Revisiting the auditory hemodynamic response function in the era of fast fMRI

Recent advances in fast fMRI now enable whole-brain imaging with a TR of ≤1 s, which has helped to rekindle interest in characterizing the blood oxygen level dependent hemodynamic response function (BOLD HRF). Recent studies in the visual system have found intra-areal differences in temporal response characteristics, as well as HRFs that were faster and narrower than predicted by standard models. The auditory system presents a unique challenge, in that neuronal populations must operate across timescales of microseconds to minutes, and the surface of auditory cortex in particular is intricately and heavily vascularized. Here, we used fast fMRI to characterise voxelwise auditory HRFs evoked by short naturalistic sounds, assessing HRF reproducibility and variability across sessions, participants, and independent datasets. Across two studies at 3 T, participants passively listened to short environmental sounds while fMRI and quantitative MRI data were acquired with a 1s TR. Voxelwise HRFs were estimated via novel cross-session alignment routine, and exclusion of large vascular contributions. We identified a diverse set of hemodynamically plausible response shapes, which were not consistently captured by standard HRF approaches. These responses were reproducible within participants across sessions and robust across two independent acquisitions. Using data-driven gamma models, we achieved stable estimates with relatively few runs, particularly in auditory temporal regions. Within auditory cortex, we observed reproducible spatial gradients in response timing and shape, with faster and higher magnitude responses in medial regions, and slower and lower magnitude responses laterally. Together, these findings demonstrate that auditory HRFs are diverse, reliable, and regionally specific, and highlight the value of fast fMRI and data-driven modelling for advancing interpretation of fMRI data.