A nonlinear filter-bank model of the guinea-pig cochlear nerve: rate responses

J Acoust Soc Am. 2003 Jun;113(6):3264-74. doi: 10.1121/1.1568946.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to produce a functional model of the auditory nerve (AN) response of the guinea-pig that reproduces a wide range of important responses to auditory stimulation. The model is intended for use as an input to larger scale models of auditory processing in the brain-stem. A dual-resonance nonlinear filter architecture is used to reproduce the mechanical tuning of the cochlea. Transduction to the activity on the AN is accomplished with a recently proposed model of the inner-hair-cell. Together, these models have been shown to be able to reproduce the response of high-, medium-, and low-spontaneous rate fibers from the guinea-pig AN at high best frequencies (BFs). In this study we generate parameters that allow us to fit the AN model to data from a wide range of BFs. By varying the characteristics of the mechanical filtering as a function of the BF it was possible to reproduce the BF dependence of frequency-threshold tuning curves, AN rate-intensity functions at and away from BF, compression of the basilar membrane at BF as inferred from AN responses, and AN iso-intensity functions. The model is a convenient computational tool for the simulation of the range of nonlinear tuning and rate-responses found across the length of the guinea-pig cochlear nerve.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Auditory Threshold / physiology
  • Basilar Membrane / physiology
  • Brain Stem / physiology*
  • Cochlear Nerve / physiology*
  • Guinea Pigs
  • Hair Cells, Auditory, Inner / physiology
  • Loudness Perception / physiology
  • Models, Neurological*
  • Models, Statistical
  • Nerve Fibers / physiology
  • Nonlinear Dynamics*
  • Pitch Discrimination / physiology*
  • Sound Spectrography
  • Stapes / physiology
  • Synaptic Transmission / physiology