Spiking network optimized for word recognition in noise predicts auditory system hierarchy

摘要

The brain's ability to recognize sounds in the presence of competing sounds or background noise is essential for everyday hearing tasks. How the brain accomplishes noise resiliency, however, is poorly understood. Using neural recordings from the ascending auditory pathway and an auditory spiking network model trained for sound recognition in noise we explore the computational strategies that enable noise robustness. Our results suggest that the hierarchical feature organization of the ascending auditory pathway and the resulting computations are critical for sound recognition in the presence of noise.