(Peter Heil, Heinrich Neubauer)

In this project, we try to use our knowledge of how detection thresholds are mediated, viz., by means of temporal summation, to understand how the auditory system processes and identifies suprathreshold temporal auditory patterns. For this purpose, we analyze individual neuronal responses to suprathreshold sounds of different temporal envelopes and amplitudes, as well as record and analyse auditory evoked potentials and magnetic fields, by means of brainstem evoked response audiometry, electroencephalography, and magnetoencephalography. We plan to combine some of these techniques with psychophysical paradigms.

Collaborations:

Dr. Silke Biermann (former member of the IfN)
Prof. Dexter R.F. Irvine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Key publications:

1. Heil, P. and Irvine, D.R.F. (1998) The posterior field P of cat auditory cortex: coding of envelope transients. Cerebral Cortex 8: 125-141
2. Biermann, S. and Heil, P. (2000) Parallels between timing of onset responses of single neurons in cat and of evoked magnetic fields in human auditory cortex. J. Neurophysiol 84: 2426-2439.
3. Heil, P. (2001) Representation of sound onsets in the auditory system. Audiology & Neurootology 6:167-172.
4. Heil, P. (2003) Some ideas on temporal envelope coding in the auditory system. Speech Communication 41: 123-134.
5. Heil, P., Neubauer, H., Irvine, D.R.F. and Brown, M. (2007) Spontaneous activity of auditory-nerve fibers: insights into stochastic processes at ribbon synapses. Journal of Neuroscience 27 (31): 8457-8474 (see also Editorial: From Ribbon Synapses to Spike Trains.)
6. Neubauer, H. and Heil, P. (2007) A physiological model for the stimulus-dependence of first-spike latency of auditory-nerve fibers. Brain Research (Sep 14; [Epub ahead of print])
7. Heil, P., Neubauer, H., Brown, M. and Irvine, D.R.F. (2008) Towards a unifying basis of auditory thresholds: distributions of the first-spike latencies of auditory-nerve fibers. Hearing Research 238: 25-38