Children were instructed to name pictures displayed on a monitor and ignore auditory or audiovisual speech distractors. The semantic content of the distractors was varied to be related versus unrelated to the pictures (e.g., picture distractor of dog-bear versus dog-cheese, respectively). In children with NH, picture-naming times were slower in the presence of semantically related distractors. This slowing, called semantic interference, is attributed to the meaning-related picture-distractor entries competing for selection and control of the response (the lexical selection by competition hypothesis). Recently, a modification of the lexical selection by competition hypothesis, called the competition threshold (CT) hypothesis, proposed that (1) the competition between the picture-distractor entries is determined by a threshold, and (2) distractors with experimentally reduced fidelity cannot reach the CT. Thus, semantically related distractors with reduced fidelity do not produce the normal interference effect, but instead no effect or semantic facilitation (faster picture naming times for semantically related versus unrelated distractors). Facilitation occurs because the activation level of the semantically related distractor with reduced fidelity (1) is not sufficient to exceed the CT and produce interference but (2) is sufficient to activate its concept, which then strengthens the activation of the picture and facilitates naming. This research investigated whether the proposals of the CT hypothesis generalize to the auditory domain, to the natural degradation of speech due to HI, and to participants who are children. Our multimodal picture word task allowed us to (1) quantify picture naming results in the presence of auditory speech distractors and (2) probe whether the addition of visual speech enriched the fidelity of the auditory input sufficiently to influence results. In the HI group, the auditory distractors produced no effect or a facilitative effect, in agreement with proposals of the CT hypothesis. In contrast, the audiovisual distractors produced the normal semantic interference effect. Results in the HI versus NH groups differed significantly for the auditory mode, but not for the audiovisual mode. This research indicates that the lower fidelity auditory speech associated with HI affects the normalcy of semantic access by children. Further, adding visual speech enriches the lower fidelity auditory input sufficiently to produce the semantic interference effect typical of children with NH.

Performance of an Ambulatory Dry-EEG Device for Auditory Closed-Loop Stimulation of Sleep Slow Oscillations in the Home Environment

PubMed Central

Debellemaniere, Eden; Chambon, Stanislas; Pinaud, Clemence; Thorey, Valentin; Dehaene, David; Léger, Damien; Chennaoui, Mounir; Arnal, Pierrick J.; Galtier, Mathieu N.

2018-01-01

Recent research has shown that auditory closed-loop stimulation can enhance sleep slow oscillations (SO) to improve N3 sleep quality and cognition. Previous studies have been conducted in lab environments. The present study aimed to validate and assess the performance of a novel ambulatory wireless dry-EEG device (WDD), for auditory closed-loop stimulation of SO during N3 sleep at home. The performance of the WDD to detect N3 sleep automatically and to send auditory closed-loop stimulation on SO were tested on 20 young healthy subjects who slept with both the WDD and a miniaturized polysomnography (part 1) in both stimulated and sham nights within a double blind, randomized and crossover design. The effects of auditory closed-loop stimulation on delta power increase were assessed after one and 10 nights of stimulation on an observational pilot study in the home environment including 90 middle-aged subjects (part 2).The first part, aimed at assessing the quality of the WDD as compared to a polysomnograph, showed that the sensitivity and specificity to automatically detect N3 sleep in real-time were 0.70 and 0.90, respectively. The stimulation accuracy of the SO ascending-phase targeting was 45 ± 52°. The second part of the study, conducted in the home environment, showed that the stimulation protocol induced an increase of 43.9% of delta power in the 4 s window following the first stimulation (including evoked potentials and SO entrainment effect). The increase of SO response to auditory stimulation remained at the same level after 10 consecutive nights. The WDD shows good performances to automatically detect in real-time N3 sleep and to send auditory closed-loop stimulation on SO accurately. These stimulation increased the SO amplitude during N3 sleep without any adaptation effect after 10 consecutive nights. This tool provides new perspectives to figure out novel sleep EEG biomarkers in longitudinal studies and can be interesting to conduct broad studies on the effects of auditory stimulation during sleep. PMID:29568267

Amplitude by Peak Interaction but No Evidence of Auditory Mismatch Response Deficits to Frequency Change in Preschool-Aged Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.

PubMed

Kabella, Danielle M; Flynn, Lucinda; Peters, Amanda; Kodituwakku, Piyadasa; Stephen, Julia M

2018-05-24

Prior studies indicate that the auditory mismatch response is sensitive to early alterations in brain development in multiple developmental disorders. Prenatal alcohol exposure is known to impact early auditory processing. The current study hypothesized alterations in the mismatch response in young children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Participants in this study were 9 children with a FASD and 17 control children (Control) aged 3 to 6 years. Participants underwent magnetoencephalography and structural magnetic resonance imaging scans separately. We compared groups on neurophysiological mismatch negativity (MMN) responses to auditory stimuli measured using the auditory oddball paradigm. Frequent (1,000 Hz) and rare (1,200 Hz) tones were presented at 72 dB. There was no significant group difference in MMN response latency or amplitude represented by the peak located ~200 ms after stimulus presentation in the difference time course between frequent and infrequent tones. Examining the time courses to the frequent and infrequent tones separately, repeated measures analysis of variance with condition (frequent vs. rare), peak (N100m and N200m), and hemisphere as within-subject factors and diagnosis and sex as the between-subject factors showed a significant interaction of peak by diagnosis (p = 0.001), with a pattern of decreased amplitude from N100m to N200m in Control children and the opposite pattern in children with FASD. However, no significant difference was found with the simple effects comparisons. No group differences were found in the response latencies of the rare auditory evoked fields. The results indicate that there was no detectable effect of alcohol exposure on the amplitude or latency of the MMNm response to simple tones modulated by frequency change in preschool-aged children with FASD. However, while discrimination abilities to simple tones may be intact, early auditory sensory processing revealed by the interaction between N100m and N200m amplitude indicates that auditory sensory processing may be altered in children with FASD. Copyright © 2018 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

