Simulated transient hearing loss improves auditory sensitivity

Abstract

Recently, it was proposed that a processing principle called adaptive stochastic resonance plays a major role in the auditory system, and serves to maintain optimal sensitivity even to highly variable sound pressure levels. As a side effect, in case of reduced auditory input, such as permanent hearing loss or frequency specific deprivation, this mechanism may eventually lead to the perception of phantom sounds like tinnitus or the Zwicker tone illusion. Using computational modeling, the biological plausibility of this processing principle was already demonstrated. Here, we provide experimental results that further support the stochastic resonance model of auditory perception. In particular, Mongolian gerbils were exposed to moderate intensity, non-damaging long-term notched noise, which mimics hearing loss for frequencies within the notch. Remarkably, the animals developed significantly increased sensitivity, i.e. improved hearing thresholds, for the frequency centered within the notch, but not for frequencies outside the notch. In addition, most animals treated with the new paradigm showed identical behavioral signs of phantom sound perception (tinnitus) as animals with acoustic trauma induced tinnitus. In contrast, animals treated with broadband noise as a control condition did not show any significant threshold change, nor behavioral signs of phantom sound perception.

Dynamics and Information Import in Recurrent Neural Networks

“…For instance, in a theoretical study it could be demonstrated that stochastic resonance improves speech recognition in an artificial neural network as a model of the auditory pathway (Schilling et al, 2020 ). Very recently, we were even able to show that stochastic resonance, induced by simulated transient hearing loss, improves auditory sensitivity beyond the absolute threshold of hearing (Krauss and Tziridis, 2021 ). The extraordinary importance of resonance phenomena for neural information processing indicates that the brain, or at least certain parts of the brain, do also actively exploit other kinds of resonance phenomena besides classical stochastic resonance.…”

Spectrally Matched Near-Threshold Noise for Subjective Tinnitus Loudness Attenuation Based on Stochastic Resonance

“…By propagating the additional noise upstream to the auditory cortex, the signal is there interpreted as a sound – the perceived tinnitus. This idea is strengthened by another recent animal study ( Krauss and Tziridis, 2021 ) where simulating HL by reducing the loudness of specific frequencies – similar to a Zwicker tone ( Zwicker, 1964 ) – leads to a transient tinnitus percept and better hearing thresholds. Further additional support of this view gives the demonstration that tinnitus patients seem to have better hearing thresholds in the – for human communication important – frequency range up to 3 kHz compared to patients without such a phantom percept ( Gollnast et al, 2017 ).…”

Relationships Among Temporal Fine Structure Sensitivity, Transient Storage Capacity, and Ultra-High Frequency Hearing Thresholds in Tinnitus Patients and Normal Adults of Different Ages

“…Several recent studies have proposed theoretical models based on stochastic resonances, which argue that adding neuronal internal noise to the system can counteract hidden and/or non-hidden hearing loss, and the development of a tinnitus percept is a side effect of this process ( Krauss et al, 2016 , 2018 ; Krauss and Tziridis, 2021 ; Schilling et al, 2021 ). Stochastic resonance models can explain some of the results of this study.…”