A Computer Model of the Auditory Periphery and Its Application to the Study of Hearing

Abstract

Computer models of the auditory periphery provide a tool for formulating theories concerning the relationship between the physiology of the auditory system and the perception of sounds both in normal and impaired hearing. However, the time-consuming nature of their construction constitutes a major impediment to their use, and it is important that transparent models be available on an 'off-the-shelf' basis to researchers. The MATLAB Auditory Periphery (MAP) model aims to meet these requirements and be freely available. The model can be used to simulate simple psychophysical tasks such as absolute threshold, pitch matching and forward masking and those used to measure compression and frequency selectivity. It can be used as a front end to automatic speech recognisers for the study of speech in quiet and in noise. The model can also simulate theories of hearing impairment and be used to make predictions about the efficacy of hearing aids. The use of the software will be described along with illustrations of its application in the study of the psychology of hearing.

Spectro-Temporal Processing in a Two-Stream Computational Model of Auditory Cortex

“…are inherited from the periphery, it remains possible that the model actually depicts earlier stages in the auditory pathway rather than AC. In future implementations of the model, the distinction between peripheral and cortical stages can benefit from a more detailed peripheral model (Meddis et al, 2013;Zilany et al, 2014). Ultimately, establishing a clear distinction between peripheral and cortical contribution would require simultaneous high-resolution (spatial and temporal) recordings across multiple locations of the auditory pathway and cortex.…”

Stochastic undersampling steepens auditory threshold/duration functions: implications for understanding auditory deafferentation and aging

“…Age-related alterations in the auditory system cannot, however, be reduced to deafferentation. For example, age-related auditory deficits have been associated with alterations of the cochlear lateral wall that lead to a reduction of the endocochlear potential (Schmiedt, 2010 ) and hence to IHC and outer hair cell (OHC) dysfunction (Meddis et al, 2013 ; Saremi and Stenfelt, 2013 ). Stochastic undersampling may be used to simulate this and other pathologies.…”

Parallel Distribution of an Inner Hair Cell and Auditory Nerve Model for Real-Time Application

“…This model assumes the neurotransmitter in one released vesicle will trigger a spike in the AN fibre providing it is not already in its refractory (post-firing) period. Additional detailed descriptions of how this model algorithm is derived are presented in the literature [5], [11]- [13].…”

“…The main efforts of this work have been converting the model algorithm to run on the SpiNNaker platform. This involved converting the Matlab Auditory Periphery (MAP) [13] implementation of the model algorithm into an ARM9 executable written as an event-driven C application. The SpiNNaker implementation uses software floating point representation of variables and uniquely seeded pseudo-random number generators.…”

“…Saturated AN fibre firing rates of low (LSR) and high (HSR) spontaneous rate types. Results are measured from Matlab Auditory Periphery model[13] simulations to a 1 kHz stimulus at a logarithmic range of intensities in sound pressure level (dBSPL) where 0 dBSPL is the absolute threshold of hearing (28 µ Pa).…”