Temporal representation of CV syllables in populations of auditory‐nerve fibers

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Abstract
Representations of the syllables [ba] and [da] based on the temporal response properties of populations of auditory‐nerve fibers were studied. Post‐stimulus time histograms and interval histograms were computed from 20‐ms segments of fiber spike trains occurring in response to each stimulus. Discrete Fourier transforms with a resolution of 50 Hz were computed from each histogram. As a measure of the response of the population of fibers to each harmonic of the 50‐Hz resolution frequency, the magnitude of the response to that frequency was averaged across all fibers whose characteristic frequencies were within one‐fourth octave of that harmonic. We have previously called this measure the average localized synchronized rate (ALSR). Response profiles for the 20‐ms segments of the stimulus were generated by plotting the ALSR versus stimulus frequency. Time‐varying spectral features of the stimulus are well preserved by such profiles. For example, the onset spectra and formant transitions of the stop consonants are well represented. Furthermore, the fine structure in the speech spectrum related to the pitch of the excitation source is maintained in the response profiles derived from PST histograms. [Supported by NIH Grant No. 12112.]

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