Neural Representation Of Harmonic Single Sideband Encoder In Inferior Colliculus Of Guinea Pigs

The supplement of harmonics and temporal fine structure (TFS) information has been verified to increase the tone recognition of cochlear implants (CIs) users. However, the limited resolution of spectral and temporal in electric hearing hindered the delivery of TFS information. Harmonic single sideband encoder (HSSE) can explicitly track the harmonics of complex sounds and linearly transform harmonics into modulators conveying both amplitude modulation (AM) and TFS information to electrodes. However, it keeps urgent to develop fast, objective and quantitative methods to evaluate the TFS representation in higher level centers of auditory pathway to HSSE strategy. The study built an IC mathematical model based on spectro-temporal receptive field (STRF) by recording the vivo neural responses of inferior colliculus (IC) to a couple of original Chinese Mandarin speech and analyzing the FS representation on IC. Finally the study predicted neural response to HSSE coded speech. The results showed that the IC neuronal response evoked by HSSE coded speech contained FS information.