scholarly journals Enhanced representation of natural sound sequences in the ventral auditory midbrain

Author(s):  
Eugenia González-Palomares ◽  
Luciana López-Jury ◽  
Francisco García-Rosales ◽  
Julio C. Hechavarria

AbstractThe auditory midbrain (inferior colliculus, IC) plays an important role in sound processing, acting as hub for acoustic information extraction and for the implementation of fast audio-motor behaviors. IC neurons are topographically organized according to their sound frequency preference: dorsal IC regions encode low frequencies while ventral areas respond best to high frequencies, a type of sensory map defined as tonotopy. Tonotopic maps have been studied extensively using artificial stimuli (pure tones) but our knowledge of how these maps represent information about sequences of natural, spectro-temporally rich sounds is sparse. We studied this question by conducting simultaneous extracellular recordings across IC depths in awake bats (Carollia perspicillata) that listened to sequences of natural communication and echolocation sounds. The hypothesis was that information about these two types of sound streams is represented at different IC depths since they exhibit large differences in spectral composition, i.e., echolocation covers the high-frequency portion of the bat soundscape (> 45 kHz), while communication sounds are broadband and carry most power at low frequencies (20–25 kHz). Our results showed that mutual information between neuronal responses and acoustic stimuli, as well as response redundancy in pairs of neurons recorded simultaneously, increase exponentially with IC depth. The latter occurs regardless of the sound type presented to the bats (echolocation or communication). Taken together, our results indicate the existence of mutual information and redundancy maps at the midbrain level whose response cannot be predicted based on the frequency composition of natural sounds and classic neuronal tuning curves.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugenia González-Palomares ◽  
Luciana López-Jury ◽  
Francisco García-Rosales ◽  
Julio C. Hechavarria

SummaryThe auditory midbrain (inferior colliculus, IC) plays an important role in sound processing, acting as hub for acoustic information extraction and for the implementation of fast audio-motor behaviors. IC neurons are topographically organized according to their sound frequency preference: dorsal IC regions encode low frequencies while ventral areas respond best to high frequencies, a type of sensory map defined as tonotopy. Tonotopic maps have been studied extensively using artificial stimuli (pure tones) but our knowledge of how these maps represent information about sequences of natural, spectro-temporally rich sounds is sparse. We studied this question by conducting simultaneous extracellular recordings across IC depths in awake bats (Carollia perspicillata) that listened to sequences of natural communication and echolocation sounds. The hypothesis was that information about these two types of sound streams is represented at different IC depths since they exhibit large differences in spectral composition, i.e. echolocation covers the high frequency portion of the bat soundscape (> 45 kHz), while communication sounds are broadband and carry most power at low frequencies (20-25 kHz). Our results showed that mutual information between neuronal responses and acoustic stimuli, as well as response redundancy in pairs of neurons recorded simultaneously, increase exponentially with IC depth. The latter occurs regardless of the sound type presented to the bats (echolocation or communication). Taken together, our results indicate the existence of mutual information and redundancy maps at the midbrain level whose response cannot be predicted based on the frequency composition of natural sounds and classic neuronal tuning curves.


1988 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 1627-1638 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. Sally ◽  
J. B. Kelly

1. Responses of neurons in the auditory cortex of the albino rat were examined using microelectrode mapping techniques. Characteristic frequencies were determined for numerous electrode penetrations across the cortical surface in individual animals. A primary auditory area was identified in the posterolateral neocortex that was characterized by short latency responses to tone bursts and tonotopic organization with high frequencies represented rostrally and low frequencies, caudally. Within this area cells with similar characteristic frequencies were aligned in a dorsoventral orientation to form isofrequency contours. 2. Tuning curves obtained from primary auditory cortex were characteristically "V" shaped with Q10's ranging from 0.97 to 28.4. Maximum Q10 values increased monotonically with characteristic frequency (CF). The lowest thresholds at CF closely approximated the behavioral audiogram for the albino rat. Many neurons, however, had CF thresholds well above the behavioral limit. 3. Areas were found dorsal and ventral to the primary auditory cortex in which CF's were clearly discontinuous with the neighboring isofrequency contours. These data suggest the presence of other auditory fields, the detailed characteristics of which have yet to be examined.


