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van der Heijden K, Patel P, Bickel S, Herrero JL, Mehta AD, Mesgarani N. Joint population coding and temporal coherence link an attended talker's voice and location features in naturalistic multi-talker scenes. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.13.593814. [PMID: 38798551 PMCID: PMC11118436 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.13.593814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
Listeners readily extract multi-dimensional auditory objects such as a 'localized talker' from complex acoustic scenes with multiple talkers. Yet, the neural mechanisms underlying simultaneous encoding and linking of different sound features - for example, a talker's voice and location - are poorly understood. We analyzed invasive intracranial recordings in neurosurgical patients attending to a localized talker in real-life cocktail party scenarios. We found that sensitivity to an individual talker's voice and location features was distributed throughout auditory cortex and that neural sites exhibited a gradient from sensitivity to a single feature to joint sensitivity to both features. On a population level, cortical response patterns of both dual-feature sensitive sites but also single-feature sensitive sites revealed simultaneous encoding of an attended talker's voice and location features. However, for single-feature sensitive sites, the representation of the primary feature was more precise. Further, sites which selective tracked an attended speech stream concurrently encoded an attended talker's voice and location features, indicating that such sites combine selective tracking of an attended auditory object with encoding of the object's features. Finally, we found that attending a localized talker selectively enhanced temporal coherence between single-feature voice sensitive sites and single-feature location sensitive sites, providing an additional mechanism for linking voice and location in multi-talker scenes. These results demonstrate that a talker's voice and location features are linked during multi-dimensional object formation in naturalistic multi-talker scenes by joint population coding as well as by temporal coherence between neural sites. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Listeners effortlessly extract auditory objects from complex acoustic scenes consisting of multiple sound sources in naturalistic, spatial sound scenes. Yet, how the brain links different sound features to form a multi-dimensional auditory object is poorly understood. We investigated how neural responses encode and integrate an attended talker's voice and location features in spatial multi-talker sound scenes to elucidate which neural mechanisms underlie simultaneous encoding and linking of different auditory features. Our results show that joint population coding as well as temporal coherence mechanisms contribute to distributed multi-dimensional auditory object encoding. These findings shed new light on cortical functional specialization and multidimensional auditory object formation in complex, naturalistic listening scenes. HIGHLIGHTS Cortical responses to an single talker exhibit a distributed gradient, ranging from sites that are sensitive to both a talker's voice and location (dual-feature sensitive sites) to sites that are sensitive to either voice or location (single-feature sensitive sites).Population response patterns of dual-feature sensitive sites encode voice and location features of the attended talker in multi-talker scenes jointly and with equal precision.Despite their sensitivity to a single feature at the level of individual cortical sites, population response patterns of single-feature sensitive sites also encode location and voice features of a talker jointly, but with higher precision for the feature they are primarily sensitive to.Neural sites which selectively track an attended speech stream concurrently encode the attended talker's voice and location features.Attention selectively enhances temporal coherence between voice and location selective sites over time.Joint population coding as well as temporal coherence mechanisms underlie distributed multi-dimensional auditory object encoding in auditory cortex.
