Improving the Dynamics of Responses to Amplitude Modulated Stimuli by Modeling Inhibitory Interneurons in Cochlear Nucleus

Amplitude modulation is an important feature of communication sounds. A phenomenological model of the auditory pathway that reproduces amplitude modulation coding from the outer ear to the inferior colliculus is presented. It is based on Hewitt and Meddis' work. To improve the temporal coding for high level stimuli, high spontaneous rate and low spontaneous rate auditory nerve fibers innervate chopper cells of the cochlear nucleus. Wideband inhibitory interneurons which limit high spontaneous rate fibers connected to chopper units are added in this nucleus. The realistic structure we propose gives results closer to physiological data in terms of synchronization.