2015 ◽  
Vol 804 ◽  
pp. 25-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanlop Harnnarongchai ◽  
Kantima Chaochanchaikul

The sound absorbing efficiency of natural rubber (NR) foam is affected by the cell morphology of foam. Potassium oleate (K-oleate) and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) were used as blowing agents to create open-cell foam. Amounts of the blowing agent were varied from 0.5 to 8.0 part per hundred of rubber (phr) to evaluate cell size and number of foam cell as well as sound adsorption coefficient of NR foam. The NR foam specimens were prepared using mould and air-circulating oven for vulcanizing and foaming processes. The results indicated that K-oleate at 2.0 phr and NaHCO3 at 0.5 phr led to form NR foam with the smallest cell size and the largest number of foam cell. At low frequencies, the optimum sound adsorption coefficient of NR foam was caused by filling K-oleate 2 phr. However, that of NR foam at high frequencies was provided by 0.5 phr-NaHCO3 addition.


1993 ◽  
Vol 107 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Cullen ◽  
M. J. Cinnamond

The relationship between diabetes and senbsorineural hearing loss has been disputed. This study compares 44 insulin-dependent diabetics with 38 age and sex matched controls. All had pure tone and speech audiometry performed, with any diabetics showing sensorineural deafness undergoing stapedial reflecx decat tests. In 14 diabetics stapedial reflex tests showed no tone decay in any patient, but seven showed evidence of recruitment. Analysis of vaiance showed the diabetics to be significantly deafer than the control population.The hearing loss affected high frequencies in both sexes, but also low frequencies in the male. Speech discrimination scores showed no differences. Further analysis by sex showed the males to account for most of the differences. Analysys of the audiograms showered mostly a high tone loss. Finally duration of disbetes, insulin dosage and family history of diabtes were not found to have a significant effect on threshold.


Author(s):  
Jerome E. Manning

Abstract Statistical energy analysis provides a technique to predict acoustic and vibration levels in complex dynamic systems. The technique is most useful for broad-band excitation at high frequencies where many modes contribute to the response in any given frequency band. At mid and low frequencies, the number of modes contributing to the response may be quite small. In this case SEA predictions show large variability from measured data and may not be useful for vibroacoustic design. This paper focuses on the use of measured data to improve the accuracy of the predictions. Past work to measure the SEA coupling and damping loss factors has not been successful for a broad range of systems that do not have light coupling. This paper introduces a new hybrid SEA technique that combines measured mobility functions with analytical SEA predictions. The accuracy of the hybrid technique is shown to be greatly improved at mid and low frequencies.


Author(s):  
Gundula B. Runge ◽  
Al Ferri ◽  
Bonnie Ferri

This paper considers an anytime strategy to implement controllers that react to changing computational resources. The anytime controllers developed in this paper are suitable for cases when the time scale of switching is in the order of the task execution time, that is, on the time scale found commonly with sporadically missed deadlines. This paper extends the prior work by developing frequency-weighted anytime controllers. The selection of the weighting function is driven by the expectation of the situations that would require anytime operation. For example, if the anytime operation is due to occasional and isolated missed deadlines, then the weighting on high frequencies should be larger than that for low frequencies. Low frequency components will have a smaller change over one sample time, so failing to update these components for one sample period will have less effect than with the high frequency components. An example will be included that applies the anytime control strategy to a model of a DC motor with deadzone and saturation nonlinearities.


