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Related Concept Videos

Hearing

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.

Auditory Pathway

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...

Auditory Perception

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...

The Cochlea

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.

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

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...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 25, 2026

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

Published on: October 29, 2018

Midbrain auditory selectivity to natural sounds.

Melville J Wohlgemuth¹, Cynthia F Moss²

¹Department of Psychology and Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 melville.wohlgemuth@jhu.edu.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|February 18, 2016

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Bat midbrain superior colliculus (SC) neurons show selectivity for species-specific echolocation sounds. This auditory selectivity, particularly in dorsal SC regions, suggests nonlinear mechanisms for processing natural sonar vocalizations crucial for orienting behaviors.

Keywords:

auditory grasp neuroethology stimulus selection superior colliculus

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Published on: January 23, 2017

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Auditory Neuroscience
Sensory Processing

Background:

Echolocating bats use hearing for orientation.
The midbrain superior colliculus (SC) plays a role in sensory-guided behaviors.
Understanding auditory selectivity in bats can inform general principles of sensory processing.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate auditory stimulus selectivity in the bat SC.
To determine if SC neurons respond selectively to species-specific echolocation sounds.
To explore the mechanisms underlying auditory selectivity in the SC.

Main Methods:

Single-unit recordings from the SC of awake, passively listening big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus).
Presentation of species-specific frequency-modulated (FM) echolocation sequences and artificial sounds with matched acoustic properties.
Application of generalized linear models (GLMs) to predict neuronal responses.

Main Results:

Neurons in dorsal SC regions exhibited selectivity for natural FM echolocation sequences.
Ventral SC neurons showed broad responses to both natural and artificial stimuli.
GLMs failed to predict responses to natural sounds using artificial stimuli data in dorsal SC, but succeeded in ventral SC.

Conclusions:

Auditory selectivity in the dorsal bat SC likely involves nonlinear mechanisms for processing species-specific information.
Selectivity for natural echolocation sounds supports the hypothesis that sensory processing enables rapid, goal-directed orienting behaviors.
This study provides novel evidence for auditory spectrotemporal selectivity to natural stimuli in SC neurons.