Publications
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A Model of the Medial Superior Olive Explains Spatiotemporal Features of Local Field Potentials KU Leuven
Local field potentials are important indicators of in vivo neural activity. Sustained, phase-locked, sound-evoked extracellular fields in the mammalian auditory brainstem, known as the auditory neurophonic, reflect the activity of neurons in the medial superior olive (MSO). We develop a biophysically based model of the neurophonic that accounts for features of in vivo extracellular recordings in the cat auditory brainstem. By making plausible ...
Assessment of fundamental cochlear limits of frequency resolution and phase-locking in humans and animal models KU Leuven
Frequency selectivity and neural phase-locking are two primary properties of the peripheral auditory system and are fundamental to hearing. These properties are reflected in neural signals as a place-rate and time code and are quantified by means of responses from single auditory nerve fibers (AN fibers). Because of practical issues, the limits of both properties are poorly characterized in humans and widely differing values are assumed in the ...
Axonal Recordings from Medial Superior Olive Neurons Obtained from the Lateral Lemniscus of the Chinchilla (Chinchilla laniger) KU Leuven
Interaural time differences (ITDs) are a major cue for localizing low-frequency (<1.5 kHz) sounds. Sensitivity to this cue first occurs in the medial superior olive (MSO), which is thought to perform a coincidence analysis on its monaural inputs. Extracellular single-neuron recordings in MSO are difficult to obtain because (1) MSO action potentials are small and (2) a large field potential locked to the stimulus waveform hampers spike ...
On the limit of neural phase-locking to fine-structure in humans KU Leuven
The frequency extent over which temporal fine structure is available in the human auditory system has recently become a topic of much discussion. It is common, in both the physiological and psychophysical literature, to encounter the assumption that fine structure is available to humans up to about 5 kHz or even higher. We argue from existing physiological, anatomical, and behavioral data in animals, combined with behavioral and anatomical data ...
Predicting spike timing in highly synchronous auditory neurons at different sound levels KU Leuven
A challenge for sensory systems is to encode natural signals that vary in amplitude by orders of magnitude. The spike trains of neurons in the auditory system must represent the fine temporal structure of sounds despite a tremendous variation in sound level in natural environments. It has been shown in vitro that the transformation from dynamic signals into precise spike trains can be accurately captured by simple integrate-and-fire models. In ...
Auditory nerve frequency tuning measured with forward-masked compound action potentials KU Leuven
Frequency selectivity is a fundamental cochlear property. Recent studies using otoacoustic emissions and psychophysical forward masking suggest that frequency selectivity is sharper in human than in common laboratory species. This has been disputed based on reports using compound action potentials (CAPs), which reflect activity in the auditory nerve and can be measured in humans. Comparative data of CAPs, obtained with a variety of simultaneous ...
Ongoing Temporal Coding of a Stochastic Stimulus as a Function of Intensity: Time-Intensity Trading KU Leuven
Stimulus-locked temporal codes are increasingly seen as relevant to perception. The timing of action potentials typically varies with stimulus intensity, and the invariance of temporal representations with intensity is therefore an issue. We examine the timing of action potentials in cat auditory nerve to broadband noise presented at different intensities, using an analysis inspired by coincidence detection and by the binaural "latency ...
Frequency selectivity in Old-World monkeys corroborates sharp cochlear tuning in humans KU Leuven
Frequency selectivity in the inner ear is fundamental to hearing and is traditionally thought to be similar across mammals. Although direct measurements are not possible in humans, estimates of frequency tuning based on noninvasive recordings of sound evoked from the cochlea (otoacoustic emissions) have suggested substantially sharper tuning in humans but remain controversial. We report measurements of frequency tuning in macaque monkeys, ...
Responses of auditory nerve and anteroventral cochlear nucleus fibers to broadband and narrowband noise: implications for the sensitivity to interaural delays KU Leuven
The quality of temporal coding of sound waveforms in the monaural afferents that converge on binaural neurons in the brainstem limits the sensitivity to temporal differences at the two ears. The anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN) houses the cells that project to the binaural nuclei, which are known to have enhanced temporal coding of low-frequency sounds relative to auditory nerve (AN) fibers. We applied a coincidence analysis within the ...