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Related Concept Videos

Auditory Pathway01:15

Auditory Pathway

Auditory pathways constitute the complex neural circuits responsible for transmitting and interpreting auditory information from the peripheral auditory system to the brain. Sound waves are initially captured by the outer ear, funneled through the ear canal, and reach the tympanic membrane (eardrum). These vibrations are transmitted via the middle ear's ossicles to the inner ear's cochlea.
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking the...
Hearing01:31

Hearing

When we hear a sound, our nervous system is detecting sound waves—pressure waves of mechanical energy traveling through a medium. The frequency of the wave is perceived as pitch, while the amplitude is perceived as loudness.
Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex01:14

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex.
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location01:21

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

The human brain perceives pitch through two primary mechanisms reflected in place theory and frequency theory. Each mechanism describes how sound waves are interpreted as specific pitches by the brain, offering insights into the intricate processes of auditory perception.
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by identifying...
Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex01:23

Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex

The somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobes is crucial for interpreting sensory data such as touch, temperature, and proprioception. The somatosensory cortex, situated in the parietal lobes, plays a vital role in interpreting sensory information like touch, temperature, and proprioception—awareness of body position. This specialized brain region features an organized structure wherein neurons at the top primarily process sensations originating from the lower body. In contrast, those at the...
The Cochlea01:13

The Cochlea

The cochlea is a coiled structure in the inner ear that contains hair cells—the sensory receptors of the auditory system. Sound waves are transmitted to the cochlea by small bones attached to the eardrum called the ossicles, which vibrate the oval window that leads to the inner ear. This causes fluid in the chambers of the cochlea to move, vibrating the basilar membrane.

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Short-Term Audiovisual Spatial Training Enhances Electrophysiological Correlates of Auditory Selective Spatial Attention.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 6, 2026

An Automated System for Sound Localization Testing in Hearing-Impaired Listeners
07:52

An Automated System for Sound Localization Testing in Hearing-Impaired Listeners

Published on: March 13, 2026

Processing of sound location in human cortex.

Jörg Lewald1, Klaus A J Riederer, Tobias Lentz

  • 1Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Institute for Occupational Physiology at University of Dortmund, Ardeystr. 67, D-44139 Dortmund, Germany. joerg.lewald@rub.de

The European Journal of Neuroscience
|March 28, 2008
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study used fMRI to map brain activity for auditory space perception. Findings reveal a complex network, including temporal and parietal regions, processing sound location and features.

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Stereotactically-guided Ablation of the Rat Auditory Cortex, and Localization of the Lesion in the Brain

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Last Updated: Jul 6, 2026

An Automated System for Sound Localization Testing in Hearing-Impaired Listeners
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Functional Imaging of Auditory Cortex in Adult Cats using High-field fMRI
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Functional Imaging of Auditory Cortex in Adult Cats using High-field fMRI

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Stereotactically-guided Ablation of the Rat Auditory Cortex, and Localization of the Lesion in the Brain
09:29

Stereotactically-guided Ablation of the Rat Auditory Cortex, and Localization of the Lesion in the Brain

Published on: October 11, 2017

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Auditory Perception
  • Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Background:

  • Understanding the neural basis of auditory space perception is crucial for fields like psychoacoustics and auditory neuroscience.
  • Previous research suggests distinct pathways for processing spatial and non-spatial sound features, but their precise neural substrates remain under investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural substrates underlying human auditory space perception using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
  • To identify the brain regions and networks involved in processing sound locations and auditory spatial information.

Main Methods:

  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed to measure brain activity in human subjects.
  • Acoustic stimuli convolved with individual head-related transfer functions were used to present natural-like sound locations.
  • Analyses of contrasts and interactions between sound locations revealed activation foci.

Main Results:

  • A complex network of brain regions was activated, including the temporal lobe, posterior parietal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and inferior frontal cortex.
  • Distinct topographical patterns of activation and deactivation were observed depending on sound location, suggesting hierarchical processing.
  • Activations were found in both dorsal and ventral auditory cortical streams, indicating involvement in both spatial and non-spatial sound feature analysis.

Conclusions:

  • Auditory spatial information processing involves a distributed network with hierarchical complexity, starting with basic discrimination and progressing to integration of spatial cues.
  • The involvement of both dorsal and ventral auditory streams suggests a functional duality in processing sound location and spectral characteristics.
  • Findings may indicate shared neural networks for auditory localization and identification, processing higher-order auditory cues.