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Modeling Binaural Responses in the Auditory Brainstem to Electric Stimulation of the Auditory Nerve

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Abstract

Bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) provide improvements in sound localization and speech perception in noise over unilateral CIs. However, the benefits arise mainly from the perception of interaural level differences, while bilateral CI listeners’ sensitivity to interaural time difference (ITD) is poorer than normal. To help understand this limitation, a set of ITD-sensitive neural models was developed to study binaural responses to electric stimulation. Our working hypothesis was that central auditory processing is normal with bilateral CIs so that the abnormality in the response to electric stimulation at the level of the auditory nerve fibers (ANFs) is the source of the limited ITD sensitivity. A descriptive model of ANF response to both acoustic and electric stimulation was implemented and used to drive a simplified biophysical model of neurons in the medial superior olive (MSO). The model’s ITD sensitivity was found to depend strongly on the specific configurations of membrane and synaptic parameters for different stimulation rates. Specifically, stronger excitatory synaptic inputs and faster membrane responses were required for the model neurons to be ITD-sensitive at high stimulation rates, whereas weaker excitatory synaptic input and slower membrane responses were necessary at low stimulation rates, for both electric and acoustic stimulation. This finding raises the possibility of frequency-dependent differences in neural mechanisms of binaural processing; limitations in ITD sensitivity with bilateral CIs may be due to a mismatch between stimulation rate and cell parameters in ITD-sensitive neurons.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (Grants R01 DC005775 to B.D. and R01 DC000100 to H.S.C.) and the Hearing Health Foundation (Emerging Research Grant to Y.C.).

Conflict of Interest

None of the authors has conflict of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomedical Engineering Department, Hearing Research Center, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Yoojin Chung & H. Steven Colburn

  2. Eaton-Peabody Laboratories, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Bertrand Delgutte

  3. Department of Otology and Laryngology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Bertrand Delgutte

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  1. Yoojin Chung
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  2. Bertrand Delgutte
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Correspondence to Yoojin Chung.

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Chung, Y., Delgutte, B. & Colburn, H.S. Modeling Binaural Responses in the Auditory Brainstem to Electric Stimulation of the Auditory Nerve. JARO 16, 135–158 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-014-0492-6

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