On Cochlear Sharpening and Cross-Correlation Methods

Abstract

Responses of single fibres in the cat's auditory nerve due to white-noise stimulation were recorded on magnetic tape. The stimulus and the series of action potentials (spikes) were subsequently analyzed with the help of an “average-response computer”. Matters were arranged in such a way that the computer averages the noise-waveshape fragment during a certain period prior to each spike. In this way the causative phenomena behind the excitation of the auditory neuron reveal themselves and can be further analyzed.