Re: The ear dynamically adapting frequency response

[Monita Chatterjee <mchatterjee@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

And cochlear implant listeners show loudness adaptation, sometimes very
significant reductions, within a few seconds. Jay Rubinstein has found
this to be useful in his use of high-rate "conditioning" pulse train
stimuli..

With reference to the original question, we can't evoke hair cells to
explain the adaptation in cochlear implant listeners..but it could be a
different mechanism for them, who knows..

-- Monita Chatterjee

>>> "Strickland, Elizabeth A" <estrick@xxxxxxxxxx> 02/05/09 1:11 PM >>>
If Neal Viemeister or Sid Bacon are monitoring this list, they can tell
you that they have seen this rapid adaptation at high frequencies in
psychophysical experiments, in normal-hearing people.

 

Beth Strickland

 

From: AUDITORY - Research in Auditory Perception
[mailto:AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of José Ignacio Alcántara
Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 12:25 PM
To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: The ear dynamically adapting frequency response

 

Not wishing to be pedantic, but I doubt very much whether any mobile
phone transducer would have a useable frequency range extending to 16
kHz.  But then again, 8 kHz would work just as well for presbyacustic
adults...

 

And as far as I recall, significant adaption in hearing is relatively
rare, so much so that it used to be one of the diagnostic signs of
retrocochlear (e.g. acoustic neuroma) pathology.

 

Jose

 

On 5 Feb 2009, at 17:16, Eric Jacobs wrote:





This is completely anecdotal...

 

As you know, kids like to put high frequency (16 kHz) ring tones on
their cell phones so that adults (ie. authority figures) with
compromised hearing cannot hear the phone ring.

 

Yesterday, my son asked "why is it that I can hear the first ring
loudly, but by the third or fourth ring I cannot hear it anymore?"

 

I didn't have an answer, of course.  But if you'd like me to investigate
the phenomenon further with him, I can do that.  This isn't horribly
scientific, of course, but maybe useful.

 

Eric

	-----Original Message-----
	From: AUDITORY - Research in Auditory Perception
[mailto:AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Mark Fletcher
	Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 3:48 AM
	To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
	Subject: The ear dynamically adapting frequency response

	Dear List

	 

	I am investigating the possibility that the ear dynamically
adapts its frequency response dependant on environment, for example, to
suppress noise. My current thinking is that the mechanism for this
adaptation is in the expanding and contracting of the outer hair cells,
restricting or exaggerating movement of the inner hair cells at
different frequencies depending on the stimuli. I would be grateful for
any input anyone may have regarding this idea.

	 

	Thanks,

	 

	Mark

	 

	
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José Ignacio Alcántara, M.A., Ph.D.

 

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