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Wu J, Nie S, Li C, Wang X, Peng Y, Shang J, Diao L, Ding H, Si Q, Wang S, Tong R, Li Y, Sun L, Zhang J. Sound-localization-related activation and functional connectivity of dorsal auditory pathway in relation to demographic, cognitive, and behavioral characteristics in age-related hearing loss. Front Neurosci 2024; 18:1353413. [PMID: 38562303 PMCID: PMC10982313 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1353413] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2023] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Patients with age-related hearing loss (ARHL) often struggle with tracking and locating sound sources, but the neural signature associated with these impairments remains unclear. Materials and methods Using a passive listening task with stimuli from five different horizontal directions in functional magnetic resonance imaging, we defined functional regions of interest (ROIs) of the auditory "where" pathway based on the data of previous literatures and young normal hearing listeners (n = 20). Then, we investigated associations of the demographic, cognitive, and behavioral features of sound localization with task-based activation and connectivity of the ROIs in ARHL patients (n = 22). Results We found that the increased high-level region activation, such as the premotor cortex and inferior parietal lobule, was associated with increased localization accuracy and cognitive function. Moreover, increased connectivity between the left planum temporale and left superior frontal gyrus was associated with increased localization accuracy in ARHL. Increased connectivity between right primary auditory cortex and right middle temporal gyrus, right premotor cortex and left anterior cingulate cortex, and right planum temporale and left lingual gyrus in ARHL was associated with decreased localization accuracy. Among the ARHL patients, the task-dependent brain activation and connectivity of certain ROIs were associated with education, hearing loss duration, and cognitive function. Conclusion Consistent with the sensory deprivation hypothesis, in ARHL, sound source identification, which requires advanced processing in the high-level cortex, is impaired, whereas the right-left discrimination, which relies on the primary sensory cortex, is compensated with a tendency to recruit more resources concerning cognition and attention to the auditory sensory cortex. Overall, this study expanded our understanding of the neural mechanisms contributing to sound localization deficits associated with ARHL and may serve as a potential imaging biomarker for investigating and predicting anomalous sound localization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junzhi Wu
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Shuai Nie
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Chunlin Li
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Xing Wang
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Ye Peng
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Jiaqi Shang
- Center of Clinical Hearing, Shandong Second Provincial General Hospital, Jinan, Shandong, China
| | - Linan Diao
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Hongping Ding
- College of Special Education, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai, Shandong, China
| | - Qian Si
- School of Cyber Science and Technology, Beihang University, Beijing, China
| | - Songjian Wang
- Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Ministry of Education, Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Beijing, China
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Renjie Tong
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Yutang Li
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Liwei Sun
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Juan Zhang
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
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3
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Park WJ, Fine I. The perception of auditory motion in sighted and early blind individuals. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2310156120. [PMID: 38015842 PMCID: PMC10710053 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2310156120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2023] [Accepted: 10/29/2023] [Indexed: 11/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Motion perception is a fundamental sensory task that plays a critical evolutionary role. In vision, motion processing is classically described using a motion energy model with spatiotemporally nonseparable filters suited for capturing the smooth continuous changes in spatial position over time afforded by moving objects. However, it is still not clear whether the filters underlying auditory motion discrimination are also continuous motion detectors or infer motion from comparing discrete sound locations over time (spatiotemporally separable). We used a psychophysical reverse correlation paradigm, where participants discriminated the direction of a motion signal in the presence of spatiotemporal noise, to determine whether the filters underlying auditory motion discrimination were spatiotemporally separable or nonseparable. We then examined whether these auditory motion filters were altered as a result of early blindness. We found that both sighted and early blind individuals have separable filters. However, early blind individuals show increased sensitivity to auditory motion, with reduced susceptibility to noise and filters that were more accurate in detecting motion onsets/offsets. Model simulations suggest that this reliance on separable filters is optimal given the limited spatial resolution of auditory input.
