Interaural time differences are initially analyzed in the medial superior olive (MSO) in the brainstem. Neurons in this nucleus act as coincidence detectors, only firing when the activity from the two ears reaches the cell within a small time window (Batra et al. 1997a, b; Goldberg and Brown 1969; Spitzer and Semple 1995; Yin and Chan 1990). Maximal values of interaural time difference (ITD) for humans are 700 μs, with just noticeable differences often of the order of a few tens of μs (Durlach and Colburn 1978; Hafter et al. 1979; Mills 1958). To achieve such accuracy requires a very precise time signal from the two ears, which is provided by the phase-locking in the auditory nerve fibers (Johnson 1980; Kiang et al. 1965; Palmer and Russell 1986), that is a direct result of the manner of activation of the inner hair cells by the vibration of the basilar membrane (see Ruggero and Rich 1987 for a review).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Anderson D, Rose J, Hind J, Brugge J (1971) Temporal position of discharges in single auditory nerve fibers within the cycle of a sine-wave stimulus: frequency and intensity effects. J Acoust Soc Am 49:1131–1139.
Batra R, Kuwada S, Fitzpatrick DC (1997a) Sensitivity to interaural temporal disparities of low- and high- frequency neurons in the superior olivary complex. I. Heterogeneity of responses. J Neurophysiol 73:1222–1236.
Batra R, Kuwada S, Fitzpatrick DC (1997b) Sensitivity to interaural temporal disparitites of low- and high- frequency neurons in the superior olivary complex. II. Coincidence detection. J Neurophysiol 78:1237–1247.
Bullock DC, Palmer AR, Rees A (1988) Compact and easy-to-use tungsten-in-glass microelectrode manufacturing workstation. Med Biol Eng Comput 26:669–672.
Cooper N, Rhode W (1995) Nonlinear mechanics at the apex of the guinea-pig cochlea. Hear Res 82:225–243.
Durlach NI, Colburn HS (1978) Binaural phenomena. In: Carterette EC, Friedman MP (eds) Handbook of perception, vol IV, hearing. Academic Press, New York, pp 365–466.
Goldberg JM, Brown PB (1969) Response of binaural neurons of dog superior olivary complex to dichotic tonal stimuli: some physiological mechanisms of sound localization. J Neurophysiol 32:613–636.
Hafter ER, Dye RH, Gilkey RH (1979) Lateralization of tonal signals which have neither onsets nor offsets. J Acoust Soc Am 65:471–477.
Johnson DH (1980) The relationship between spike rate and synchrony in responses of auditory-nerve fibers to single tones. J Acoust Soc Am 68:1115–1122.
Kiang NYS, Watanabe T, Thomas EC, Clark LF (1965) Discharge patterns of single fibers in the cat’s auditory nerve. MIT, Cambridge, Mass.
Kuwada S, Yin TCT (1983) Binaural interaction in low-frequency neurons in inferior colliculus of the cat. I. Effects of long interaural delays, intensity, and repetition rate on interaural delay function. J Neurophysiol 50:981–999.
McAlpine D, Palmer AR (2002) Blocking gabaergic inhibition increases sensitivity to sound motion cues in the inferior colliculus. J Neurosci 22:1443–1453.
McAlpine D, Jiang D, Palmer AR (1996) Interaural sensitivity and the classification of low best-frequency binaural responses in the inferior colliculus of the guinea pig. Hear Res 97:136–152.
Mills AW (1958) On the minimum audible angle. J Acoust Soc Am 30:237–246.
Palmer AR, Russell IJ (1986) Phase-locking in the cochlear nerve of the guinea-pig and its relation to the receptor potential of inner hair cells. Hear Res 24:1–15.
Palmer AR, Winter IM, Darwin CJ (1986) The representation of steady-state vowel sounds in the temporal discharge patterns of the guinea-pig cochlear nerve and primary-like cochlear nucleus neurons. J Acoust Soc Am 79:100–113.
Robles L, Ruggero M (2001) Mechanics of the mammalian cochlea. Physiolog Rev 81:1305–1352.
Ruggero M, Rich N (1987) Timing of spike initiation in cochlear afferents: dependence on site of innervation. J Neurophysiol 58:379–403.
Shackleton TM, Skottun BC, Arnott RH, Palmer AR (2003) Interaural time difference discrimination thresholds for single neurons in the inferior colliculus of guinea pigs. J Neurosci 23:716–724.
Spitzer MW, Semple MN (1995) Neurons sensitive to interaural phase disparity in gerbil superior olive: diverse monaural and temporal response properties. J Neurophysiol 73:1668–1690.
Yin TCT, Chan JCK (1990) Interaural time sensitivity in medial superior olive of cat. J Neurophysiol 64:465–488.
Yin TCT, Kuwada S (1983) Binaural interaction in low-frequency neurons in inferior colliculus of the cat. II. Effects of changing rate and direction of interaural phase. J Neurophysiol 50:1000–1019.
Zinn C, Maier H, Zenner H-P, Gummer A (2000) Evidence for active, nonlinear, negative feedback in the vibration response of the apical region of the in-vivo guinea pig cochlea. Hear Res 142:159–183.
References
Geisler CD, Deng L, Greenberg S (1985) Thresholds for primary auditory fibers using statistically defined criteria. J Acoust Soc Am 77:1102–1109
Greenberg S (1986) Possible role of low and medium spontaneous rate cochlear nerve fibers in the encoding of waveform periodicity. In: Moore B, Patterson R (eds) Auditory frequency selectivity. Plenum, New York, pp 241–248.
Greenberg S, Geisler CD, Deng L (1986) Frequency selectivity of single cochlear nerve fibers based on the temporal response patterns to two-tone signals. J Acoust Soc Am 79:1010–1019.
Liberman MC, Kiang NY-S (1978) Acoustic trauma in cats: cochlear pathology and auditory-nerve activity. Acta Oto-Laryngol Suppl Stockh 358:1–63.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Palmer, A.R., Liu, LF., Shackleton, T.M. (2007). Level Dependent Shifts in Auditory Nerve Phase Locking Underlie Changes in Interaural Time Sensitivity with Interaural Level Differences in the Inferior Colliculus. In: Kollmeier, B., et al. Hearing – From Sensory Processing to Perception. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73009-5_48
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73009-5_48
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-73008-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-73009-5
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)