Hearing Frequency Selectivity Research Articles

All that Jazz Coming Out of My Ears

All that Jazz Coming Out of My Ears

Masking of short stimuli by noises with spiked spectra: II. Time summation and frequency selectivity of hearing in a narrow frequency range

The thresholds of masking of short high-frequency pulses with either different durations (1.25–25 ms) and similar central frequency or different central frequencies (3.6–4.4 kHz) but similar durations were measured to reveal manifestations of the properties of peripheral encoding in auditory perception. Noises with a spiked amplitude spectrum structure were used as maskers. The central frequency and the frequency band of a masker were 4 and 1 kHz, respectively. The central frequencies of a stimulus and a masker being equal, the noise the central frequency of which coincided with the frequency corresponding to a dip of an indented spectrum was called an off(rip)-frequency masker. Owing to the off(rip)-masker, stimuli-induced masking thresholds were formed taking into account excitation in a narrow region of a basila membrane and auditory nerve fibers with characteristic frequencies from a narrow range. High-frequency pulses with an envelope in the form of the Gaussian function and sinusoidal filling were used as stimuli. At masker levels of 30 dB above the auditory threshold, frequencies of off(rip)-masker spectra spikes of 500–2000 Hz, and a central stimulus frequency of 4 kHz, the thresholds of tonal stimuli (25 ms in duration) masking in two out of three probationers were higher than the thresholds of masking of compact stimuli (1.25 ms in duration). In the third probationer, on the contrary, the thresholds of tonal stimuli masking were lower than the thresholds of compact stimuli masking. At masker levels of 50 dB, individual threshold differences disappeared. The obtained results were interpreted in the context of implementation of different methods of auditory encoding of the intensity. The methods were based on either the average frequency of auditory nerve pulsations or the number of fibers participating in the response. The interpretation was also carried out in the context of revealing manifestations of nonlinear properties of basila membrane displacements in auditory thresholds. The fact that the dependence of detection thresholds of compact stimuli on their central frequency in one of the two probationers did not reveal the minimum in case of coincidence of off(rip)-masker and stimulus frequencies pointed to the presence of an auditory “problem zone” that was likely to be localized at the periphery of the auditory system.

Frequency Clustering in Spontaneous Otoacoustic Emissions from a Lizard's Ear

Spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAEs) are indicators of an active process in the inner ear that enhances the sensitivity and frequency selectivity of hearing. They are particularly regular and robust in certain lizards, so these animals are good model organisms for studying how SOAEs are generated. We show that the published properties of SOAEs in the bobtail lizard are wholly consistent with a mathematical model in which active oscillators, with exponentially varying characteristic frequencies, are coupled together in a chain by visco-elastic elements. Physically, each oscillator corresponds to a small group of hair cells, covered by a tectorial sallet, so our theoretical analysis directly links SOAEs to the micromechanics of active hair bundles.

Analysis of auditory information in the brains of cetaceans

A characteristic feature of the brains of toothed cetaceans is the exclusive development of the auditory neural centers. The location of the projection sensory zones, including the auditory zones, in the cetacean cortex is significantly different from that in other mammals. The characteristics of evoked potentials demonstrate the existence of several functional subdivisions in the auditory cortex. Physiological studies of the auditory neural centers of cetaceans have been performed predominantly using the evoked potentials method. Of the several types of evoked potentials available for non-invasive recording, the most detailed studies have been performed using short-latency auditory evoked potentials (SLAEP). SLAEP in cetaceans are characterized by exclusively high time resolution, with integration times of about 0.3 msec, which on the frequency scale corresponds to a cut-off frequency of 1700 Hz. This is more than an order of magnitude greater than the time resolution of hearing in terrestrial mammals. The frequency selectivity of hearing in cetaceans has been measured using several versions of the masking method. The acuity of frequency selectivity in cetaceans is several times greater than that in most terrestrial mammals (except bats). The acute frequency selectivity allows the discrimination of very fine spectral patterns of sound signals.

Hearing frequency selectivity in four species of toothed whales as revealed by the evoked-potential method

Frequency tuning curves were obtained using a tone-tone simultaneous masking paradigm in conjunction with the evoked potential recording. The masker was a continuous tone and the test was a sinusoidal amplitude-modulated (SAM) tonal signal, which evoked the envelope following response (EFR). The EFR was recorded in unanaesthetized animals from a head surface with the use of suction-cup electrodes. The obtained tuning curves featured very sharp tuning with Q(ERB) (quality estimated by the equivalent rectangular bandwidth) from 35 in Tursiops truncatus to nearly 50 in Delphinapterus leucas. This acuteness is several times better than in humans and many animals. The Q(ERB) dependence on probe frequency could be approximated by regression lines with a slope from 0.18 in Tursiops trucatus to 0.83–0.86 in Phocoena phocoena and Neophocoena phocoenoides. Thus, the frequency representation in the odontocete auditory system may be either near constant quality (in Tursiops) or near constant bandwidth (in porpoises). [Work supported by The Russian Foundation for Basic Research and Russian President Grant.]