2000 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 1645-1656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail M. Skofronick-Jackson ◽  
James R. Wang

Abstract Profiles of the microphysical properties of clouds and rain cells are essential in many areas of atmospheric research and operational meteorology. To enhance the understanding of the nonlinear and underconstrained relationships between cloud and hydrometeor microphysical profiles and passive microwave brightness temperatures, estimations of cloud profiles for an anvil region, a convective region, and an updraft region of an oceanic squall were performed. The estimations relied on comparisons between radiative transfer calculations of incrementally estimated microphysical profiles and concurrent dual-altitude wideband brightness temperatures from the 22 February 1993 flight during the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment. The wideband observations (10–220 GHz) are necessary for estimating cloud profiles reaching up to 20 km. The low frequencies enhance the rain and cloud water profiles, and the high frequencies are required to detail the higher-altitude ice microphysics. A microphysical profile was estimated for each of the three regions of the storm. Each of the three estimated profiles produced calculated brightness temperatures within ∼10 K of the observations. A majority of the total iterative adjustments were to the estimated profile’s frozen hydrometeor characteristics and were necessary to match the high-frequency calculations with the observations. This requirement indicates a need to validate cloud-resolving models using high frequencies. Some difficulties matching the 37-GHz observation channels on the DC-8 and ER-2 aircraft with the calculations simulated at the two aircraft heights (∼11 km and 20 km, respectively) were noted, and potential causes were presented.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrycja Orlowska-Feuer ◽  
Magdalena Kinga Smyk ◽  
Anna Alwani ◽  
Marian Henryk Lewandowski

The amount and spectral composition of light changes considerably during the day, with dawn and dusk being the most crucial moments when light is within the mesopic range and short wavelength enriched. It was recently shown that animals use both cues to adjust their internal circadian clock, thereby their behavior and physiology, with the solar cycle. The role of blue light in circadian processes and neuronal responses is well established, however, an unanswered question remains: how do changes in the spectral composition of light (short wavelengths blocking) influence neuronal activity? In this study we addressed this question by performing electrophysiological recordings in image (dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus; dLGN) and non-image (the olivary pretectal nucleus; OPN, the suprachiasmatic nucleus; SCN) visual structures to determine neuronal responses to spectrally varied light stimuli. We found that removing short-wavelength from the polychromatic light (cut off at 525 nm) attenuates the most transient ON and sustained cells in the dLGN and OPN, respectively. Moreover, we compared the ability of different types of sustained OPN neurons (either changing or not their response profile to filtered polychromatic light) to irradiance coding, and show that both groups achieve it with equal efficacy. On the other hand, even very dim monochromatic UV light (360 nm; log 9.95 photons/cm2/s) evokes neuronal responses in the dLGN and SCN. To our knowledge, this is the first electrophysiological experiment supporting previous behavioral findings showing visual and circadian functions disruptions under short wavelength blocking environment. The current results confirm that neuronal activity in response to polychromatic light in retinorecipient structures is affected by removing short wavelengths, however, with type and structure – specific action. Moreover, they show that rats are sensitive to even very dim UV light.


1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140
Author(s):  
Vytautas Stauskis