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Affiliation(s)
- Woon Ju Park
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA98195
| | - Ione Fine
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA98195
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4
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Sun L, Li C, Wang S, Si Q, Lin M, Wang N, Sun J, Li H, Liang Y, Wei J, Zhang X, Zhang J. Left frontal eye field encodes sound locations during passive listening. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:3067-3079. [PMID: 35858212 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac261] [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: 03/29/2022] [Revised: 06/02/2022] [Accepted: 06/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies reported that auditory cortices (AC) were mostly activated by sounds coming from the contralateral hemifield. As a result, sound locations could be encoded by integrating opposite activations from both sides of AC ("opponent hemifield coding"). However, human auditory "where" pathway also includes a series of parietal and prefrontal regions. It was unknown how sound locations were represented in those high-level regions during passive listening. Here, we investigated the neural representation of sound locations in high-level regions by voxel-level tuning analysis, regions-of-interest-level (ROI-level) laterality analysis, and ROI-level multivariate pattern analysis. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected while participants listened passively to sounds from various horizontal locations. We found that opponent hemifield coding of sound locations not only existed in AC, but also spanned over intraparietal sulcus, superior parietal lobule, and frontal eye field (FEF). Furthermore, multivariate pattern representation of sound locations in both hemifields could be observed in left AC, right AC, and left FEF. Overall, our results demonstrate that left FEF, a high-level region along the auditory "where" pathway, encodes sound locations during passive listening in two ways: a univariate opponent hemifield activation representation and a multivariate full-field activation pattern representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liwei Sun
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Big Data-Based Precision Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Chunlin Li
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Big Data-Based Precision Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Songjian Wang
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Qian Si
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Big Data-Based Precision Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Meng Lin
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Ningyu Wang
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100020, China
| | - Jun Sun
- Department of Radiology, Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Hongjun Li
- Department of Radiology, Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Ying Liang
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Big Data-Based Precision Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Jing Wei
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Big Data-Based Precision Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Xu Zhang
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Big Data-Based Precision Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Juan Zhang
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100020, China
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Fine I, Park WJ. Do you hear what I see? How do early blind individuals experience object motion? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210460. [PMID: 36511418 PMCID: PMC9745882 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2022] [Accepted: 09/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
One of the most important tasks for 3D vision is tracking the movement of objects in space. The ability of early blind individuals to understand motion in the environment from noisy and unreliable auditory information is an impressive example of cortical adaptation that is only just beginning to be understood. Here, we compare visual and auditory motion processing, and discuss the effect of early blindness on the perception of auditory motion. Blindness leads to cross-modal recruitment of the visual motion area hMT+ for auditory motion processing. Meanwhile, the planum temporale, associated with auditory motion in sighted individuals, shows reduced selectivity for auditory motion. We discuss how this dramatic shift in the cortical basis of motion processing might influence the perceptual experience of motion in early blind individuals. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'New approaches to 3D vision'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ione Fine
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1525, USA
| | - Woon Ju Park
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1525, USA
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6
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Interaction of bottom-up and top-down neural mechanisms in spatial multi-talker speech perception. Curr Biol 2022; 32:3971-3986.e4. [PMID: 35973430 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.07.047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2022] [Revised: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
How the human auditory cortex represents spatially separated simultaneous talkers and how talkers' locations and voices modulate the neural representations of attended and unattended speech are unclear. Here, we measured the neural responses from electrodes implanted in neurosurgical patients as they performed single-talker and multi-talker speech perception tasks. We found that spatial separation between talkers caused a preferential encoding of the contralateral speech in Heschl's gyrus (HG), planum temporale (PT), and superior temporal gyrus (STG). Location and spectrotemporal features were encoded in different aspects of the neural response. Specifically, the talker's location changed the mean response level, whereas the talker's spectrotemporal features altered the variation of response around response's baseline. These components were differentially modulated by the attended talker's voice or location, which improved the population decoding of attended speech features. Attentional modulation due to the talker's voice only appeared in the auditory areas with longer latencies, but attentional modulation due to location was present throughout. Our results show that spatial multi-talker speech perception relies upon a separable pre-attentive neural representation, which could be further tuned by top-down attention to the location and voice of the talker.
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7
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Wang Y, Lu L, Zou G, Zheng L, Qin L, Zou Q, Gao JH. Disrupted neural tracking of sound localization during non-rapid eye movement sleep. Neuroimage 2022; 260:119490. [PMID: 35853543 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2022] [Revised: 06/16/2022] [Accepted: 07/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Spatial hearing in humans is a high-level auditory process that is crucial to rapid sound localization in the environment. Both neurophysiological models with animals and neuroimaging evidence from human subjects in the wakefulness stage suggest that the localization of auditory objects is mainly located in the posterior auditory cortex. However, whether this cognitive process is preserved during sleep remains unclear. To fill this research gap, we investigated the sleeping brain's capacity to identify sound locations by recording simultaneous electroencephalographic (EEG) and magnetoencephalographic (MEG) signals during wakefulness and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep in human subjects. Using the frequency-tagging paradigm, the subjects were presented with a basic syllable sequence at 5 Hz and a location change that occurred every three syllables, resulting in a sound localization shift at 1.67 Hz. The EEG and MEG signals were used for sleep scoring and neural tracking analyses, respectively. Neural tracking responses at 5 Hz reflecting basic auditory processing were observed during both wakefulness and NREM sleep, although the responses during sleep were weaker than those during wakefulness. Cortical responses at 1.67 Hz, which correspond to the sound location change, were observed during wakefulness regardless of attention to the stimuli but vanished during NREM sleep. These results for the first time indicate that sleep preserves basic auditory processing but disrupts the higher-order brain function of sound localization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Wang
- Center for MRI Research, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing 102206, China; PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Lingxi Lu
- Center for the Cognitive Science of Language, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing 100083, China.
