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Fulltext Two Independent Response Mechanisms to Auditory Stimuli Measured with Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Sleeping Infants

Lee OW, Mao D, Wunderlich J, Balasubramanian G, Haneman M, Korneev M, et al.

Trends Hear, 2024;28:23312165241258056.
PMID: 39053892 DOI: 10.1177/23312165241258056

This study investigated the morphology of the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) response to speech sounds measured from 16 sleeping infants and how it changes with repeated stimulus presentation. We observed a positive peak followed by a wide negative trough, with the latter being most evident in early epochs. We argue that the overall response morphology captures the effects of two simultaneous, but independent, response mechanisms that are both activated at the stimulus onset: one being the obligatory response to a sound stimulus by the auditory system, and the other being a neural suppression effect induced by the arousal system. Because the two effects behave differently with repeated epochs, it is possible to mathematically separate them and use fNIRS to study factors that affect the development and activation of the arousal system in infants. The results also imply that standard fNIRS analysis techniques need to be adjusted to take into account the possibilities of multiple simultaneous brain systems being activated and that the response to a stimulus is not necessarily stationary.

Matched MeSH terms: Auditory Pathways/physiology
Fulltext Gap-induced inhibition of the post-auricular muscle response in humans and guinea pigs

Wilson CA, Berger JI, de Boer J, Sereda M, Palmer AR, Hall DA, et al.

Hear Res, 2019 03 15;374:13-23.
PMID: 30685571 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2019.01.009

A common method for measuring changes in temporal processing sensitivity in both humans and animals makes use of GaP-induced Inhibition of the Acoustic Startle (GPIAS). It is also the basis of a common method for detecting tinnitus in rodents. However, the link to tinnitus has not been properly established because GPIAS has not yet been used to objectively demonstrate tinnitus in humans. In guinea pigs, the Preyer (ear flick) myogenic reflex is an established method for measuring the acoustic startle for the GPIAS test, while in humans, it is the eye-blink reflex. Yet, humans have a vestigial remnant of the Preyer reflex, which can be detected by measuring skin surface potentials associated with the Post-Auricular Muscle Response (PAMR). A similar electrical potential can be measured in guinea pigs and we aimed to show that the PAMR could be used to demonstrate GPIAS in both species. In guinea pigs, we compare the GPIAS measured using the pinna movement of the Preyer reflex and the electrical potential of the PAMR to demonstrate that the two are at least equivalent. In humans, we establish for the first time that the PAMR provides a reliable way of measuring GPIAS that is a pure acoustic alternative to the multimodal eye-blink reflex. Further exploratory tests showed that while eye gaze position influenced the size of the PAMR response, it did not change the degree of GPIAS. Our findings confirm that the PAMR is a sensitive method for measuring GPIAS and suggest that it may allow direct comparison of temporal processing between humans and animals and may provide a basis for an objective test of tinnitus.

Matched MeSH terms: Auditory Pathways/physiology
Fulltext Updated parameters and expanded simulation options for a model of the auditory periphery

Zilany MS, Bruce IC, Carney LH

J Acoust Soc Am, 2014 Jan;135(1):283-6.
PMID: 24437768 DOI: 10.1121/1.4837815

A phenomenological model of the auditory periphery in cats was previously developed by Zilany and colleagues [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 126, 2390-2412 (2009)] to examine the detailed transformation of acoustic signals into the auditory-nerve representation. In this paper, a few issues arising from the responses of the previous version have been addressed. The parameters of the synapse model have been readjusted to better simulate reported physiological discharge rates at saturation for higher characteristic frequencies [Liberman, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 63, 442-455 (1978)]. This modification also corrects the responses of higher-characteristic frequency (CF) model fibers to low-frequency tones that were erroneously much higher than the responses of low-CF model fibers in the previous version. In addition, an analytical method has been implemented to compute the mean discharge rate and variance from the model's synapse output that takes into account the effects of absolute refractoriness.

Matched MeSH terms: Auditory Pathways/physiology
Influence of two-electrode montages on the level-specific (LS) CE-Chirp auditory brainstem response (ABR) at multiple intensity levels

Dzulkarnain AAA, Noor Ibrahim SHM, Anuar NFA, Abdullah SA, Tengku Zam Zam TZH, Rahmat S, et al.

Int J Audiol, 2017 Oct;56(10):723-732.
PMID: 28415891 DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2017.1313462

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of two different electrode montages (ipsilateral: reference to mastoid and vertical: reference to nape of neck) to the ABR results recorded using a level-specific (LS)-CE-Chirp® in normally hearing subjects at multiple intensities levels.
DESIGN: Quasi-experimental and repeated measure study designs were applied in this study. Two different stopping criteria were used, (1) a fixed-signal averaging 4000 sweeps and, (2) a minimum quality indicator of Fmp = 3.1 with a minimum of 800 sweeps.
STUDY SAMPLE: Twenty-nine normally hearing adults (18 females, 11 male) participated.
RESULTS: Wave V amplitudes were significantly larger in the LS CE-Chirp® recorded from the vertical montage than the ipsilateral montage. Waves I and III amplitudes were significantly larger from the ipsilateral LS CE-Chirp® than from the other montages and stimulus combinations. The differences in the quality of the ABR recording between the vertical and ipsilateral montages were marginal.
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the result suggested that the vertical LS CE-Chirp® ABR had a high potential for a threshold-seeking application, because it produced a higher wave V amplitude. The Ipsilateral LS CE-Chirp® ABR, on the other hand, might also have a high potential for the site of lesion application, because it produced larger waves I and III amplitudes.

Matched MeSH terms: Auditory Pathways/physiology*
Fulltext The association between subcortical and cortical fMRI and lifetime noise exposure in listeners with normal hearing thresholds

Dewey RS, Francis ST, Guest H, Prendergast G, Millman RE, Plack CJ, et al.

Neuroimage, 2020 Jan 01;204:116239.
PMID: 31586673 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116239

In animal models, exposure to high noise levels can cause permanent damage to hair-cell synapses (cochlear synaptopathy) for high-threshold auditory nerve fibers without affecting sensitivity to quiet sounds. This has been confirmed in several mammalian species, but the hypothesis that lifetime noise exposure affects auditory function in humans with normal audiometric thresholds remains unconfirmed and current evidence from human electrophysiology is contradictory. Here we report the auditory brainstem response (ABR), and both transient (stimulus onset and offset) and sustained functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses throughout the human central auditory pathway across lifetime noise exposure. Healthy young individuals aged 25-40 years were recruited into high (n = 32) and low (n = 30) lifetime noise exposure groups, stratified for age, and balanced for audiometric threshold up to 16 kHz fMRI demonstrated robust broadband noise-related activity throughout the auditory pathway (cochlear nucleus, superior olivary complex, nucleus of the lateral lemniscus, inferior colliculus, medial geniculate body and auditory cortex). fMRI responses in the auditory pathway to broadband noise onset were significantly enhanced in the high noise exposure group relative to the low exposure group, differences in sustained fMRI responses did not reach significance, and no significant group differences were found in the click-evoked ABR. Exploratory analyses found no significant relationships between the neural responses and self-reported tinnitus or reduced sound-level tolerance (symptoms associated with synaptopathy). In summary, although a small effect, these fMRI results suggest that lifetime noise exposure may be associated with central hyperactivity in young adults with normal hearing thresholds.

Matched MeSH terms: Auditory Pathways/physiology*