Nonlinear wave interactions in the cochlea and their application to sound processing

耳蜗中的非线性波相互作用及其在声音处理中的应用

• 批准号: 10577844
• 负责人: Alessandro Altoe
• 金额: $ 20.63万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-03-01 至 2025-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10577844
• 关键词: Acoustics; Affect; Anatomy; Auditory; Auditory Perception; Basilar Membrane; Behavioral; Cavia; Characteristics; Chinchilla (genus); Cochlea; Complex; Computer Models; Coupled; Coupling; Data; Dependence; Dimensions; Ear; Felis catus; Frequencies; Gerbils; Goals; Health; Hearing; Human; Impairment; Laboratory Animals; Liquid substance; Location; Maps; Mathematics; Measures; Mechanics; Modeling; Mus; Noise; Non-linear Models; Outer Hair Cells; Pattern; Performance; Peripheral; Physiological; Play; Procedures; Process; Property; Role; Self-Help Devices; Sensorineural Hearing Loss; Shapes; Signal Transduction; Stimulus; Structure; Technology; Testing; data modeling; design; detector; direct application; hearing impairment; human model; improved; mathematical analysis; novel; otoacoustic emission; response; role model; sound; three-dimensional modeling; waveguide

Project Abstract/Summary The mammalian cochlea achieves its outstanding performance characteristics by including a physiologically vul- nerable active process that strategically amplifies waves as they propagate through the cochlear spiral. As a result of this spatially coordinated and nonlinear wave amplification, the cochlear response at one characteristic- frequency location largely depends upon the physiological status and the response in more basal regions. In response to complex sounds, waves of different frequency nonlinearly interact along the cochlea, mutually sup- pressing one with the other. In contrast to a bank of independently operating filters commonly used to depict cochlear function, the responses of distinct “cochlear filters" are strongly coupled by nonlinear wave interactions. Although nonlinear wave interactions play a major role for the cochlea response, their role for encoding complex sounds in the auditory periphery—and consequently their contribution to central auditory mechanisms—is poorly understood and largely ignored. Understanding nonlinear wave interactions is hence essential to establish how the cochlea encodes eco- logically relevant sounds and the role of the auditory periphery for sound perception. Because nonlinear wave interactions depend upon the health of the ear, understanding these interactions is fundamental also to establish how cochlear impairment affects the peripheral representation of complex sounds. Further, because even mild sensorineural hearing loss greatly degrades behavioral performance in acoustically challenging situations, it is likely that nonlinear wave interactions underlie unexplored mechanisms for the outstanding performance of the healthy ear. My project will tackle these issues by: (i) deriving from the experimental data a cochlear model that reproduces accurately nonlinear wave interactions in laboratory animals (Aim 1.a) and humans (Aim 1.b); (ii) testing the hypothesis that nonlinear wave interactions underly beneficial mechanisms to encode sounds in acoustically adverse situations (Aim 2.a), and (iii) determining how and with what limitations the effects of nonlinear wave interactions elucidated in this project are accounted for by popular computer models of the auditory periphery (Aim 2.b). The results of this project will not only challenge and improve the current understanding of cochlear function for hearing, but will also find natural application in improving models of hearing impairment, and in determining novel cochlear-inspired strategies to improve the performance of assistive hearing technology.

项目摘要/总结 哺乳动物耳蜗通过包含生理学上的缺陷来实现其出色的性能特征。 当波通过耳蜗螺旋传播时，它会策略性地放大波。 这种空间协调和非线性波放大的结果，耳蜗响应在一个特征- 频率位置很大程度上取决于生理状态和更多基底区域的反应。 对复杂声音的响应，不同频率的波沿着耳蜗非线性相互作用，相互支持 与通常用于描述的一组独立操作的过滤器相反。 耳蜗功能中，不同“耳蜗滤波器”的响应通过非线性波相互作用强烈耦合。 尽管非线性波相互作用对耳蜗反应起着重要作用，但它们在编码复杂的信号中的作用 听觉外围的声音——以及因此它们对中枢听觉机制的贡献——很差 理解并在很大程度上被忽视。 因此，了解非线性波相互作用对于确定耳蜗如何编码生态至关重要。 逻辑上相关的声音和听觉外围对于声音感知的作用因为非线性波。 相互作用取决于耳朵的健康，理解这些相互作用对于建立 此外，即使是轻微的耳蜗损伤也会影响复杂声音的外周表征。 感音神经性听力损失会极大地降低在声学挑战情况下的行为表现， 非线性波相互作用可能是未探索的机制的基础，该机制具有出色的性能 健康的耳朵。 我的项目将通过以下方式解决这些问题：（i）从实验数据中得出一个可重现的耳蜗模型 实验动物（目标 1.a）和人类（目标 1.b）中精确的非线性波相互作用； 假设非线性波相互作用是对声音进行声学编码的有益机制的基础 不利情况（目标 2.a），以及 (iii) 确定非线性波影响的方式和限制 该项目中阐明的相互作用是由听觉外围的流行计算机模型解释的 （目标 2.b）。该项目的结果不仅将挑战并提高目前对人工耳蜗的理解。 听力功能，但也可以自然地应用于改善听力障碍模型，以及 确定新颖的人工耳蜗策略来提高辅助听力技术的性能。