| | - Guangyuan Zou
- Center for MRI Research, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Li Zheng
- Center for MRI Research, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Lang Qin
- Center for MRI Research, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Qihong Zou
- Center for MRI Research, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
| | - Jia-Hong Gao
- Center for MRI Research, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; Beijing City Key Lab for Medical Physics and Engineering, Institution of Heavy Ion Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; National Biomedical Imaging Center, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
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8
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Klatt LI, Getzmann S, Schneider D. Attentional Modulations of Alpha Power Are Sensitive to the Task-relevance of Auditory Spatial Information. Cortex 2022; 153:1-20. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.03.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2021] [Revised: 02/10/2022] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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9
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Tian X, Liu Y, Guo Z, Cai J, Tang J, Chen F, Zhang H. Cerebral Representation of Sound Localization Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. Front Neurosci 2022; 15:739706. [PMID: 34970110 PMCID: PMC8712652 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.739706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2021] [Accepted: 11/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Sound localization is an essential part of auditory processing. However, the cortical representation of identifying the direction of sound sources presented in the sound field using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is currently unknown. Therefore, in this study, we used fNIRS to investigate the cerebral representation of different sound sources. Twenty-five normal-hearing subjects (aged 26 ± 2.7, male 11, female 14) were included and actively took part in a block design task. The test setup for sound localization was composed of a seven-speaker array spanning a horizontal arc of 180° in front of the participants. Pink noise bursts with two intensity levels (48 dB/58 dB) were randomly applied via five loudspeakers (–90°/–30°/–0°/+30°/+90°). Sound localization task performances were collected, and simultaneous signals from auditory processing cortical fields were recorded for analysis by using a support vector machine (SVM). The results showed a classification accuracy of 73.60, 75.60, and 77.40% on average at –90°/0°, 0°/+90°, and –90°/+90° with high intensity, and 70.60, 73.6, and 78.6% with low intensity. The increase of oxyhemoglobin was observed in the bilateral non-primary auditory cortex (AC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). In conclusion, the oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) response showed different neural activity patterns between the lateral and front sources in the AC and dlPFC. Our results may serve as a basic contribution for further research on the use of fNIRS in spatial auditory studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuexin Tian
- Department of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yimeng Liu
- Department of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zengzhi Guo
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jieqing Cai
- Department of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jie Tang
- Department of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Hearing Research Center, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Key Laboratory of Mental Health of the Ministry of Education, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Fei Chen
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
| | - Hongzheng Zhang
- Department of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Hearing Research Center, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
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10
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Goal-driven, neurobiological-inspired convolutional neural network models of human spatial hearing. Neurocomputing 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neucom.2021.05.104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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11
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Kim JH, Shim L, Bahng J, Lee HJ. Proficiency in Using Level Cue for Sound Localization Is Related to the Auditory Cortical Structure in Patients With Single-Sided Deafness. Front Neurosci 2021; 15:749824. [PMID: 34707477 PMCID: PMC8542703 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.749824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2021] [Accepted: 09/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Spatial hearing, which largely relies on binaural time/level cues, is a challenge for patients with asymmetric hearing. The degree of the deficit is largely variable, and better sound localization performance is frequently reported. Studies on the compensatory mechanism revealed that monaural level cues and monoaural spectral cues contribute to variable behavior in those patients who lack binaural spatial cues. However, changes in the monaural level cues have not yet been