Subcortical neural synchrony and absolute thresholds predict frequency discrimination independently

Marmel, F. and Linley, D. and Carlyon, R. P. and Gockel, Hedwig and Hopkins, K. and Plack, C. J. (2013) Subcortical neural synchrony and absolute thresholds predict frequency discrimination independently. Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 14 (5). pp. 757-766. ISSN 1525-3961

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Abstract

The neural mechanisms of pitch coding have been debated for more than a century. The two main mechanisms are coding based on the profiles of neural firing rates across auditory nerve fibers with different characteristic frequencies (place-rate coding), and coding based on the phase-locked temporal pattern of neural firing (temporal coding). Phase locking precision can be partly assessed by recording the frequency-following response (FFR), a scalp-recorded electrophysiological response that reflects synchronous activity in subcortical neurons. Although features of the FFR have been widely used as indices of pitch coding acuity, only a handful of studies have directly investigated the relation between the FFR and behavioral pitch judgments. Furthermore, the contribution of degraded neural synchrony (as indexed by the FFR) to the pitch perception impairments of older listeners and those with hearing loss is not well known. Here, the relation between the FFR and pure-tone frequency discrimination was investigated in listeners with a wide range of ages and absolute thresholds, to assess the respective contributions of subcortical neural synchrony and other age-related and hearing loss-related mechanisms to frequency discrimination performance. FFR measures of neural synchrony and absolute thresholds independently contributed to frequency discrimination performance. Age alone, i.e., once the effect of subcortical neural synchrony measures or absolute thresholds had been partialed out, did not contribute to frequency discrimination. Overall, the results suggest that frequency discrimination of pure tones may depend both on phase locking precision and on separate mechanisms affected in hearing loss.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology
Additional Information:
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700/2733
Subjects:
?? ffr sensorineural hearing loss pitch perception neural phase locking ageotorhinolaryngologysensory systems ??
ID Code:
67992
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
12 Dec 2013 11:22
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
03 Mar 2024 01:13