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Related Concept Videos

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.
Perception of Sound Waves01:01

Perception of Sound Waves

The human ear is not equally sensitive to all frequencies in the audible range. It may perceive sound waves with the same pressure but different frequencies as having different loudness. Moreover, the perception of sound waves depends on the health of an individual's ears, which decays with age. The health of one's ears may also be affected by regular exposure to loud noises.
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same frequency...
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...
Auditory Perception01:17

Auditory Perception

The auditory system is essential for sound perception, utilizing various critical structures. When sound waves enter the outer ear, they travel through the ear canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are then transmitted to the middle ear, where three tiny bones – the malleus, incus, and stapes – amplify the sound. This amplification is crucial, as it ensures that the sound vibrations are strong enough to be conveyed to the inner ear. These vibrations then reach the cochlea, a...
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...
Anatomy of the Ear01:16

Anatomy of the Ear

Auditory sensation, commonly called hearing, involves the transformation of sonic waves into neural impulses facilitated by the structures of the auditory organ. The prominent, flesh-like structure on the side of the head, called the auricle, directs sound waves towards the auditory canal. The auricle is often mislabeled as the pinna, a term more aligned with mobile structures like a feline's external ear. The auditory canal penetrates the cranium via the external auditory meatus of the...

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Related Experiment Video

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A Protocol for the Administration of Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback Training
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Published on: August 24, 2017

Neural correlates of sound externalization.

Akiko Callan1, Daniel E Callan2, Hiroshi Ando1

  • 1NICT Multisensory Cognition and Computation Laboratory, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan.

Neuroimage
|October 31, 2012
PubMed
Summary

This study reveals that realistic, externalized auditory stimuli, unlike internalized ones, enhance neural activity in the posterior temporal gyri (pSTG). This finding highlights the importance of ecologically valid sounds for understanding auditory processing in the brain.

Keywords:
AuditoryExternalizedInternalizedLateralizationLocalizationfMRI

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Auditory Perception
  • Psychoacoustics

Background:

  • Listening to sound via headphones often results in internal sound perception, differing from natural external sound localization.
  • Understanding the neural basis of auditory spatial perception is crucial for fields like audiology and virtual reality.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural differences in brain activity between internalized (lateralization) and externalized (localization) auditory stimuli using fMRI.
  • To determine how the brain processes sound location when stimuli are presented realistically versus artificially.

Main Methods:

  • Used fMRI to measure brain activity in participants performing auditory tasks.
  • Employed individualized binaural recordings for externalized stimuli and stereo recordings for internalized stimuli.
  • Included both an active auditory localization task and a stimulus type identification task.

Main Results:

  • Enhanced brain activity was observed in the bilateral posterior superior temporal gyri (pSTG) for externalized stimuli compared to internalized stimuli.
  • Region of interest analysis showed bilateral pSTG sensitivity to sound sources in contralateral hemifields.
  • The left pSTG exhibited greater activity for sounds originating from the back compared to the front.

Conclusions:

  • Ecologically valid, spatial auditory stimuli significantly enhance neural responses in the pSTG compared to impoverished stimuli.
  • The findings suggest that using realistic auditory stimuli is essential for accurately observing neural correlates of auditory spatial processing, such as contralateral hemifield preference.
  • This research underscores the importance of employing naturalistic stimuli in neuroscience research to better understand human cortical processing.