The paper deals with the differences between the energy created by four different pulsed sound sources, ie a sound gun, a start gun, a toy gun, and a hunting gun. A knowledge of the differences between the maximum energy and the minimum energy, or the signal-noise ratio, is necessary to correctly calculate the frequency dependence of reverberation time. It has been established by investigations that the maximum energy excited by the sound gun is within the frequency range of 250 to 2000 Hz. It decreases by about 28 dB at the low frequencies. The character of change in the energy created by the hunting gun differs from that of the sound gun. There is no change in the maximum energy within the frequency range of 63–100 Hz, whereas afterwards it increases with the increase in frequency but only to the limit of 2000 Hz. In the frequency range of 63–500 Hz, the energy excited by the hunting gun is lower by 15–30 dB than that of the sound gun. As frequency increases the difference is reduced and amounts to 5–10 dB. The maximum energy of the start gun is lower by 4–5 dB than that of the hunting gun in the frequency range of up to 1000 Hz, while afterwards the difference is insignificant. In the frequency range of 125–250 Hz, the maximum energy generated by the sound gun exceeds that generated by the hunting gun by 20 dB, that by the start gun by 25 dB, and that by the toy gun—by as much as 35 dB. The maximum energy emitted by it occupies a wide frequency range of 250 to 2000 Hz. Thus, the sound gun has an advantage over the other three sound sources from the point of view of maximum energy. Up until 500 Hz the character of change in the direct sound energy is similar for all types of sources. The maximum energy of direct sound is also created by the sound gun and it increases along with frequency, the maximum values being reached at 500 Hz and 1000 Hz. The maximum energy of the hunting gun in the frequency range of 125—500 Hz is lower by about 20 dB than that of the sound gun, while the maximum energy of the toy gun is lower by about 25 dB. The maximum of the direct sound energy generated by the hunting gun, the start gun and the toy gun is found at high frequencies, ie at 1000 Hz and 2000 Hz, while the sound gun generates the maximum energy at 500 Hz and 1000 Hz. Thus, the best results are obtained when the energy is emitted by the sound gun. When the sound field is generated by the sound gun, the difference between the maximum energy and the noise level is about 35 dB at 63 Hz, while the use of the hunting gun reduces the difference to about 20–22 dB. The start gun emits only small quantities of low frequencies and is not suitable for room's acoustical analysis at 63 Hz. At the frequency of 80 Hz, the difference between the maximum energy and the noise level makes up about 50 dB, when the sound field is generated by the sound gun, and about 27 dB, when it is generated by the hunting gun. When the start gun is used, the difference between the maximum signal and the noise level is as small as 20 dB, which is not sufficient to make a reverberation time analysis correctly. At the frequency of 100 Hz, the difference of about 55 dB between the maximum energy and the noise level is only achieved by the sound gun. The hunting gun, the start gun and the toy gun create the decrease of about 25 dB, which is not sufficient for the calculation of the reverberation time. At the frequency of 125 Hz, a sufficiently large difference in the sound field decay amounting to about 40 dB is created by the sound gun, the hunting gun and the start gun, though the character of the sound field curve decay of the latter is different from the former two. At 250 Hz, the sound gun produces a field decay difference of almost 60 dB, the hunting gun almost 50 dB, the start gun almost 40 dB, and the toy gun about 45 dB. At 500 Hz, the sound field decay is sufficient when any of the four sound sources is used. The energy difference created by the sound gun is as large as 70 dB, by the hunting gun 50 dB, by the start gun 52 dB, and by the toy gun 48 dB. Such energy differences are sufficient for the analysis of acoustic indicators. At the high frequencies of 1000 to 4000 Hz, all the four sound sources used, even the toy gun, produce a good difference of the sound field decay and in all cases it is possible to analyse the reverberation process at varied intervals of the sound level decay.


Author(s):  
A. Ashery ◽  
Samia Gad ◽  
A. E.H. Gaballah ◽  
G. M. Turky

Abstract The structure of carbon nanotube CNTs functioning as p-type material deposited over n-type silicon to produce heterojunction of Au/CNTs/n-Si/Al is presented in this study.This work explored the capacitance and conductance at various frequencies, temperatures, and voltages, the novelty here is that negative capacitance and conductance were observed at high frequencies in all temperatures and voltages, whereas capacitance appeared at both high and low frequencies, such as (2x107,1x107,1x102,10) Hz. At high-frequency f = 2x107 Hz, the capacitance raises while the conductance decreases; at all temperatures and voltages, the capacitance and conductance exhibit the same behavior at particular frequencies such as 1x106,1x105,1x104,1x103Hz, however their behavior differs at 2x107,1x107, 1x102 and 10Hz. Investigating the reverse square capacitance with voltage yielded the energy fermi (Ef), density surface of states (Nss), depletion width (Wd), barrier height, series resistance, and donor concentration (Nd)


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