Some Problems in the Measurement of the Frequency-Resolving Ability of Hearing

Despite the detailed development of masking methods for measurement of the frequency selectivity of hearing, these measurements are hardly used for diagnostic purposes because they are time-consuming and because of the uncertain extrapolation of the results to the perception of complex spectral patterns. A method for the direct measurement of the spectral resolving ability of hearing using test signals with rippled spectra is proposed. These measurements showed 1) that the resolving ability of the auditory system in terms of discriminating complex spectra is greater than that suggested by the acuity of auditory frequency filters; 2) that changes in the acuity of frequency auditory filters associated with sound intensity hardly affect the ability to resolve complex spectra; 3) that the effects of interference on frequency-resolving ability do not lead to decreases in the spectral contrast of signals due to superimposition of noise.

Chick hair cells do not exhibit voltage-dependent somatic motility.

It is generally believed that mechanical amplification by cochlear hair cells is necessary to enhance the sensitivity and frequency selectivity of hearing. In the mammalian ear, the basis of cochlear amplification is believed to be the voltage-dependent electromotility of outer hair cells (OHCs). The avian basilar papilla contains tall and short hair cells, with the former being comparable to inner hair cells, and the latter comparable to OHCs, based on their innervation patterns. In this study, we sought evidence for somatic electromotility by direct measurements of voltage-dependent length changes in both tall and short hair cells at nanometre resolution. Microchamber and whole-cell voltage-clamp techniques were used. Motility was measured with a photodiode-based measurement system. Non-linear capacitance, an electrical signature of somatic motility, was also measured to complement motility measurement. Significantly, chick hair cells did not exhibit somatic motility nor express non-linear capacitance. The lack of somatic motility suggests that in avian hair cells the active process resides elsewhere, most likely in the hair cell stereocilia.

Masking patterns in the bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana). II: Physiological effects.

Responses of individual eighth-nerve fibers in the bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) were measured to tone bursts at best frequency against a background of continuous, broadband masking noise. These data were used to calculate critical masking ratios to describe the fibers' responses to tones embedded in noise. In the frequency response range of the amphibian papilla (100-1000 Hz), critical ratios increase with tone frequency. Critical ratios of basilar papilla fibers (1000-2000 Hz) are generally higher than those of amphibian papilla fibers. Critical ratios are also significantly related to fiber threshold such that fibers with high thresholds, regardless of their best frequencies, have higher critical ratios and are thus less selective to signals embedded in noise. Critical ratios based on neural responses show a somewhat different frequency-dependent trend than do critical ratios based on psychophysical data presented previously for this species [A. M. Simmons, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 83, 1087-1092 (1988a)]. In addition, these neural critical ratios do not appear to be level independent, as are psychophysical critical ratios. The data suggest that frequency selectivity of hearing in the bullfrog as measured behaviorally is probably not mediated solely by spectral filtering in the auditory periphery.

Fast motility of isolated mammalian auditory sensory cells

Auditory sensory cells (hair cells) are responsible for sound transduction in the cochlea of the inner ear. In the presence of a longitudinal a.c. field isolated living outer hair cells showed reversible motile responses. They followed the stimulus up to at least 1 kHz. Control experiments in the presence of cytochalasin B, phalloidin and dinitrophenol excluded actomyosin as a molecular basis of the high frequency motility. The results suggest, that outer hair cells might amplify sound-induced oscillations in the inner ear and thus increase sensitivity and frequency selectivity of hearing.

Frequency selectivity of hearing in the green treefrog,Hyla cinerea

Frequency selectivity of hearing was measured in the green treefrog, Hyla cinerea. A psychophysical technique based on reflex modification was used to obtain masked threshold estimates for pure tones (300-5,400 Hz) presented against two levels of broadband masking noise. A pure tone (S-1) presented 200 ms prior to a reflex-eliciting stimulus (S-2) inhibited the motor reflex response to S-2. The magnitude of this reflex modification effect varied systematically with the sound pressure level (SPL) of S-1, and threshold was defined as the SPL of S-1 at which the reflex modification effect disappeared. Masked thresholds were used to calculate critical ratios, an index of the auditory system's frequency selectivity. The frequency selectivity of the treefrog's hearing is greatest and critical ratios are lowest (22-24 dB) at about 900 and 3,000 Hz, the two spectral regions dominant in the male treefrog's species-specific advertisement call. These results suggest that the treefrog's auditory system may be specialized to reject noise at biologically-relevant frequencies. As in other vertebrates, critical ratios remain constant when background noise level is varied; however, the shape of the treefrog's critical ratio function across frequencies differs from the typical vertebrate function that increases with increasing frequency at a slope of about 3 dB/octave. Instead, the treefrog's critical ratio function resembles its pure tone audiogram. Although the shape of the treefrog's critical ratio function is atypical, the critical ratio values themselves are comparable to those of many other vertebrates in the same frequency range. Critical ratio values here measured behaviorally do not match critical ratio values previously measured physiologically in single eighth nerve fibers.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)