Binaural interaction in the frog dorsal medullary nucleus

We have studied binaural and directional processing in cells in the frog dorsal medullary nucleus (DMN) stimulated with dichotic sound (couplers) and free-field sound. We present evidence that already at this stage of central processing the neural directionality is sharpened, probably by binaural interaction. Binaural interaction in the DMN was usually interpreted as inhibition, mostly driven from the contralateral side and dependent on a certain combination of interaural time differences (ITD) and interaural level differences (ILD). In free-field measurements, the strength and timing of the binaural inputs will depend on sound direction as processed by the auditory fibers. Thus, the directionality of DMN cells is caused by both monaural directional cues generated by acoustical coupling of the eardrums and non-tympanic pathways as well as binaural interaction. Most DMN cells show ovoidal directional characteristics and the directionality is sharpened compared to that of auditory nerve fibers. We suggest that the sharpening is due to the inhibitory interactions.