1
|
Lorenzi C, Apoux F, Grinfeder E, Krause B, Miller-Viacava N, Sueur J. Human Auditory Ecology: Extending Hearing Research to the Perception of Natural Soundscapes by Humans in Rapidly Changing Environments. Trends Hear 2023; 27:23312165231212032. [PMID: 37981813 PMCID: PMC10658775 DOI: 10.1177/23312165231212032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2023] [Revised: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 11/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Research in hearing sciences has provided extensive knowledge about how the human auditory system processes speech and assists communication. In contrast, little is known about how this system processes "natural soundscapes," that is the complex arrangements of biological and geophysical sounds shaped by sound propagation through non-anthropogenic habitats [Grinfeder et al. (2022). Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 10: 894232]. This is surprising given that, for many species, the capacity to process natural soundscapes determines survival and reproduction through the ability to represent and monitor the immediate environment. Here we propose a framework to encourage research programmes in the field of "human auditory ecology," focusing on the study of human auditory perception of ecological processes at work in natural habitats. Based on large acoustic databases with high ecological validity, these programmes should investigate the extent to which this presumably ancestral monitoring function of the human auditory system is adapted to specific information conveyed by natural soundscapes, whether it operate throughout the life span or whether it emerges through individual learning or cultural transmission. Beyond fundamental knowledge of human hearing, these programmes should yield a better understanding of how normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners monitor rural and city green and blue spaces and benefit from them, and whether rehabilitation devices (hearing aids and cochlear implants) restore natural soundscape perception and emotional responses back to normal. Importantly, they should also reveal whether and how humans hear the rapid changes in the environment brought about by human activity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Christian Lorenzi
- Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs, UMR CNRS 8248, Département d’Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), Paris, France
| | - Frédéric Apoux
- Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs, UMR CNRS 8248, Département d’Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), Paris, France
| | - Elie Grinfeder
- Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs, UMR CNRS 8248, Département d’Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), Paris, France
- Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, Paris, France
| | | | - Nicole Miller-Viacava
- Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs, UMR CNRS 8248, Département d’Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), Paris, France
| | - Jérôme Sueur
- Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, Paris, France
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Allen KM, Salles A, Park S, Elhilali M, Moss CF. Effect of background clutter on neural discrimination in the bat auditory midbrain. J Neurophysiol 2021; 126:1772-1782. [PMID: 34669503 PMCID: PMC8794058 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00109.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2021] [Revised: 09/22/2021] [Accepted: 10/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The discrimination of complex sounds is a fundamental function of the auditory system. This operation must be robust in the presence of noise and acoustic clutter. Echolocating bats are auditory specialists that discriminate sonar objects in acoustically complex environments. Bats produce brief signals, interrupted by periods of silence, rendering echo snapshots of sonar objects. Sonar object discrimination requires that bats process spatially and temporally overlapping echoes to make split-second decisions. The mechanisms that enable this discrimination are not well understood, particularly in complex environments. We explored the neural underpinnings of sonar object discrimination in the presence of acoustic scattering caused by physical clutter. We performed electrophysiological recordings in the inferior colliculus of awake big brown bats, to broadcasts of prerecorded echoes from physical objects. We acquired single unit responses to echoes and discovered a subpopulation of IC neurons that encode acoustic features that can be used to discriminate between sonar objects. We further investigated the effects of environmental clutter on this population's encoding of acoustic features. We discovered that the effect of background clutter on sonar object discrimination is highly variable and depends on object properties and target-clutter spatiotemporal separation. In many conditions, clutter impaired discrimination of sonar objects. However, in some instances clutter enhanced acoustic features of echo returns, enabling higher levels of discrimination. This finding suggests that environmental clutter may augment acoustic cues used for sonar target discrimination and provides further evidence in a growing body of literature that noise is not universally detrimental to sensory encoding.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Bats are powerful animal models for investigating the encoding of auditory objects under acoustically challenging conditions. Although past work has considered the effect of acoustic clutter on sonar target detection, less is known about target discrimination in clutter. Our work shows that the neural encoding of auditory objects was affected by clutter in a distance-dependent manner. These findings advance the knowledge on auditory object detection and discrimination and noise-dependent stimulus enhancement.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kathryne M Allen
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Angeles Salles
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Sangwook Park
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Mounya Elhilali
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Cynthia F Moss
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Gentile Polese A, Nigam S, Hurley LM. 5-HT1A Receptors Alter Temporal Responses to Broadband Vocalizations in the Mouse Inferior Colliculus Through Response Suppression. Front Neural Circuits 2021; 15:718348. [PMID: 34512276 PMCID: PMC8430226 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2021.718348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Neuromodulatory systems may provide information on social context to auditory brain regions, but relatively few studies have assessed the effects of neuromodulation on auditory responses to acoustic social signals. To address this issue, we measured the influence of the serotonergic system on the responses of neurons in a mouse auditory midbrain nucleus, the inferior colliculus (IC), to vocal signals. Broadband vocalizations (BBVs) are human-audible signals produced by mice in distress as well as by female mice in opposite-sex interactions. The production of BBVs is context-dependent in that they are produced both at early stages of interactions as females physically reject males and at later stages as males mount females. Serotonin in the IC of males corresponds to these events, and is elevated more in males that experience less female rejection. We measured the responses of single IC neurons to five recorded examples of BBVs in anesthetized mice. We then locally activated the 5-HT1A receptor through iontophoretic application of 8-OH-DPAT. IC neurons showed little selectivity for different BBVs, but spike trains were characterized by local regions of high spike probability, which we called "response features." Response features varied across neurons and also across calls for individual neurons, ranging from 1 to 7 response features for responses of single neurons to single calls. 8-OH-DPAT suppressed spikes and also reduced the numbers of response features. The weakest response features were the most likely to disappear, suggestive of an "iceberg"-like effect in which activation of the 5-HT1A receptor suppressed weakly suprathreshold response features below the spiking threshold. Because serotonin in the IC is more likely to be elevated for mounting-associated BBVs than for rejection-associated BBVs, these effects of the 5-HT1A receptor could contribute to the differential auditory processing of BBVs in different behavioral subcontexts.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Arianna Gentile Polese
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, United States
- Department of Biology, Program in Neuroscience, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, United States
| | - Sunny Nigam
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States
- Department of Physics, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, United States
| | - Laura M. Hurley
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United States
| |
Collapse
|