Area:
auditory system, dorsal cochlear nucleus
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High-probability grants
According to our matching algorithm, Kenneth E. Hancock is the likely recipient of the following grants.
Years |
Recipients |
Code |
Title / Keywords |
Matching score |
2001 — 2003 |
Hancock, Kenneth E |
F32Activity Code Description: To provide postdoctoral research training to individuals to broaden their scientific background and extend their potential for research in specified health-related areas. |
Neural Correlates of the Precedence Effect @ Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Two sounds separated by a brief interval are perceived as a single auditory image located near the lead stimulus. This property has been termed the "precedence effect" and is thought to be important for suppressing echoes when listening in reverberant environments. A complete understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the precedence effect may lead to improvements in the design of binaural hearing aids and prosthetic devices that must operate in such environments. We propose to study these mechanisms in the inferior colliculus (IC), which is an important point of convergence in the ascending auditory system. When presented with two clicks separated by a delay, most neurons in the central nucleus of the IC show suppressed responses to the second click. This study seeks to identify which of these suppressive responses actually underlie the precedence effect. Specifically, responses to precedence effect stimuli will be segregated based on the origins of the afferent fibers that converge to shape those responses. The techniques will combine extracellular physiology and microinjections of the anatomical tracer Neurobiotin. Models will be developed to assess the ability of each identified subpopulation to predict psychophysical performance under precedence effect conditions. The data obtained will help identify more precisely the strategies employed by the auditory system to localize sound in complex acoustic environments.
|
0.901 |
2005 — 2007 |
Hancock, Kenneth E |
R03Activity Code Description: To provide research support specifically limited in time and amount for studies in categorical program areas. Small grants provide flexibility for initiating studies which are generally for preliminary short-term projects and are non-renewable. |
Neural Mechanisms of Interaural Time Difference Coding @ Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Sounds reach the two ears at slightly different times, creating an interaural time difference (ITD) cue to the location of the sound source. We propose to use extracellular and intracellular techniques to record from ITD sensitive neurons in the medial superior olive (MSO) of Mongolian gerbils. MSO principal cells function as coincidence detectors of binaural excitatory inputs, and as a result show ITD sensitivity in their firing rates. The proposed research focuses on two mechanisms that may tune different MSO neurons to different ITDs. First, stereausis exploits the dependence of the cochlear traveling wave delay on characteristic frequency (CF) to create ITD tuning by systematically mismatching the CFs of the binaural inputs to the MSO. We will test the stereausis model by quantitatively evaluating the extent to which neural best ITD is correlated with the CF difference between the ears. Second, inhibitory inputs may affect ITD coding in the MSO by partially canceling excitatory inputs, by causing the neural membrane to integrate excitatory events more rapidly, and/or by preventing the coincidence detection mechanism from saturating at high sound levels. Inhibitory synaptic potentials have been measured in a few studies using slice preparations, but never in vivo. We will make intracellular recordings to characterize the effects of acoustically-evoked inhibition on MSO neurons in the gerbil. The ITD code is useful not just as a cue to sound source location, but also for extracting signals from background noise. A familiar example is the "cocktail party effect," in which speech from one speaker can be understood easily despite the presence of many other speakers. Comprehending speech in such environments is particularly troublesome for hearing impaired listeners. A more complete understanding of how the auditory system encodes ITD may help improve hearing aids or signal processing strategies for cochlear implants and thus improve the experience of hearing impaired listeners in challenging acoustic environments.
|
0.901 |