Characterizing individual differences in frequency coding: Implications for hidden hearing loss

Authors

  • Andrew J. Oxenham Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA Department of Otolaryngology, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Abstract

A long-standing debate in hearing research has focused on whether frequency is coded in the peripheral auditory system via phase-locked timing information in the auditory nerve (temporal code), or via tonotopic information based on the firing rates of auditory-nerve fibers tuned to different frequencies (rate-place code). Because frequency discrimination is generally much more accurate than intensity discrimination, it has been thought that frequency is likely to be coded via a temporal code, whereas intensity is represented via a rate code. However, direct empirical tests of this assumption have produced mixed results. This paper reviews a way in which the coding of both frequency and intensity might be reconciled within a single mechanism, and then uses an approach based on simple signal detection theory to predict the effects of a loss auditory-nerve synapses (synaptopathy) on some basic psychoacoustic phenomena, such as detection thresholds, frequency discrimination, and intensity discrimination. The predictions provide a baseline with which to compare future empirical findings based on the perceptual consequences of synaptopathy, or “hidden hearing loss.”

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Published

2015-12-15

How to Cite

Oxenham, A. J. (2015). Characterizing individual differences in frequency coding: Implications for hidden hearing loss. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research, 5, 23–33. Retrieved from https://proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2015-03

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2015/1. Characterizing individual differences in hearing loss