Auditory fMRI of Sound Intensity and Loudness for Unilateral Stimulation

We report a systematic exploration of the interrelation of sound intensity, ear of entry, individual loudness judgments, and brain activity across hemispheres, using auditory functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The stimuli employed were 4 kHz-bandpass filtered noise stimuli, presented monaurally to each ear at levels from 37 to 97 dB SPL. One diotic condition and a silence condition were included as control conditions. Normal hearing listeners completed a categorical loudness scaling procedure with similar stimuli before auditory fMRI was performed. The relationship between brain activity, as inferred from blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) contrasts, and both sound intensity and loudness estimates were analyzed by means of linear mixed effects models for various anatomically defined regions of interest in the ascending auditory pathway and in the cortex. The results indicate distinct functional differences between midbrain and cortical areas as well as between specific regions within auditory cortex, suggesting a systematic hierarchy in terms of lateralization and the representation of sensory stimulation and perception.