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Updated: May 20, 2026

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
Published on: July 1, 2015
Control of central auditory processing by a brain-generated oestrogen
Raphael Pinaud1, Liisa A Tremere
1Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA. pinaud@northwestern.edu
Abstract:
Recent discoveries show that behaviourally relevant sensory experience drives the production of oestradiol - the classic sex steroid oestrogen - in auditory neurons in the adult brain of both males and females. This brain-generated oestrogen markedly enhances the efficiency of the neural coding of acoustic cues and shapes auditory-based behaviours on a timescale that is relevant for sensory processing and congruent with the action of rapid neuromodulators. These findings are re-shaping our current understanding of the mechanistic framework that supports sensory processing and the functional roles of hormones in the brain, and have implications for multiple health issues.
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