separately investigated. In this study, the use of the level cue in sound localization was measured using stimuli of 1 kHz at a fixed level in patients with single-sided deafness (SSD), the most severe form of asymmetric hearing. The mean absolute error (MAE) was calculated and related to the duration/age onset of SSD. To elucidate the biological correlate of this variable behavior, sound localization ability was compared with the cortical volume of the parcellated auditory cortex. In both SSD patients (n = 26) and normal controls with one ear acutely plugged (n = 23), localization performance was best on the intact ear side; otherwise, there was wide interindividual variability. In the SSD group, the MAE on the intact ear side was worse than that of the acutely plugged controls, and it deteriorated with longer duration/younger age at SSD onset. On the impaired ear side, MAE improved with longer duration/younger age at SSD onset. Performance asymmetry across lateral hemifields decreased in the SSD group, and the maximum decrease was observed with the most extended duration/youngest age at SSD onset. The decreased functional asymmetry in patients with right SSD was related to greater cortical volumes in the right posterior superior temporal gyrus and the left planum temporale, which are typically involved in auditory spatial processing. The study results suggest that structural plasticity in the auditory cortex is related to behavioral changes in sound localization when utilizing monaural level cues in patients with SSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ja Hee Kim
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, South Korea.,Laboratory of Brain & Cognitive Sciences for Convergence Medicine, Hallym University College of Medicine, Anyang, South Korea
| | - Leeseul Shim
- Laboratory of Brain & Cognitive Sciences for Convergence Medicine, Hallym University College of Medicine, Anyang, South Korea
| | - Junghwa Bahng
- Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, Hallym University of Graduate Studies, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Hyo-Jeong Lee
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, South Korea.,Laboratory of Brain & Cognitive Sciences for Convergence Medicine, Hallym University College of Medicine, Anyang, South Korea
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12
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AIM: A network model of attention in auditory cortex. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1009356. [PMID: 34449761 PMCID: PMC8462696 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2020] [Revised: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Attentional modulation of cortical networks is critical for the cognitive flexibility required to process complex scenes. Current theoretical frameworks for attention are based almost exclusively on studies in visual cortex, where attentional effects are typically modest and excitatory. In contrast, attentional effects in auditory cortex can be large and suppressive. A theoretical framework for explaining attentional effects in auditory cortex is lacking, preventing a broader understanding of cortical mechanisms underlying attention. Here, we present a cortical network model of attention in primary auditory cortex (A1). A key mechanism in our network is attentional inhibitory modulation (AIM) of cortical inhibitory neurons. In this mechanism, top-down inhibitory neurons disinhibit bottom-up cortical circuits, a prominent circuit motif observed in sensory cortex. Our results reveal that the same underlying mechanisms in the AIM network can explain diverse attentional effects on both spatial and frequency tuning in A1. We find that a dominant effect of disinhibition on cortical tuning is suppressive, consistent with experimental observations. Functionally, the AIM network may play a key role in solving the cocktail party problem. We demonstrate how attention can guide the AIM network to monitor an acoustic scene, select a specific target, or switch to a different target, providing flexible outputs for solving the cocktail party problem. Selective attention plays a key role in how we navigate our everyday lives. For example, at a cocktail party, we can attend to friend’s speech amidst other speakers, music, and background noise. In stark contrast, hundreds of millions of people with hearing impairment and other disorders find such environments overwhelming and debilitating. Understanding the mechanisms underlying selective attention may lead to breakthroughs in improving the quality of life for those negatively affected. Here, we propose a mechanistic network model of attention in primary auditory cortex based on attentional inhibitory modulation (AIM). In the AIM model, attention targets specific cortical inhibitory neurons, which then modulate local cortical circuits to emphasize a particular feature of sounds and suppress competing features. We show that the AIM model can account for experimental observations across different species and stimulus domains. We also demonstrate that the same mechanisms can enable listeners to flexibly switch between attending to specific targets sounds and monitoring the environment in complex acoustic scenes, such as a cocktail party. The AIM network provides a theoretical framework which can work in tandem with new experiments to help unravel cortical circuits underlying attention.
