Early Binaural Hearing: The Comparison of Temporal Differences at the Two Ears.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review of neurophysiological mechanisms with no systematic search or new empirical data.
PubMed 31018099 · doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-080317-061925
What was done
This narrative review summarizes physiological and anatomical findings regarding the primary auditory brainstem circuits centered on the medial superior olive (MSO) and lateral superior olive (LSO) that process interaural time differences (ITDs) in mammals, including humans.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical findings or statistical measures. It describes that specialized cellular and afferent adaptations in the MSO and LSO permit submillisecond temporal sensitivity to sound arriving at both ears, facilitating sound detection and spatial localization.
Why it matters
These specialized brainstem nuclei provide a foundational model for understanding high-precision, submillisecond temporal processing and synaptic integration in the mammalian central nervous system.
Limits
The abstract presents no quantitative data or effect sizes. As a narrative review rather than a systematic synthesis, it does not detail study selection criteria, sample sizes, or species-specific comparative metrics.
Cited by
- supports Humans are biologically poised to detect interaural arrival time differences of half a millisecond between the two ears.