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Journal ArticleDOI

Noise-enhanced hearing sensitivity

29 Mar 2004-Physics Letters A (North-Holland)-Vol. 323, Iss: 5, pp 434-438
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors demonstrate that noise can be a benefit factor that enhances hearing sensitivity, and they measured subjects' abilities to detect near threshold pure tone in different noise levels.
About: This article is published in Physics Letters A.The article was published on 2004-03-29. It has received 25 citations till now.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The present study shows psychophysical evidence in a yes-no paradigm for the existence of a stochastic resonance-like phenomenon in the auditory-visual interactions and shows that the detection of a weak visual signal was an inverted U-like function of the intensity of different levels of auditory noise.

113 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that stochastic resonance plays a key role in both short and long-term plasticity within the auditory system and that SR is the primary cause of neuronal hyperactivity and tinnitus.
Abstract: Subjective tinnitus is generally assumed to be a consequence of hearing loss. In animal studies it has been demonstrated that acoustic trauma induced cochlear damage can lead to behavioral signs of tinnitus. In addition it was shown that noise trauma may lead to deafferentation of cochlear inner hair cells even in the absence of elevated hearing thresholds, and it seems conceivable that such hidden hearing loss may be sufficient to cause tinnitus. Numerous studies have indicated that tinnitus is correlated with pathologically increased spontaneous firing rates and hyperactivity of neurons along the auditory pathway. It has been proposed that this hyperactivity is the consequence of a mechanism aiming to compensate for reduced input to the auditory system by increasing central neuronal gain, a mechanism referred to as homeostatic plasticity (HP), thereby maintaining mean firing rates over longer timescales for stabilization of neuronal processing. Here we propose an alternative, new interpretation of tinnitus-related development of neuronal hyperactivity in terms of information theory. In particular, we suggest that stochastic resonance (SR) plays a key role in both short- and long-term plasticity within the auditory system and that SR is the primary cause of neuronal hyperactivity and tinnitus. We argue that following hearing loss, SR serves to lift signals above the increased neuronal thresholds, thereby partly compensating for the hearing loss. In our model, the increased amount of internal noise - which is crucial for SR to work - corresponds to neuronal hyperactivity which subsequently causes neuronal plasticity along the auditory pathway and finally may lead to the development of a phantom percept, i.e. subjective tinnitus. We demonstrate the plausibility of our hypothesis using a computational model and provide exemplary findings in human patients that are consistent with that model. Finally we discuss the observed asymmetry in human tinnitus pitch distribution as a consequence of asymmetry of the distribution of auditory nerve type I fibers along the cochlea in the context of our model.

81 citations

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TL;DR: It is suggested that stochastic resonance (SR) plays a key role in both short- and long-term plasticity within the auditory system and that SR is the primary cause of neuronal hyperactivity and tinnitus.
Abstract: Subjective tinnitus (ST) is generally assumed to be a consequence of hearing loss (HL). In animal studies acoustic trauma can lead to behavioral signs of ST, in human studies ST patients without increased hearing thresholds were found to suffer from so called hidden HL. Additionally, ST is correlated with pathologically increased spontaneous firing rates and neuronal hyperactivity (NH) along the auditory pathway. Homeostatic plasticity (HP) has been proposed as a compensation mechanism leading to the development of NH, arguing that after HL initially decreased mean firing rates of neurons are subsequently restored by increased spontaneous rates. However all HP models fundamentally lack explanatory power since the function of keeping mean firing rate constant remains elusive as does the benefit this might have in terms of information processing. Furthermore the neural circuitry being able to perform the comparison of preferred with actual mean firing rate remains unclear. Here we propose an entirely new interpretation of ST related development of NH in terms of information theory. We suggest that stochastic resonance (SR) plays a key role in short- and long-term plasticity within the auditory system and is the ultimate cause of NH and ST. SR has been found ubiquitous in neuroscience and refers to the phenomenon that sub-threshold, unperceivable signals can be transmitted by adding noise to sensor input. We argue that after HL, SR serves to lift signals above the increased hearing threshold, hence subsequently decreasing thresholds again. The increased amount of internal noise is the correlate of the NH, which finally leads to the development of ST, due to neuronal plasticity along the auditory pathway. We demonstrate the plausibility of our hypothesis by using a computational model and provide exemplarily findings of human and animal studies that are consistent with our model.

37 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is hypothesized that the physiological mechanism of stochastic resonance counteracts HL by adding neuronal noise to the system and may induce changes in the auditory pathway and finally—as a side effect of threshold improvement—lead to the development of a tinnitus percept.
Abstract: Human hearing loss (HL) and comorbidities like tinnitus pose serious problems for people’s daily life which in most severe cases may lead to social isolation, depression and suicide. Here we investigate the relationship between hearing deficits and tinnitus. To this end we conducted a retrospective study on anonymized pure tone and speech audiometric data from patients of the ENT hospital Erlangen in which we compare audiometric data between patients with and without tinnitus. Overall data from 37661 patients with sensorineural (SHL) or conductive hearing loss (CHL) with (T, 9.5%) or without (NT, 90.5%) a tinnitus percept in different age groups and with different tinnitus pitches were included in this study. The results of the pure tone audiometry comparisons showed significant differences in T patients compared to NT patients. In young patients, we generally found lower hearing thresholds in T compared to NT patients. In adult patients, differences were more heterogeneous: hearing thresholds in T patients were lower in low frequency ranges, while they were higher at high frequencies. Furthermore, lower thresholds were more often found in CHL patients and could rarely be detected in SHL patients. In speech audiometry only CHL patients with high pitched tinnitus showed lower thresholds compared to NT patients’ thresholds. The results of this study may point to a biologically plausible functional benefit on hearing thresholds in HL tinnitus patients. We hypothesize that the physiological mechanism of stochastic resonance counteracts HL by adding neuronal noise to the system. This neuronal noise may induce changes in the auditory pathway and finally – as a side effect of threshold improvement – lead to the development of a tinnitus percept. We propose a general model of changed hearing thresholds in T patients, being either decreased or increased compared to NT patients.

