Sound Processing in the Brain

The auditory system provides us with the ability to interpret speech and enjoy the nuances of fine music. It also confers the ability to locate and identify a sound source before it is visible. All of these perceptions seem effortless, but they require sensitivity to sound waves that fluctuate faster than 1000 times a second --- much faster than any neuron in the brain can follow. Some timing-specialized neurons in the auditory system have overcome the temporal limitations imposed by biology, but exactly how they do so is not clear. Here the author examines biophysical mechanisms specific to two different timing-specialized neurons in search of an explanation of their incredible ability to encode sound.