Human hearing enhanced by noise

Noise was traditionally regarded as a nuisance, which should be minimized if possible. However, recent research has shown that addition of an appropriate amount of noise can actually improve signal detection in a nonlinear system, an effect called stochastic resonance. While stochastic resonance has...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBrain research Vol. 869; no. 1; pp. 251 - 255
Main Authors Zeng, Fan-Gang, Fu, Qian-Jie, Morse, Robert
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Elsevier B.V 30.06.2000
Amsterdam Elsevier
New York, NY
Subjects
Adult
Auditory
Auditory Pathways - physiology
Auditory Threshold - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brainstem implant
Cochlear implant
Cochlear Implants
Cochlear Nerve - physiology
Cochlear Nucleus - physiology
Ear and associated structures. Auditory pathways and centers. Hearing. Vocal organ. Phonation. Sound production. Echolocation
Electric Stimulation
Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem - physiology
Female
Frequency discrimination
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hearing
Hearing - physiology
Humans
Male
Noise
Signal Detection, Psychological - physiology
Stochastic resonance
Threshold
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
Hearing
Auditory
Stochastic resonance
Noise
Brainstem implant
Sensory systems
Cochlear implant
Frequency discrimination
Threshold
Human
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Summary:Noise was traditionally regarded as a nuisance, which should be minimized if possible. However, recent research has shown that addition of an appropriate amount of noise can actually improve signal detection in a nonlinear system, an effect called stochastic resonance. While stochastic resonance has been described in a variety of physical and biological systems, its functional significance in human sensory systems remains mostly unexplored. Here we report psychophysical data showing that signal detection and discrimination can be enhanced by noise in human subjects whose hearing is evoked by either normal acoustic stimulation or electric stimulation of the auditory nerve or the brainstem. Our results suggest that noise is an integral part of the normal sensory process and should be added to auditory prostheses.
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ISSN:0006-8993
1872-6240
DOI:10.1016/S0006-8993(00)02475-6