Stochastic resonance within the auditory system

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Stochastic resonance within the auditory system Keita Tanaka1*, Masaki Kawakatsu1, Iku Nemoto1 and Yoshinori Uchikawa1 1 Tokyo Denki University, Japan In our previous study, we observed a stochastic resonance (SR) effect of white noise on auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs) in magnetoencephalogram (MEG) by presenting bursts of sinusoidal amplitude modulation (SAM) tones superimposed with white noise [1, 2]. It was conjectured that the observed SR occurred in the central nervous system, but there was not indisputable evidence for that. Therefore, we measured ASSRs in MEG to an ongoing SAM tone presented to the subject’s left ear while bursts of white noise of various intensities were presented to the right ear. The results showed a significant enhancement in the phase coherence of ASSRs obtained over the right temporal regions by the presence of white noise of appropriate intensity. The observed SR most likely occurred in the central and not in the peripheral nervous system [3]. In the present study, we next investigated the SR effect in the power and phase coherence of the ASSR in deaf patients and saw an SR effects in some patients. Our finding may be quite important as mechanisms of SR in biological systems are mostly unknown.