36 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Whether a particular level of mechanical Gaussian noise applied to the index finger can improve the amplitude of the VEP is examined and an inverted U-like graph is disclosed, thus demonstrating the occurrence of a multisensory stochastic resonance in the P100 VEP.
Abstract: The present investigation documents the electrophysiological occurrence of multisensory stochastic resonance in the human visual pathway elicited by tactile noise. We define multisensory stochastic resonance of brain evoked potentials as the phenomenon in which an intermediate level of input noise of one sensory modality enhances the brain evoked response of another sensory modality. Here we examined this phenomenon in visual evoked potentials (VEPs) modulated by the addition of tactile noise. Specifically, we examined whether a particular level of mechanical Gaussian noise applied to the index finger can improve the amplitude of the VEP. We compared the amplitude of the positive P100 VEP component between zero noise (ZN), optimal noise (ON), and high mechanical noise (HN). The data disclosed an inverted U-like graph for all the subjects, thus demonstrating the occurrence of a multisensory stochastic resonance in the P100 VEP.

23 citations


Cites background from "Noise-enhanced hearing sensitivity"

  • ...Commonly, SR has been studied in diverse sensory systems in which the signal and noise applied were of the same sensory modality (Aihara et al. 2010; Collins et al. 1996; Lindner et al. 2004; Long et al. 2004; Manjarrez et al. 2002, 2003; Mori and Kai 2002; Segundo et al. 1994; Simonotto et al. 1997; Winterer et al. 1999; Zeng et al. 2000);...

    [...]

  • ...…systems in which the signal and noise applied were of the same sensory modality (Aihara et al. 2010; Collins et al. 1996; Lindner et al. 2004; Long et al. 2004; Manjarrez et al. 2002, 2003; Mori and Kai 2002; Segundo et al. 1994; Simo- notto et al. 1997; Winterer et al. 1999; Zeng et al.…...

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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A broad class of up‐down methods used in psychoacoustics with due emphasis on the related problems of parameter estimation and the efficient placing of observations is described, including examples where conventional techniques are inapplicable.
Abstract: During the past decade a number of variations in the simple up‐down procedure have been used in psychoacoustic testing. A broad class of these methods is described with due emphasis on the related problems of parameter estimation and the efficient placing of observations. The advantages of up‐down methods are many, including simplicity, high efficiency, robustness, small‐sample reliability, and relative freedom from restrictive assumptions. Several applications of these procedures in psychoacoustics are described, including examples where conventional techniques are inapplicable.

5,306 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, it was shown that a dynamical system subject to both periodic forcing and random perturbation may show a resonance (peak in the power spectrum) which is absent when either the forcing or the perturbations is absent.
Abstract: It is shown that a dynamical system subject to both periodic forcing and random perturbation may show a resonance (peak in the power spectrum) which is absent when either the forcing or the perturbation is absent.

2,774 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
05 Jan 1995-Nature
TL;DR: In certain nonlinear systems, including electronic circuits and biological sensory apparatus, the presence of noise can in fact enhance the detection of weak signals, called stochastic resonance.
Abstract: Noise in dynamical systems is usually considered a nuisance. But in certain nonlinear systems, including electronic circuits and biological sensory apparatus, the presence of noise can in fact enhance the detection of weak signals. This phenomenon, called stochastic resonance, may find useful application in physical, technological and biomedical contexts.

1,588 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
14 Mar 1996-Nature
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that broadband stochastic resonance is manifest in the peripheral layers of neural processing in a simple sensory system, and that it plays a role over a wide range of biologically relevant stimulus parameters.
Abstract: SENSORY systems are often required to detect a small amplitude signal embedded in broadband background noise. Traditionally, ambient noise is regarded as detrimental to encoding accuracy. Recently, however, a phenomenon known as stochastic resonance has been described in which, for systems with a nonlinear threshold, increasing the input noise level can actually improve the output signal-to-noise ratio over a limited range of signal and noise strengths. Previous theoretical and experimental studies of stochastic resonance in physical1–7and biological6–10 systems have dealt exclusively with single-frequency sine stimuli embedded in a broadband noise background. In the past year it has been shown in a theoretical and modelling study that stochastic resonance can be observed with broadband signals11,12. Here we demonstrate that broadband stochastic resonance is manifest in the peripheral layers of neural processing in a simple sensory system, and that it plays a role over a wide range of biologically relevant stimulus parameters. Further, we quantify the functional significance of the phenomenon within the context of signal processing, using information theory.

667 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Noise-based devices, such as randomly vibrating insoles, could ameliorate age-related impairments in balance control and reduce sway parameters in young and elderly participants.

540 citations

Trending Questions (1)
Which is better Skullcandy or noise?

The results show that by adding noise of certain level, the subjects can detect near threshold pure tone better than without noise.