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13
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Vannson N, Strelnikov K, James CJ, Deguine O, Barone P, Marx M. Evidence of a functional reorganization in the auditory dorsal stream following unilateral hearing loss. Neuropsychologia 2020; 149:107683. [PMID: 33212140 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2020] [Revised: 10/16/2020] [Accepted: 11/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Unilateral hearing loss (UHL) generates a disruption of binaural hearing mechanisms, which impairs sound localization and speech understanding in noisy environments. We conducted an original study using fMRI and psychoacoustic assessments to investigate the relationships between the extent of cortical reorganization across the auditory areas for UHL patients, the severity of unilateral hearing loss, and the deficit in binaural abilities. Twenty-eight volunteers (14 UHL patients) were recruited (twenty-two females and six males). The brain imaging analysis demonstrated that UHL induces a shift in aural dominance favoring the better ear, with a cortical reorganization located in the non-primary auditory areas, ipsilateral (same side) to the better ear. This reorganization is correlated not only to the hearing loss severity but also to spatial localization abilities. A regression analysis between brain activity and patient's performance clearly showed that the spatial hearing deficit was linked to a functional alteration of the posterior auditory areas known to process spatial hearing. Altogether, our study reveals that UHL alters the dorsal auditory stream, which is deleterious to spatial hearing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Vannson
- Brain and Cognition Research Centre, University of Toulouse Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France; Brain and Cognition Research Centre, CNRS-UMR, 5549, Toulouse, France; Cochlear France SAS, Toulouse, France.
| | | | | | - Olivier Deguine
- Brain and Cognition Research Centre, University of Toulouse Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France; Brain and Cognition Research Centre, CNRS-UMR, 5549, Toulouse, France; Service d'Otologie, Otoneurologie et ORL pédiatrique, Hôpital Pierre-Paul Riquet, CHU Toulouse Purpan, France
| | - Pascal Barone
- Brain and Cognition Research Centre, University of Toulouse Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France; Brain and Cognition Research Centre, CNRS-UMR, 5549, Toulouse, France
| | - Mathieu Marx
- Brain and Cognition Research Centre, University of Toulouse Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France; Brain and Cognition Research Centre, CNRS-UMR, 5549, Toulouse, France; Service d'Otologie, Otoneurologie et ORL pédiatrique, Hôpital Pierre-Paul Riquet, CHU Toulouse Purpan, France
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14
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Lambriks LJG, van Hoof M, Debruyne JA, Janssen M, Chalupper J, van der Heijden KA, Hof JR, Hellingman CA, George ELJ, Devocht EMJ. Evaluating hearing performance with cochlear implants within the same patient using daily randomization and imaging-based fitting - The ELEPHANT study. Trials 2020; 21:564. [PMID: 32576247 PMCID: PMC7310427 DOI: 10.1186/s13063-020-04469-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2020] [Accepted: 05/30/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Prospective research in the field of cochlear implants is hampered by methodological issues and small sample sizes. The ELEPHANT study presents an alternative clinical trial design with a daily randomized approach evaluating individualized tonotopical fitting of a cochlear implant (CI). Methods A single-blinded, daily-randomized clinical trial will be implemented to evaluate a new imaging-based CI mapping strategy. A minimum of 20 participants will be included from the start of the rehabilitation process with a 1-year follow-up period. Based on a post-operative cone beam CT scan (CBCT), mapping of electrical input will be aligned to natural place-pitch arrangement in the individual cochlea. The CI’s frequency allocation table will be adjusted to match the electrical stimulation of frequencies as closely as possible to corresponding acoustic locations in the cochlea. A randomization scheme will be implemented whereby the participant, blinded to the intervention allocation, crosses over between the experimental and standard fitting program on a daily basis, and thus effectively acts as his own control, followed by a period of free choice between both maps to incorporate patient preference. With this new approach the occurrence of a first-order carryover effect and a limited sample size is addressed. Discussion The experimental fitting strategy is thought to give rise to a steeper learning curve, result in better performance in challenging listening situations, improve sound quality, better complement residual acoustic hearing in the contralateral ear and be preferred by recipients of a CI. Concurrently, the suitability of the novel trial design will be considered in investigating these hypotheses. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03892941. Registered 27 March 2019.
