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A neuronal population code for sound localization

Nature volume 388, pages 871–874 (1997)Cite this article

Abstract

The accuracy with which listeners can locate sounds is much greater than the spatial sensitivity of single neurons1,2,3. The broad spatial tuning of auditory neurons indicates that a code based on the responses of ensembles of neurons, a population code, must be used to determine the position of a sound in space. Here we show that the tuning of neurons to the most potent localization cue, the interaural time difference in low-frequency signals (<∼2 kHz; refs 4, 5), becomes sharper as the information ascends through the auditory system. We also show that this sharper tuning increases the efficiency of the population code, in the sense that fewer neurons are required to achieve a given acuity.

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Figure 1: Sharpening of ITD tuning as the information ascends the auditory system.
Figure 2: Construction and performance of a population model for ITD sensitivity.
Figure 3: The point image representation of ITDs.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Trahiotis, L. Bernstein and L. Abbott for discussion, L. M. Seman for technical assistance, and T. Ju and R. Manfredi for computer programming. This work was supported by a grant from the Center for Deafness and Communicative Disorders, NIH, USA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, 06030-3405, Connecticut, USA

    Douglas C. Fitzpatrick, Ranjan Batra, Terrence R. Stanford & Shigeyuki Kuwada

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  1. Douglas C. Fitzpatrick
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  2. Ranjan Batra
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  4. Shigeyuki Kuwada
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Correspondence to Douglas C. Fitzpatrick.

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Fitzpatrick, D., Batra, R., Stanford, T. et al. A neuronal population code for sound localization. Nature 388, 871–874 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/42246

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