Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

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.

Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity reflects the brain's remarkable capacity to adapt and evolve, responding dynamically to learning, experiences, or injury by reorganizing its neural circuitry. This reorganization involves creating new neural connections and refining old ones through a series of biological processes that contribute to the brain's lifelong development and adaptability.

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...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Hierarchical recurrent temporal prediction as a model of the mammalian dorsal visual pathway.

PLoS computational biology·2026

Same author

Rethinking hierarchy: the auditory system as an integrated cortical-subcortical network.

Nature reviews. Neuroscience·2026

Same author

Auditory Training Alters the Cortical Representation of Complex Sounds.

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience·2025

Same author

Comparison of CRISPR-Cas13b RNA base editing approaches for USH2A-associated inherited retinal degeneration.

Communications biology·2025

Same author

Midbrain encodes sound detection behavior without auditory cortex.

eLife·2024

Same author

Cortical evoked activity is modulated by the sleep state in a ferret model of tinnitus. A cross-case study.

PloS one·2024

Same journal

Long-term potentiation in the brain: A synaptic memory mechanism.

Physiological reviews·2026

Same journal

Catecholamine metabolism revisited: From neurochemistry to integrative physiology and pathophysiology.

Physiological reviews·2026

Same journal

THE ORIGINS AND PROGRESSION OF PYLORIC METAPLASIA FOLLOWING GASTRIC MUCOSAL INJURY.

Physiological reviews·2026

Same journal

AKAP signaling: physiological and pathophysiological roles and opportunities for novel therapeutic concepts.

Physiological reviews·2026

Same journal

Mechanisms of transcranial magnetic brain stimulation.

Physiological reviews·2026

Same journal

Esophageal peristalsis in health and disease: mechanistic insights.

Physiological reviews·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 30, 2025

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

Adaptation in auditory processing.

Ben D B Willmore¹, Andrew J King¹

¹Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, https://ror.org/052gg0110University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Physiological Reviews

|September 1, 2022

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Auditory neurons adapt to recurring sounds, prioritizing novel stimuli for efficient neural coding. This adaptation, crucial for hearing, adjusts neural sensitivity based on sound statistics and is influenced by experience and aging.

Keywords:

adaptation adaptive coding auditory cortex sound statistics

More Related Videos

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses

Published on: January 23, 2017

Assessment of Audio-Tactile Sensory Substitution Training in Participants with Profound Deafness Using the Event-Related Potential Technique

Assessment of Audio-Tactile Sensory Substitution Training in Participants with Profound Deafness Using the Event-Related Potential Technique

Published on: September 7, 2022

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Aug 30, 2025

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

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses

Published on: January 23, 2017

Assessment of Audio-Tactile Sensory Substitution Training in Participants with Profound Deafness Using the Event-Related Potential Technique

Assessment of Audio-Tactile Sensory Substitution Training in Participants with Profound Deafness Using the Event-Related Potential Technique

Published on: September 7, 2022

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Auditory System Research
Sensory Processing

Background:

Auditory neurons exhibit adaptation, a process reducing responses to constant sounds.
This adaptation allows neural properties to align with changing environmental sound statistics.
Adaptation enhances the processing of novel sounds and creates efficient neural representations.

Purpose of the Study:

To review diverse forms of neural adaptation in the auditory system.
To explore the neural mechanisms and processing levels of auditory adaptation.
To examine the impact of adaptation on neural coding, perception, and auditory scene analysis.

Main Methods:

Review of existing literature on auditory adaptation.
Analysis of adaptation's role in neural coding and perception.
Investigation of adaptation dynamics across multiple timescales.

Main Results:

Adaptation highlights novel sounds and efficiently represents auditory information.
Neural sensitivity and tuning adjust to common stimulus values.
Adaptation contributes to noise tolerance and auditory scene analysis.

Conclusions:

Adaptation is fundamental to auditory processing, enabling efficient and robust sound perception.
The dynamics of adaptation reveal environmental statistical properties.
Learning, aging, and hearing loss significantly influence auditory adaptation.