A STATE-OF-THE ART SYSTEM FOR AUDITORY PHYSIOLOGY

这项提案要求为一台最先进的计算机- 用于听觉生理实验的控制系统。这个 拟议的系统由一个Masscomp计算机系统组成，该系统 非常适合模拟数据的快速输入/输出以及各种 控制计算机生成的可编程电子设备 声刺激和过程声、电和机械 从耳部和大脑记录到的信号 动物。这个系统将服务于一个紧密联系在一起的 研究人员研究听觉系统的所有阶段，从 脑干的外耳至中枢神经通路。它 是新一代数据采集系统的原型 旨在更换基于PDP-8E计算机的15年旧系统 已经变得过时和过度扩张。新系统将 围绕现有的高质量隔音室建造， 一直在等着被完全装备。听觉领域的新动向 生理学创造了对具有更多功能的设施的需求 那些目前可用的。其中一些新功能是计算机 产生声和电刺激，多个，精确地- 刺激和反应渠道同步，处理灵活 离散事件数据，如神经放电，以及足够的 允许在线测试预测的计算能力 用生理实验数据建立数学模型。这个 拟议的系统将使调查人员能够拥有所有这些 能力，并将生理研究带到一个新的水平 灵活性就是效率。

This proposal requests funds for a state-of-the-art, computer- control system for auditory physiological experiments. The proposed system consists of a Masscomp computer system that is ideally suited for fast input/output of analog data and a variety of programmable electronic devices that control computer-generated acoustic stimuli and process acoustic, electric, and mechanical signals recorded from the ear and the brain of experimental animals. This system will serve a tightly-knit community of investigators who work on all stages of the auditory system from the external ear to central neural pathways of the brainstem. It is a prototype for a new generation of data acquisition systems destined to replace 15-year old systems based on PDP-8E computers that have become obsolete and overextended. The new system will be built around an existing, high-quality sound-proof chamber that has been waiting to be fully instrumented. New trends in auditory physiology create a demand for a facility with capabilities beyond those presently available. Some of these new features are computer generation of acoustic and electric stimuli, multiple, precisely- synchronized stimulus and response channels, flexible processing of discrete event data such as neural discharges, and sufficient computational power to allow online test of predictions from mathematical models with data from physiological experiments. The proposed system will enable investigators to have all of these capabilities and bring physiological studies to a new level of flexibility an efficiency.