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Affiliation(s)
- L J G Lambriks
- Department of ENT/Audiology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNs), Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
| | - M van Hoof
- Department of ENT/Audiology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNs), Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - J A Debruyne
- Department of ENT/Audiology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNs), Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - M Janssen
- Department of ENT/Audiology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNs), Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.,Department of Methodology and Statistics, School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI), Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - J Chalupper
- Advanced Bionics European Research Centre (AB ERC), Hannover, Germany
| | - K A van der Heijden
- Department of ENT/Audiology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNs), Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - J R Hof
- Department of ENT/Audiology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNs), Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - C A Hellingman
- Department of ENT/Audiology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNs), Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - E L J George
- Department of ENT/Audiology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNs), Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - E M J Devocht
- Department of ENT/Audiology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNs), Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
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15
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Baltzell LS, Cho AY, Swaminathan J, Best V. Spectro-temporal weighting of interaural time differences in speech. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 147:3883. [PMID: 32611137 PMCID: PMC7297545 DOI: 10.1121/10.0001418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2019] [Revised: 05/06/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2020] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Numerous studies have demonstrated that the perceptual weighting of interaural time differences (ITDs) is non-uniform in time and frequency, leading to reports of spectral and temporal "dominance" regions. It is unclear however, how these dominance regions apply to spectro-temporally complex stimuli such as speech. The authors report spectro-temporal weighting functions for ITDs in a pair of naturally spoken speech tokens ("two" and "eight"). Each speech token was composed of two phonemes, and was partitioned into eight frequency regions over two time bins (one time bin for each phoneme). To derive lateralization weights, ITDs for each time-frequency bin were drawn independently from a normal distribution with a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 200 μs, and listeners were asked to indicate whether the speech token was presented from the left or right. ITD thresholds were also obtained for each of the 16 time-frequency bins in isolation. The results suggest that spectral dominance regions apply to speech, and that ITDs carried by phonemes in the first position of the syllable contribute more strongly to lateralization judgments than ITDs carried by phonemes in the second position. The results also show that lateralization judgments are partially accounted for by ITD sensitivity across time-frequency bins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas S Baltzell
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, 635 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
| | - Adrian Y Cho
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, 635 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
| | - Jayaganesh Swaminathan
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, 635 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
| | - Virginia Best
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, 635 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
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16
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van der Heijden K, Formisano E, Valente G, Zhan M, Kupers R, de Gelder B. Reorganization of Sound Location Processing in the Auditory Cortex of Blind Humans. Cereb Cortex 2020; 30:1103-1116. [PMID: 31504283 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhz151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2018] [Revised: 05/27/2019] [Accepted: 06/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Auditory spatial tasks induce functional activation in the occipital-visual-cortex of early blind humans. Less is known about the effects of blindness on auditory spatial processing in the temporal-auditory-cortex. Here, we investigated spatial (azimuth) processing in congenitally and early blind humans with a phase-encoding functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm. Our results show that functional activation in response to sounds in general-independent of sound location-was stronger in the occipital cortex but reduced in the medial temporal cortex of blind participants in comparison with sighted participants. Additionally, activation patterns for binaural spatial processing were different for sighted and blind participants in planum temporale. Finally, fMRI responses in the auditory cortex of blind individuals carried less information on sound azimuth position than those in sighted individuals, as assessed with a 2-channel, opponent coding model for the cortical representation of sound azimuth. These results indicate that early visual deprivation results in reorganization of binaural spatial processing in the auditory cortex and that blind individuals may rely on alternative mechanisms for processing azimuth position.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kiki van der Heijden
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Elia Formisano