An fMRI Study of the Neural Systems Involved in Visually Cued Auditory Top-Down Spatial and Temporal Attention

PubMed Central

Li, Chunlin; Chen, Kewei; Han, Hongbin; Chui, Dehua; Wu, Jinglong

2012-01-01

Top-down attention to spatial and temporal cues has been thoroughly studied in the visual domain. However, because the neural systems that are important for auditory top-down temporal attention (i.e., attention based on time interval cues) remain undefined, the differences in brain activity between directed attention to auditory spatial location (compared with time intervals) are unclear. Using fMRI (magnetic resonance imaging), we measured the activations caused by cue-target paradigms by inducing the visual cueing of attention to an auditory target within a spatial or temporal domain. Imaging results showed that the dorsal frontoparietal network (dFPN), which consists of the bilateral intraparietal sulcus and the frontal eye field, responded to spatial orienting of attention, but activity was absent in the bilateral frontal eye field (FEF) during temporal orienting of attention. Furthermore, the fMRI results indicated that activity in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) was significantly stronger during spatial orienting of attention than during temporal orienting of attention, while the DLPFC showed no significant differences between the two processes. We conclude that the bilateral dFPN and the right VLPFC contribute to auditory spatial orienting of attention. Furthermore, specific activations related to temporal cognition were confirmed within the superior occipital gyrus, tegmentum, motor area, thalamus and putamen. PMID:23166800

Noise-induced hearing loss alters the temporal dynamics of auditory-nerve responses

PubMed Central

Scheidt, Ryan E.; Kale, Sushrut; Heinz, Michael G.

2010-01-01

Auditory-nerve fibers demonstrate dynamic response properties in that they adapt to rapid changes in sound level, both at the onset and offset of a sound. These dynamic response properties affect temporal coding of stimulus modulations that are perceptually relevant for many sounds such as speech and music. Temporal dynamics have been well characterized in auditory-nerve fibers from normal-hearing animals, but little is known about the effects of sensorineural hearing loss on these dynamics. This study examined the effects of noise-induced hearing loss on the temporal dynamics in auditory-nerve fiber responses from anesthetized chinchillas. Post-stimulus time histograms were computed from responses to 50-ms tones presented at characteristic frequency and 30 dB above fiber threshold. Several response metrics related to temporal dynamics were computed from post-stimulus-time histograms and were compared between normal-hearing and noise-exposed animals. Results indicate that noise-exposed auditory-nerve fibers show significantly reduced response latency, increased onset response and percent adaptation, faster adaptation after onset, and slower recovery after offset. The decrease in response latency only occurred in noise-exposed fibers with significantly reduced frequency selectivity. These changes in temporal dynamics have important implications for temporal envelope coding in hearing-impaired ears, as well as for the design of dynamic compression algorithms for hearing aids. PMID:20696230

Longitudinal Heschl's gyrus growth during childhood and adolescence in typical development and autism.

PubMed

Prigge, Molly D; Bigler, Erin D; Fletcher, P Thomas; Zielinski, Brandon A; Ravichandran, Caitlin; Anderson, Jeffrey; Froehlich, Alyson; Abildskov, Tracy; Papadopolous, Evangelia; Maasberg, Kathryn; Nielsen, Jared A; Alexander, Andrew L; Lange, Nicholas; Lainhart, Janet

2013-04-01

Heightened auditory sensitivity and atypical auditory processing are common in autism. Functional studies suggest abnormal neural response and hemispheric activation to auditory stimuli, yet the neurodevelopment underlying atypical auditory function in autism is unknown. In this study, we model longitudinal volumetric growth of Heschl's gyrus gray matter and white matter during childhood and adolescence in 40 individuals with autism and 17 typically developing participants. Up to three time points of magnetic resonance imaging data, collected on average every 2.5 years, were examined from individuals 3-12 years of age at the time of their first scan. Consistent with previous cross-sectional studies, no group differences were found in Heschl's gyrus gray matter volume or asymmetry. However, reduced longitudinal gray matter volumetric growth was found in the right Heschl's gyrus in autism. Reduced longitudinal white matter growth in the left hemisphere was found in the right-handed autism participants. Atypical Heschl's gyrus white matter volumetric growth was found bilaterally in the autism individuals with a history of delayed onset of spoken language. Heightened auditory sensitivity, obtained from the Sensory Profile, was associated with reduced volumetric gray matter growth in the right hemisphere. Our longitudinal analyses revealed dynamic gray and white matter changes in Heschl's gyrus throughout childhood and adolescence in both typical development and autism. © 2013 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.