A STATE-OF-THE ART SYSTEM FOR AUDITORY PHYSIOLOGY

该提案要求为最先进的计算机提供资金- 听觉生理实验控制系统。 的 建议的系统由Masscomp计算机系统组成， 非常适合模拟数据的快速输入/输出和各种 可编程的电子设备控制计算机生成的 声刺激和过程声，电，和机械 从实验动物的耳朵和大脑记录的信号 动物 这个系统将服务于一个紧密团结的社区， 研究听觉系统各个阶段的研究人员， 从外耳到脑干的中枢神经通路。 它 是新一代数据采集系统的原型 旨在取代基于PDP-8 E计算机的15年老系统 已经过时和过度扩张。 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 听觉的新趋势 生理学创造了对设施的需求， 目前可用的。 其中一些新功能是计算机 声音和电刺激的产生，多个，精确地， 同步刺激和反应通道，灵活处理 离散事件数据，如神经放电， 计算能力，允许在线测试预测， 用生理实验数据建立数学模型。 的 拟议的系统将使调查人员能够拥有所有这些 能力，并将生理学研究带到一个新的水平， 灵活性和效率。

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.