Abstract
BackgroundStochastic resonance (SR) refers to a faint signal being enhanced with the addition of white noise. Previous studies have found that vestibular perceptual thresholds are lowered with noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (i.e., “in-channel” SR). Auditory white noise has been shown to improve tactile and visual thresholds, suggesting “cross-modal” SR.ObjectiveWe investigated galvanic vestibular white noise (nGVS) (n = 9 subjects) to determine the cross-modal effects on visual and auditory thresholds.MethodsWe measured auditory and visual perceptual thresholds of human subjects across a swath of different nGVS levels in order to determine if some individual-subject determined best nGVS level elicited a reduction in thresholds as compared the no noise condition (sham).ResultsWe found improvement in visual thresholds (by an average of 18%, p = 0.014). Subjects with higher (worse) visual thresholds with no stimulation (sham) improved more than those with lower thresholds (p = 0.04). Auditory thresholds were unchanged by vestibular stimulation.ConclusionThese results are the first demonstration of cross-modal improvement with galvanic vestibular stimulation, indicating galvanic vestibular white noise can produce cross-modal improvements in some sensory channels, but not all.
Highlights
Stochastic resonance (SR) is a phenomenon whereby an input signal to a non-linear system is enhanced by the presence of a particular non-zero level of noise (Gammaitoni et al, 1989)
These results are the first demonstration of cross-modal improvement with galvanic vestibular stimulation, indicating galvanic vestibular white noise can produce cross-modal improvements in some sensory channels, but not all
- No such reduction was seen in auditory thresholds with the application of noisy GVS (nGVS)
Summary
Stochastic resonance (SR) is a phenomenon whereby an input signal to a non-linear system is enhanced by the presence of a particular non-zero level of noise (Gammaitoni et al, 1989). In-channel SR refers to stochastic resonance occurring within the same sensory modality Crossmodal SR refers to stochastic resonance occurring outside the sensory modality of the white noise (e.g., vestibular white noise improving visual perception). As more white noise is added it is thought to resonant with the stimulus to produce a reduced perceptual threshold, but once too much white noise is added it is no longer beneficial, and for some in-channel sensing modalities can degrade perception. Auditory white noise has been shown to lower auditory thresholds in subjects with healthy hearing (Zeng et al, 2000; Ries, 2007; Sherman, 2019) and those with cochlear implants (Zeng et al, 2000). Auditory white noise has been shown to improve tactile and visual thresholds, suggesting “cross-modal” SR
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