CODING AND PROCESSING OF SOUND SOURCE CHARACTERISTICS

本提案的总体目标是研究听证机制 和声音交流的能力 蟾鱼（Opsanus tau）。 蟾鱼是一种发声的物种， 发声行为、前庭器官和脑干核团发育良好 研究了 在鱼类中，声音是由一个或多个 耳石器官被适配为在一个环境中操作的声接收器， 频率范围高达几kHz。 鱼类的耳石器官 是研究毛细胞突触的重要材料， 生理学，传出机制，毛细胞生物物理学，和 听觉神经生理学与行为的关系 然而，我们的差距很大， 耳石介导的听觉和声音交流的理解 由于难以具体说明适当的 刺激（压力、位移、速度或加速度），以及 识别通常对这些量有反应的终末器官。 新 控制这些变量的方法现在可以提高 我们对耳朵、听觉和声音机制的了解 这些简单组织的脊椎动物之间的交流。 声音，包括正弦曲线和模型蟾鱼发声将 在实验室中使用三维运动系统和 声压源 从椭圆囊的初级传入神经记录， lagena和saccule将表征它们的空间方向性， 加速度和压力灵敏度以及调谐。 与 蟾鱼通常在自然环境中 环境将允许识别适当的刺激， 场，以及每个器官在听觉中的作用。 细胞内记录来自耳石器官的初级传入将 从生理学上表征他们对通信声音的反应，以及 生物胞素或其他示踪分子的注射将允许 它们的外围终端和中心投影的可视化。 新的知识将获得的形态基板， 区分外周和中枢的听觉和前庭功能， 以及从听觉的各个终末器官的投射和会聚 脑干中已知生物学意义的信号将被 描述和分析。 对动物听力的研究不仅是发展 正常和病理听力功能的特定模型系统 在人类中，而且对于提供一般的生物学和 任何物种的新数据，包括 人类，可以更好地解释和应用。 这项研究将帮助 确定前庭和 听觉功能和结构，以便我们更好地了解 前庭器官可在听觉中起作用。

The overall goals of this proposal are to study the mechanisms of hearing and sound communication in a simply organized vertebrate, the oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau). The toadfish is a vocal species whose acoustic vocalization behavior, vestibular organs, and brainstem nuclei are well studied. In fishes, sound is transduced by hair cells of one or more otolith organs that are adapted as acoustic receivers operating in a frequency range up to several kHz. The otolith organs of fishes have been important preparations for the study of hair cell synaptic physiology, efferent mechanisms, hair cell biophysics, and neurophysiology-behavior relations in hearing. However, wide gaps in our understanding of hearing and sound communication mediated by otolith organs has been due to the difficulties in specifying the adequate stimulus (pressure, displacement, velocity or acceleration), and the identify of the endorgans normally responsive to these quantities. New methods for controlling these variables now make it possible to advance our knowledge about the mechanisms of the ears, hearing, and sound communication in these simply organized vertebrates. Sounds, including sinusoids and model toadfish vocalizations will be synthesized in the laboratory using a 3-dimensional motion system and a sound pressure source. Recording from primary afferents of the utricle, lagena, and saccule will characterize their spatial directionality, acceleration and pressure sensitivity, and tuning. Comparisons with the vocalization sounds toadfish normally experience in the natural environment will permit an identification of the adequate stimulus in the field, and the role of each endorgan in hearing. Intracellular recording of primary afferents from the otolith organs will physiologically characterize their response to communication sounds, and injections of biocytin or other tracers molecules will allow visualization of their peripheral terminations and central projections. New knowledge will be obtained on the morphological substrates that distinguish acoustic and vestibular functions peripherally and centrally, and the projection and convergence from the various endorgans of auditory signals of known biological significance in the brainstem will be described and analyzed. Studies of hearing in animals are not only necessary for the development of specific model systems for normal and pathological hearing functions in humans, but are also important for providing a general biological and evolutionary context within which new data from any species, including humans, may be better interpreted and applied. This research will help determine the distinctions and commonalities between vestibular and auditory functions and structures so that we may better understand how vestibular organs may function in hearing.