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands.,Maastricht Center for Systems Biology, Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Giancarlo Valente
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Minye Zhan
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Ron Kupers
- BRAINlab and Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark.,Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale University, 300 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Beatrice de Gelder
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands.,Department of Computer Science, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
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17
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Movement and VIP Interneuron Activation Differentially Modulate Encoding in Mouse Auditory Cortex. eNeuro 2019; 6:ENEURO.0164-19.2019. [PMID: 31481397 PMCID: PMC6751373 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0164-19.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2019] [Revised: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 08/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Information processing in sensory cortex is highly sensitive to nonsensory variables such as anesthetic state, arousal, and task engagement. Recent work in mouse visual cortex suggests that evoked firing rates, stimulus–response mutual information, and encoding efficiency increase when animals are engaged in movement. A disinhibitory circuit appears central to this change: inhibitory neurons expressing vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) are activated during movement and disinhibit pyramidal cells by suppressing other inhibitory interneurons. Paradoxically, although movement activates a similar disinhibitory circuit in auditory cortex (ACtx), most ACtx studies report reduced spiking during movement. It is unclear whether the resulting changes in spike rates result in corresponding changes in stimulus–response mutual information. We examined ACtx responses evoked by tone cloud stimuli, in awake mice of both sexes, during spontaneous movement and still conditions. VIP+ cells were optogenetically activated on half of trials, permitting independent analysis of the consequences of movement and VIP activation, as well as their intersection. Movement decreased stimulus-related spike rates as well as mutual information and encoding efficiency. VIP interneuron activation tended to increase stimulus-evoked spike rates but not stimulus–response mutual information, thus reducing encoding efficiency. The intersection of movement and VIP activation was largely consistent with a linear combination of these main effects: VIP activation recovered movement-induced reduction in spike rates, but not information transfer.
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18
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Abstract
Humans and other animals use spatial hearing to rapidly localize events in the environment. However, neural encoding of sound location is a complex process involving the computation and integration of multiple spatial cues that are not represented directly in the sensory organ (the cochlea). Our understanding of these mechanisms has increased enormously in the past few years. Current research is focused on the contribution of animal models for understanding human spatial audition, the effects of behavioural demands on neural sound location encoding, the emergence of a cue-independent location representation in the auditory cortex, and the relationship between single-source and concurrent location encoding in complex auditory scenes. Furthermore, computational modelling seeks to unravel how neural representations of sound source locations are derived from the complex binaural waveforms of real-life sounds. In this article, we review and integrate the latest insights from neurophysiological, neuroimaging and computational modelling studies of mammalian spatial hearing. We propose that the cortical representation of sound location emerges from recurrent processing taking place in a dynamic, adaptive network of early (primary) and higher-order (posterior-dorsal and dorsolateral prefrontal) auditory regions. This cortical network accommodates changing behavioural requirements and is especially relevant for processing the location of real-life, complex sounds and complex auditory scenes.
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19
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Bihemispheric anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation over temporal cortex enhances auditory selective spatial attention. Exp Brain Res 2019; 237:1539-1549. [PMID: 30927041 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-019-05525-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2019] [Accepted: 03/20/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
The capacity to selectively focus on a particular speaker of interest in a complex acoustic environment with multiple persons speaking simultaneously-a so-called "cocktail-party" situation-is of decisive importance for human verbal communication. Here, the efficacy of single-dose transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) in improving this ability was tested in young healthy adults (n = 24), using a spatial task that required the localization of a target word in a simulated "cocktail-party" situation. In a sham-controlled crossover design, offline bihemispheric double-monopolar anodal tDCS was applied for 30 min at 1 mA over auditory regions of temporal lobe, and the participant's performance was assessed prior to tDCS, immediately after tDCS, and 1 h after tDCS. A significant increase in the amount of correct localizations by on average 3.7 percentage points (d = 1.04) was found after active, relative to sham, tDCS, with only insignificant reduction of the effect within 1 h after tDCS offset. Thus, the method of bihemispheric tDCS could be a promising tool for enhancement of human auditory attentional functions that are relevant for spatial orientation and communication in everyday life.
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