CODING AND PROCESSING OF SOUND SOURCE CHARACTERISTICS

这项提案的总体目标是研究听证机制 在一种简单组织的脊椎动物牡蛎中进行声音交流 蟾鱼(Opsanus Tau)。蟾鱼是一种会发声的物种，它的声音 发声行为、前庭器官和脑干核团正常 学习。在鱼类中，声音由一个或多个毛细胞传递。 耳石器官被改编为声音接收器 频率范围高达几千赫。鱼的耳石器官有 是毛细胞突触研究的重要准备 生理学、传出机制、毛细胞生物物理学和 听力中的神经生理学-行为关系。然而，我们的差距很大 对耳石介导的听觉和声音交流的理解 器官一直由于难以确定适当的 刺激(压力、位移、速度或加速度)，以及 通常对这些数量作出反应的内脏的识别。新的 控制这些变量的方法现在使我们有可能推进 我们关于耳朵、听觉和声音机制的知识 在这些简单组织的脊椎动物中进行交流。 声音，包括正弦和模型蟾鱼发声将是 在实验室中使用三维运动系统和一个 声压源。从椭圆体的初级传入记录， 拉格纳和球囊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 发声的声音是蟾鱼通常在自然环境中经历的 环境将允许确定适当的刺激在 场，以及每个内脏在听力中的作用。 耳石器官初级传入的细胞内记录将 从生理上描述他们对交流声音的反应，以及 注射生物细胞素或其他示踪剂分子将允许 其周围终末和中央投射的可视化。 将在形态底物上获得新的知识 区分听觉和前庭功能的外周和中央， 以及来自听觉各内脏的投射和会聚 在脑干中具有已知生物学意义的信号将是 对此进行了描述和分析。 对动物听力的研究不仅对发育是必要的 用于正常和病理听力功能的特定模型系统 在人类中，但也是重要的，为提供一般的生物学和 来自任何物种的新数据的进化背景，包括 人类，可能会被更好地解释和应用。这项研究将会有所帮助 确定前庭和前庭之间的区别和共同点 听觉功能和结构，以便我们可以更好地了解 前庭器官可能在听力方面起作用。

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.