QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, February 27, 2008, 28(9):2043-2052; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4488-07.2008

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Siveke, I. Articles by Wiegrebe, L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Siveke, I. Articles by Wiegrebe, L.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Psychophysical and Physiological Evidence for Fast Binaural Processing

Ida Siveke,¹ Stephan D. Ewert,² Benedikt Grothe,^1,3 and Lutz Wiegrebe¹

¹Biocentre, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 82152 Martinsried, Germany, ²Medizinische Physik, Fakultät V, Institut für Physik, Carl von Ossietzky Universität, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany, and ³Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Munich, 81377 Munich, Germany

Correspondence should be addressed to Lutz Wiegrebe, Biocentre, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Grosshadernerstrasse 2, 82152 Martinsried, Germany. Email: wiegrebe{at}zi.biologie.uni-muenchen.de

The mammalian auditory system is the temporally most precise sensory modality: To localize low-frequency sounds in space, the binaural system can resolve time differences between the ears with microsecond precision. In contrast, the binaural system appears sluggish in tracking changing interaural time differences as they arise from a low-frequency sound source moving along the horizontal plane. For a combined psychophysical and electrophysiological approach, we created a binaural stimulus, called "Phasewarp," that can transmit rapid changes in interaural timing. Using this stimulus, the binaural performance in humans is significantly better than reported previously and comparable with the monaural performance revealed with amplitude-modulated stimuli. Parallel, electrophysiological recordings of binaural brainstem neurons in the gerbil show fast temporal processing of monaural and different types of binaural modulations. In a refined electrophysiological approach that was matched to the psychophysics, the seemingly faster binaural processing of the Phasewarp was confirmed. The current data provide both psychophysical and physiological evidence against a general, hard-wired binaural sluggishness and reconcile previous contradictions of electrophysiological and psychophysical estimates of temporal binaural performance.

Key words: binaural hearing; ITD; sound localization; amplitude modulation; binaural sluggishness; motion

---

Received Oct. 2, 2007; revised Dec. 21, 2007; accepted Dec. 30, 2007.

Correspondence should be addressed to Lutz Wiegrebe, Biocentre, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Grosshadernerstrasse 2, 82152 Martinsried, Germany. Email: wiegrebe{at}zi.biologie.uni-muenchen.de

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. H. Scott, B. J. Malone, and M. N. Semple Representation of Dynamic Interaural Phase Difference in Auditory Cortex of Awake Rhesus Macaques J Neurophysiol, April 1, 2009; 101(4): 1781 - 1799. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help